Child's Play 3

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Moving right along, here we have one Chucky title that I'm not the biggest fan of. Although it's not without a few moments, I'd have to say it's mostly just bad. This was right around the time the series started adding a few elements of comedy, but it was still okay about being a horror flick. It felt like it didn't know what it wanted to be, and while 'Child's Play' 1 and 2 provided a good couple of films that suited the time well (using Cabbage Patch and My Buddy dolls for inspiration), this was a bit more of a cash grab for the series.

We start the film off with Chucky's (Brad Douriff) resurrection. Once again he's rebuilt and comes back to life, but this time before the credits stop rolling (way to build tension). The Play Pals toy company is running out of ideas and running out of money, so it's recommended that after 8 years, they bring the Good Guy doll back on the market - starting with Chucky, the rebuild of the old doll. Why they wanted to rebuild a melted heap of plastic to bring back a doll that has offered them nothing but bad publicity over the years? Your guess is as good as mine. I mean, they could just start from scratch but... we need to bring Chucky back to life for this movie, right?

Enter Andy (Justin Whalin), now 16, who is shipped off to Military School after a series of foster home failures. There, he befriends a boy named Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers), a dude named Whitehurst (Dean Jacobson) and a girl named DeSilva (Perrey Reeves). He also has to cope with lieutenant colonel Brett C. Shelton (Travis Fine), who routinely bullies the cadets in ways that I'm fairly certain are totally illegal in real life. But, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. There's a hell of a lot I don't know about that kind of stuff. Times are tough for Andy now, but he holds his own as he tries to push through it with the support of his newfound friends. But little does he know, an old "friend" has figured out where he is.

Chucky manages to mail himself to Andy, only to stumble across Tyler instead, who greedily takes the package and opens it to find Chucky in his Good Guy package. Through a loophole that doesn't feel like it makes any sense, Chucky realizes that since being brought back to life, he hasn't told anyone his secret yet. Therefore, Tyler becomes the new body Chucky's soul is going after. Personally, I don't get how this works (even in 'Child's Play 2') since the ending of 'Child's Play' supposedly traps Chucky in the doll's body for good. He's rebuilt in '2' as well, but there's nothing to suggest everything kinda just "reboots" for him when this happens. Trying to get to Andy was just a plot point that carried through, logically. There's no explanation, and for that tidbit, the original 'Child's Play' is far superior than its two original sequels, until it starts to develop a comedic, self-aware twist with 'Bride'.

While the 'Child's Play' movies are by no means perfect, I still tend to hold the first two in higher regard than this one. For yours truly, it feels kind of rushed, and the acting's pretty rough - although personally, I can believe that Whalin is portraying the same Andy we saw in the previous two films. They did do a pretty good job of matching him up for the time, since Alex Vincent wouldn't have been much older and honestly couldn't have really done this role. In the end, this is pretty mindless, but I didn't dislike it as much as I did last time. As a slasher horror fan, one must be able to appreciate chapters like this where this time you might be here for a few more laughs. It's the 'Elm Street 4' of this particular franchise, but this is about where the real horror aspect ends for Chucky (at least until 'Curse').

Body Count: 7
​Total: 18

2/5

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