Charles Lee Chucky Ray is a fictional character from the film Child’s Play. In the film, Chucky was originally a vicious serial killer who dies after being shot. His soul then transfers into a doll, but he is dead on possessing another human body. The doll in the film has become one of the most iconic figures in the horror genre, but did you know that they re-used the animatronic doll from the film for something else?
The original doll that was used in the movie “Child’s Play” was stripped and re-used as the Crypt Keeper in “Tales From the Crypt”. For the newer Chucky films, a different doll was used.
The Child’s Play Franchise
Child’s Play is a horror slasher film created by Don Mancini in 1988. The film focuses on Chucky, a serial killer whose soul transfers onto a seemingly innocent doll after performing a voodoo ritual to escape death.
The film was originally released on November 9, 1988. It worked with a small budget of $9 million and was able to gross about $33 million in the US and Canada and $44 million worldwide. The success of the first film spawned several sequels with the most recent film released in 2019. (Source: IMDB)
How Many Films Does the Child’s Play Series Have?
As of today, there are a total of eight Child’s Play movies. However, the most recent film released in 2019, is a reboot and fans don’t really consider it as part of the series since Don Mancini was no longer involved in the project.
Here are the eight titles of the series:
- Child’s Play released in 1988
- Child’s Play 2 released in 1990
- Child’s Play 3 released in 1991
- Bride of Chucky released in 1998
- Seed of Chucky released in 2004
- Curse of Chucky released in 2013
- Cult of Chucky released in 2017
- Child’s Play, the reboot, released in 2019
Judging from the titles of the film series, the whole sequence is pretty self-explanatory. To get a better understanding of the entire series, it is recommended that the first two films released in 1988 and 1990, respectively, would be first on your watch list. (Source: Fansided)
Why was the Film Series Controversial?
While we all know how media influences people. Unfortunately, some people took their obsession with the series to a whole new level. There have been reports of some crimes that were committed because of watching the Child’s Play series.
In December 1992, Suzane Capper, a 16-year-old, was tortured and killed by four people who were said to be influenced by the film. During the process of torturing Capper, the group played the song Hi, I’m Chucky, Wanna Play?
In 1993, two boys abducted and murdered a toddler by the name of James Bulger. They were also influenced by the film but the allegation was heavily denied by the authorities. There were more incidents and reports of crimes linked to the unhealthy obsession with the film. Some countries went as far as disallowing posters of the film to be shown. (Souce: News Hub)