Child's Play (1988)

While the premise of an evil toy has built-in appeal for youthful horror addicts, very little of CHILD'S PLAY is easy to take seriously, from its over-the-top '80s-action beginning to its Terminator -like conclusion (you'll be amazed the actors managed to keep from giggling). Some decent moments early on evoke much sympathy for unfairly accused Andy, and there are particularly effective shudders when the script just allows our fear to do all the work envisioning an ambulatory, killer doll at large. Brief glimpses of the small, scuttling figure around corners, quick cuts to Chucky's head barely moving -- suggestions like that are unexpectedly creepy.

But when the filmmakers finally unleash the full f/x, with Chucky snarling, swearing, biting, knifing, and flinging himself bodily at grown-ups, laughter is the gut reaction, and a parade of sequels ultimately degenerated into comedy, at least getting the inherent stupidity of the whole premise out in the open. Fans might claim to find a touch of social commentary in the ancillary detail that the Good Guy doll is supposed to be (like Tickle Me Elmo and XBoxes in past years) one of those in-demand Christmas gifts that cue shopper frenzies to buy them (as parodied in the non-horror Jingle All the Way). But if this was meant as any sort of slam against toy-industry overcommercialization, sorry; Chucky missed that boat several sequels back.