That Time of the Month
Child's Play 3
Hide the Soul Round 3: FIGHT!
By: Brandy Serra
By: Brandy Serra
Child's Play 3 (1991)
Apparently after the marked success of the first two films, they
couldn't wait to make a third installment and cranked it out just
under a year later. By and large it was pretty hated, by critics and
fans alike, being called the worst in the series (until Seed came
out). The only main character to return is Dourif as Charles Lee
Ray. Mancini said he had run out of ideas after part two, and due to
the crap reception it got he didn't make another for almost a decade.
I, however, love the hell out of this movie and I'm gonna tell you
why.
The events in the film take place eight years after part 2, when
everyone has forgotten about Andy Barclay and his “killer doll”
claims. They crank up the Good Guy factory again, deciding that it
was time to rake in the money on their best selling toy again. The
disgusting remains of Chucky are hauled across a vat of melted
plastic used for making the dolls, his blood drips in, and ta-da!
Reborn again. The first doll off the production line has Ray's soul
in it, and it's given to the CEO. Anyway, of course, he dies. Duh.
The rules typically are, if you are jerk, you're gonna die.
Meanwhile, Andy (played by Justin Whalin this time around) has been
sent off to a military school, Kent, a co-ed training ground to make
your kid either a) become an asshole, or b) look like more of a wuss.
In the rare case of Andy's love interest, DeSilva (Reeves), c) be a
straight-up badass.
So, with that summation, it pretty much sounds like a terrible idea.
The cute, innocent, and lovable kid Andy is gone, there's no return
of characters missing since part one (usually a good third
installment formula), the plot sounds thin and weak, almost comical,
and even Mancini doesn't think much of it. So, why do I enjoy this
flick? Well, with all the hateable elements, I don't find myself
looking down on this flick. There's a lot to love here, too.
For one, Chucky hasn't lost his disgusting charm. He's always been a
love-to-hate kinda guy and Dourif's still pulling it off, and well at
that. Sure, this is where Chucky becomes more comical, but his
sinister nature was not exchanged for it. In fact, he feels even
more evil in this flick. Even most of his humor is pretty dark, in
one way or another. Sure, he kills a few adults, as per usual, but
he's also responsible for the deaths of several kids, something yet
to happen in the series. The way he does it is pretty disgustingly
random, also, by loading live ammunition into rifles used in a
training exercise, and throwing a grenade haphazardly at a group of
kids.
Also, Andy is facing a new nemesis: being a teenager. He faces a
bully, and even though the guy, Shelton (Travis Fine), is a douche,
he does make life at Kent pretty miserable on Andy, as if it wasn't
bad enough. Andy's also got friends, which he presumably hasn't had
since his foster sister Kyle in part two, in his bunkmate Whitehurst
(Jacobson), and a kid Andy seems to identify with, Tyler (Sylvers).
There's also the whole falling for a girl thing. Although this all
sounds blase and routine, because we've been with Andy through his
crap childhood, it's nice to see things going semi-alright for him.
Except for the whole trying-to-stop-a-killer-doll thing again.
Besides the actual semantics, there's some great things going on
visually here. I'd just like to say that the reverse camera of the
melting effect on the doll is supremely awesome over the opening
credits. There's also a lot of great camera shots, my favorite being
the aerial view of the cadets running in circles in the middle of the
night. The bizarre climax, where they end up at a nearby carnival
and Chucky chases them through a haunted house, where he gets his
first facial scar (why is there a real scythe in a carnival ride?),
and his weird death of being shot and cut, and finally getting dumped
into an industrial fan and being hacked up into pieces is fairly cool
as well. The toy barrage death of the CEO in the opening of the
movie is pretty fun-filled (har, har, har). And, of course,
Chucky continues to be the only doll that's been thrown away about
sixty times. Seriously, they have a great fascination with people
putting him in the garbage, one way or another, and he escapes from
an actual dump truck, as it's compressing, this time around. The
camerawork in this particular scene is pretty cool, especially the
shot inside of the dump truck. Also, the unprecedented return of the
dark cloud graphics when Ray gets his damballa on, which they use
several times. They must've been really proud of that overlay.
Also, there's a character named Cochran in it, for crying out loud.
Mostly, it's not bad because this is the first film where they really
embrace that they aren't completely horror driven anymore, but they
don't ignore the horror elements. They also didn't do a shoddy job
on it, but really put the love into it that it deserved. We see this
a lot, as fans, where a movie that has no right to be good is because
of the work that was done on it, and the other way around where a
movie has every right to be amazing, but is done halfheartedly and
suffers because of it. If it's been a while since you've seen part
3, and didn't like it before, it's not a bad idea to revisit it.
Grown-up you will probably appreciate it a lot more, if you don't
already.
To Be Continued
