Child's Play 3 | |
---|---|
![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Jack Bender |
Written by | Don Mancini |
Based on | Characters by Don Mancini |
Produced by | Robert Latham Brown |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | John R. Leonetti |
Edited by |
|
Music by | |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes [1] |
Country | United States [1] |
Language | English |
Budget | $13 million |
Box office | $20.5 million [2] |
Child's Play 3 is a 1991 American slasher film and the third installment in the Child's Play film series. The film is written by Don Mancini and directed by Jack Bender. Brad Dourif once again reprised his role as Chucky from the previous films while new cast members include Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves and Jeremy Sylvers. It was executive-produced by David Kirschner, who produced the first two Child's Play films. Although released only nine months after Child's Play 2 , the story takes place eight years following the events of that film, and one month before the events of Bride of Chucky (which was made seven years later). The film follows a now 16 year old Andy Barclay enrolling at a military school. Chucky follows Andy to the school until he finds a younger kid, Tyler, to place his soul into, and now Andy has to prevent Chucky from harming Tyler and anybody else.
After the success of the previous two films, Universal Studios forced Mancini to draft the screenplay for Child's Play 3 in such a short amount of time. A concept featuring "multiple Chuckys" was considered, but was scrapped due to time and budget constraints, although it would be reworked into a later installment Cult of Chucky. Alex Vincent, who played Andy, did not reprise his role due to the film being released in 1991 despite taking place in 1998. Several actors auditioned until Justin Whalin was chosen for the role of Andy.
Released on August 30, 1991, in the United States by Universal Pictures, Child's Play 3 received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $20.5 million worldwide against a budget of $13 million, being the lowest-grossing film in the series. [3] The film became notorious in the United Kingdom when it was suggested it might have inspired the real-life murder of a British child, James Bulger, [4] suggestions rejected by officers investigating the case. [5] [6] [7] [8]
Eight years after Chucky's second demise, the Play Pals company resumes manufacturing Good Guy dolls and re-opens their abandoned factory. As Chucky's corpse is being removed from the building, a splash of his blood inadvertently falls into the molten plastic being used to produce the dolls, reviving him in a new body. Chucky tortures and murders Play Pals CEO Mr. Sullivan using various children's toys, and then uses his computer records to locate Andy Barclay.
Now 16, Andy has been sent to Kent Military School after failing to cope in several foster homes. Colonel Cochrane, the school's commandant, advises Andy to forget his "fantasies" about the doll. Andy befriends cadets Ronald Tyler, an 8-year-old boy; Harold Aubrey Whitehurst, a cowardly young man; and Kristin De Silva, for whom he develops romantic feelings. He also meets Brett C. Shelton, a sadistic lieutenant colonel who routinely bullies the cadets.
Tyler is asked to deliver a package to Andy's room. Tyler realizes that the package contains a Good Guy doll and takes it to the school's weapons armory to open it. Chucky bursts from the package and is incensed to find Tyler instead of Andy. However, remembering he can possess the first person who learns his true identity, he tells Tyler his secret. Before Chucky can enact the voodoo soul-swapping ritual to possess Tyler, Cochrane interrupts them and confiscates the doll, throwing it into a garbage truck. Chucky escapes by luring the driver into the truck's compactor and crushing him to death.
That night, Chucky attacks Andy and tells him his plans for taking over Tyler's body. Before Andy can fight back, Shelton comes in and takes the doll from him. Andy then sneaks into Shelton's room to recover it; Shelton awakens to confront him, only to find that Chucky has vanished. Suspecting the doll was stolen, Shelton forces all the cadets to do exercises as punishment. Chucky attempts to possess Tyler again, but they are interrupted by De Silva and fellow cadet Ivers. Later, a knife-wielding Chucky surprises Cochrane, unintentionally shocking him into a fatal heart attack. The next morning, Andy tries to convince Tyler that Chucky is evil, but Tyler refuses to believe him. Meanwhile, Chucky kills the camp barber Sergeant Botnick by slashing his throat with a straight razor. Whitehurst witnesses Botnick's murder and flees in terror.
Despite Cochrane's death, the school's annual war games are ordered to proceed as planned, with cadets divided between a "Red Team" and "Blue Team". Andy and Shelton are both on the Blue Team. Chucky secretly replaces the paint bullets of the Red team with live ammunition. When the simulation begins, Chucky lures Tyler away from his team. Finally realizing that Chucky is evil, Tyler stabs him with a pocket knife and flees to find Andy. Chucky then attacks De Silva and holds her hostage, forcing Andy to exchange Tyler for De Silva. The Blue team and Red team arrive on the scene and open fire; Shelton is killed by a bullet from the Red team while Tyler escapes in the chaos. Chucky tosses a grenade at the quarrelling cadets; Whitehurst leaps on top of the grenade, sacrificing himself to save the others.
Tyler flees to a nearby carnival where Chucky kills a security guard and captures him again. Andy and De Silva arrive soon after and take the security guard's gun. They follow Chucky and Tyler into a horror-themed roller-coaster. Chucky wounds De Silva; she gives Andy the gun and tells him to save Tyler. Andy pursues Chucky deeper into the ride and repeatedly shoots him, saving Tyler. Chucky revives and attacks again. In the struggle, Andy manages to throw him into a massive metal fan, shredding his body apart and finally killing him. De Silva is rushed to the hospital while Andy is taken away by police for questioning.
Universal Studios had Don Mancini begin writing the third installment for the series before Child's Play 2 was released, causing pressure on him to draft a storyline on such a tight schedule. [9] The film was formally greenlit after the successful release of its predecessor with a release date nine months away.
Mancini initially wanted to introduce the concept of "multiple Chuckys" in the movie, but due to budget constraints the idea was eventually scrapped. [10] Mancini later used this concept for the 2017 sequel Cult of Chucky . It also was intended to open with a scene of a security guard portrayed by John Ritter frightening off a group of trespassing children at the Good Guys factory by telling them scary stories about Chucky. After Mancini decided to make Andy Barclay 16 years old, he considered recasting the role with Jonathan Brandis before hiring Justin Whalin. Before Jack Bender became director, Mancini wanted to hire Peter Jackson. [11]
Principal photography began on February 4, 1991, at the Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri. Further filming took place in California at Los Angeles and the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City. The carnival scenes were filmed in Valencia, California. [1] The puppeteers made the doll speak using computer technology to control its mouth movements to align with Dourif's prerecorded dialogue. [11] [1] N. Brock Winkless IV returned to work as one of Chucky's puppeteers, [12] as did Van Snowden.
Child's Play 3 opened in second place behind Dead Again to $5.7 million over the 4-day 1991 Labor Day weekend, which the Los Angeles Times called "slow numbers". [13] It finished its theatrical run with $15 million in the US, and a total of $20.5 million worldwide. [2]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on reviews from 16 critics, and an average rating is 4.20/10, making it the poorest reviewed film in the series on the site. [14] On Metacritic it has a score of 27% based on reviews from 13 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [15]
Chris Hicks of the Deseret News called it "perverse" and criticized the film's plot. [16] Caryn James of The New York Times called the Chucky doll "an impressive technological achievement" but said the film "misses the sharpness and dark humor" of the original film. [17] Variety called it a "noisy, mindless sequel" with good acting. [18] Richard Harrington of The Washington Post wrote, "Chucky himself is an animatronic delight, but one suspects the film's energies and budget have all been devoted to what is essentially a one-trick pony." [19] Stephen Wigle of The Baltimore Sun called it "fun for any fan of the slasher genre". [20]
Series creator Don Mancini said that this was his least favorite entry in the series, adding that he ran out of ideas after the second film. [21] He elaborated further in 2013 stating that he was not pleased with the casting, feeling Jeremy Sylvers was too old for the role of Tyler and Dakin Matthews was not the "R. Lee Ermey" archetype he was looking for in Colonel Cochrane. [10]
Mancini would not make another entry in the Chucky series until seven years later, with Bride of Chucky . In a 2017 interview, director Jack Bender also dismissed the film by calling it "kinda silly".[ citation needed ]
This film was nominated at the Saturn Award as Best Horror Film and Justin Whalin was nominated as Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his performance in this film. [22] Andrew Robinson was nominated as Best Supporting Actor at the Fangoria Chainsaw Award.
Child's Play 3 was originally released on home video in North America on March 12, 1992 and on DVD on October 7, 2003.[ citation needed ] It was also released in multiple collections, including The Chucky Collection (alongside Child's Play 2 and Bride of Chucky), released on October 7, 2003; [23] Chucky – The Killer DVD Collection (alongside Child's Play 2, Bride and Seed of Chucky), released on September 19, 2006; [24] Chucky: The Complete Collection (alongside Child's Play 1 and 2, Bride, Seed and Curse of Chucky), released on October 8, 2013; [25] and Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection (alongside Child's Play 1 and 2, Bride, Seed, Curse and Cult of Chucky), released on October 3, 2017.
Child's Play 3 was released on 4K Ultra HD by Scream! Factory on August 16, 2022. This release included a new 4K scan from the original camera negative, a new Dolby Atmos track and several interviews recorded in 2022 with creator Don Mancini, actress Perry Reeves, executive producer David Kirschner, executive producer Robert Latham Brown, actor Michael Chieffo, makeup artist Craig Reardon and production designer Richard Sawyer. [26]
A suggested link with the film was made after the murder of James Bulger. The killers, who were ten years old at the time, were said to have imitated a scene in which one of Chucky's victims is splashed with blue paint. Psychologist Guy Cumberbatch stated, "The link with a video was that the father of one of the boys – Jon Venables – had rented Child's Play 3 some months earlier." [27] However, the police officer who directed the investigation, Albert Kirby, found that the son, Jon, was not living with his father at the time and was unlikely to have seen the film. Moreover, the boy disliked horror films—a point later confirmed by psychiatric reports. Thus the police investigation, which had specifically looked for a video link, concluded there was none.[ citation needed ] However, the judge, Justice Morland, said in his comments that the murder had "some striking similarities" to the film and that "grave crimes by young children" could be caused by reasons including exposure to violent video films "including possibly Child's Play 3". Following the trial, the Association of Video Retailers in the UK recommended that its members voluntarily remove the trilogy from their shelves. [28]
The film remained controversial in Europe, and both Sky Television in the United Kingdom and Canal+ in Spain refused to broadcast the film as regular programming [1] and the case led to new legislation for video films. [29]
A tie-in novel was later written by Matthew J. Costello. Just like Child's Play 2, this novel had some of the author's own inclusions. In the beginning (adapted from an earlier draft of the screenplay), in the Play Pals factory, a rat scours for food and, smelling blood within the plastic, chews on Chucky's remains. Blood then leaks out of the remains and somehow leaks onto another doll.
Chucky's death in this book is also different. In the novel, while defending Tyler on an exterior ride, Andy grapples with Chucky before finally shooting him several times, causing the doll's body to fall to the ground, and Andy watches the head shatter to blood, metal and plastic.
The film was followed by Bride of Chucky in 1998, Seed of Chucky in 2004, Curse of Chucky in 2013, Cult of Chucky in 2017, and the TV series Chucky in 2021.
In 2009, the climax of Child's Play 3 received its own maze at Universal Studios ' Halloween Horror Nights , entitled Chucky's Fun House.
This is not the first time Chucky has been featured in Halloween Horror Nights. Since 1992, Chucky has starred in his shows, Chucky's In-Your-Face Insults and Chucky's Insult Emporium. Curse of Chucky also received its own Scarezone in the 2013 lineup. [30]
Child's Play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia, and a story by Mancini. The film stars Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon with Brad Dourif as Chucky. Its plot follows a widowed mother who gives a doll to her son, unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Child's Play 2 is a 1990 American supernatural slasher film and the direct sequel to Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia, one of the co-writers of the first film. It is the second installment in the Child's Play franchise and set two years after the first film; the plot follows Charles Lee Ray continuing his pursuit for Andy Barclay, who was placed in foster care, and transferring his soul into him after being resurrected. Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif reprised their roles while Christine Elise, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham and Grace Zabriskie joined the cast.
Ronny Yu Yan-Tai is a Hong Kong film director, producer, and movie writer. He has worked on both Hong Kong and American films. He is mostly known for his work in the American horror genre, such as Bride of Chucky (1998) and Freddy vs. Jason (2003).
George Donald Mancini is an American screenwriter, director, and producer. He is best known for creating and writing the Child's Play franchise (1988–present).
Charles Lee "Chucky" Ray is the main antagonist of the Child's Play horror franchise. Chucky is portrayed as a vicious serial killer who, as he bleeds out from a gunshot wound, transfers his soul into a "Good Guy" doll and continuously tries to transfer it to a human body. The character has become one of the most recognizable horror icons and has been referenced numerous times in popular culture. In 1999, the Chucky character was nominated for the MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for the film Bride of Chucky. He was created by writer Don Mancini and is portrayed by Brad Dourif in both live action and voice over. For the 2019 remake of the same name, Mark Hamill voiced an artificial intelligence (AI) version of Chucky as a tragic villain, having previously voiced the Charles Lee Ray version of the character in an episode of Robot Chicken.
David Maxwell Kirschner is an American film and television producer and screenwriter. His producing credits include Don Bluth's An American Tail and Titan A.E. animated features as well as the Child's Play horror film series.
Child's Play is an American slasher media franchise created by Don Mancini. The films mainly focus on Chucky, a notorious serial killer who frequently escapes death by performing a voodoo ritual to transfer his soul into a "Good Guy" doll. The original film, Child's Play, was released on November 9, 1988. The film has spawned six sequels, a television series, a remake, comic books, a video game, and tie-in merchandise. The first, second, and fourth films were box office successes with all of the films earning over $182 million worldwide. Including revenues from sales of videos, DVDs, VOD and merchandise, the franchise has generated over $250 million. It also won a Saturn Award for Best Horror Franchise.
Bride of Chucky is a 1998 American black comedy slasher film written by Don Mancini and directed by Ronny Yu. The fourth installment in the Child's Play franchise, it stars Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, John Ritter, Katherine Heigl, and Nick Stabile. Unlike the first three films, Bride of Chucky takes a markedly humorous turn towards self-referential parody. It also departs from the Andy Barclay storyline of the first three films, focusing mainly on series villain Chucky, a doll possessed by a serial killer, and his former lover and accomplice Tiffany, whose soul is also transferred into a doll.
Seed of Chucky is a 2004 black comedy slasher film, the fifth installment of the Child's Play series, and sequel to 1998's Bride of Chucky as well as the first film to be distributed by another company since the original Child's Play. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the series and has written all of the films, and stars Jennifer Tilly, Redman, Hannah Spearritt, John Waters, Billy Boyd and Brad Dourif. With this entry, Mancini made his directorial debut. The film is set six years after Bride of Chucky and follows a young doll named Glen, the son of Chucky and Tiffany, resurrecting his parents, causing chaos.
Curse of Chucky is a 2013 American slasher film and the sixth installment of the Child's Play franchise. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the franchise and wrote the first six films. It stars Fiona Dourif, Danielle Bisutti, Brennan Elliott, Maitland McConnell, Chantal Quesnelle, Summer Howell, A Martinez, and Brad Dourif. The film grossed $3.8 million in DVD sales.
Nica Pierce is a fictional character in the Child's Play franchise. She was created by Don Mancini and is portrayed by Fiona Dourif. She is the protagonist in two of the seven films, first appearing in Curse of Chucky (2013) and subsequently in Cult of Chucky (2017). She is also featured in the USA Network and Syfy produced Chucky television series.
Cult of Chucky is a 2017 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Don Mancini. The seventh installment of the Child's Play franchise, following the 2013 film Curse of Chucky, it stars Fiona Dourif, Michael Therriault, Adam Hurtig, Alex Vincent, Elisabeth Rosen, Grace Lynn Kung, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Zak Santiago, Ali Tataryn, Jennifer Tilly, Christine Elise, and Brad Dourif. Cult of Chucky began production in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada in January 2017 and premiered at the London FrightFest Film Festival on August 24 the same year. As with the previous film, it was released direct-to-video by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment via Blu-ray, DVD and VOD on October 3.
Kyle is a fictional character in the Child's Play franchise, created by Don Mancini and portrayed by actress Christine Elise. She appeared in Child's Play 2,Cult of Chucky, and the Chucky television series. Kyle is a main character in the Child's Play novels and comic book adaptations.
Andy Barclay is a fictional character and one of the primary protagonists of the Child's Play horror film series. He was introduced in the original Child's Play and has become one of lead archenemies of series antagonist Chucky. Andy Barclay has been portrayed by actors Alex Vincent and Justin Whalin in the original franchise.
Child's Play is a 2019 horror film directed by Lars Klevberg from a screenplay written by Tyler Burton Smith. Serving both as a remake of the 1988 eponymous film and a reboot of the Child's Play franchise, the film stars Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, Brian Tyree Henry, and Mark Hamill as the voice of Chucky. It follows a family terrorized by a high-tech doll who develops self-awareness and becomes subsequently hostile and murderous.
Chucky is an American horror comedy television series created by Don Mancini and is the eighth main installment of the Child's Play franchise. It serves as a sequel to Cult of Chucky, the seventh film in the franchise, and stars Brad Dourif reprising his role as the voice of the title character, alongside Zackary Arthur, Björgvin Arnarson, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Teo Briones, and Devon Sawa. The cast also includes Fiona Dourif, Alex Vincent, Christine Elise, Jennifer Tilly, and Billy Boyd reprising their roles from previous films.
The first season of the American horror series Chucky, created by Don Mancini, premiered on Syfy and USA Network on October 12, 2021, and concluded on November 30, 2021. The season consists of 8 episodes. The series is based on the Child's Play film franchise.
Jake Wheeler is a fictional character in the Child's Play franchise who was created by Don Mancini and is portrayed by Zackary Arthur. He is the main protagonist of the Syfy and USA Network's Chucky television series, which shares continuity with the seven Child's Play films. He first appears in "Death by Misadventure", the premiere episode of the show's first season.
The third season of the American horror series Chucky, created by Don Mancini, premiered on Syfy and USA Network on October 4, 2023. The season consisted of 8 episodes. Based on the Child's Play film franchise, the series serves as a sequel to Cult of Chucky, and stars Brad Dourif reprising his role as the titular character, alongside Zackary Arthur, Alyvia Alyn Lind, Björgvin Arnarson, and Devon Sawa in the ensemble cast.