4) Child’s Play 3
Child’s Play 3 is where we officially start to lose the original Chucky, as Jack Bender’s film marks this devil doll’s turn towards the violently comedic – but it doesn’t quite get there properly. Mancini’s script has some pretty funny one-liners and does have some scary moments, and you can tell he’s trying to push through some comedy as well, but the atmosphere throughout our second sequel doesn’t really permit such laughs. You’re stuck in a weird place where you’re not sure if you should laugh or hide, and you end up doing not much of either.
Playing off the ongoing feud between Chucky and Andy Barclay (played by an older actor now, Justin Whalin), Chucky is recreated once again by a toy company that just won’t let the Good Guy brand die, and he tracks Andy down to Kent Military School. A murderous doll in a place with weaponry, soldiers, and strict regulations, sounds like a recipe for success, no?
Sadly, the whole Child’s Play formula was becoming stale by this point, as this was now the third film where Chucky was hunting Andy. It almost gets to the point where you’re forced to ask, “How can Andy keep fighting this, and how many times can we keep watching it?” There are some indulgent kills, and Chucky has some shining moments, but as the credits roll, it’s hard not to think the franchise had lost much of its steam by this point.
Aside from the recycled feel, there were also some really hard points to swallow, especially towards the end when the cadets square off on a wooded hill. Chucky is seen sitting in plain view, talking and holding a grenade, yet when a boy gets shot by a rival cadet (Chucky switched the painball ammo with live rounds), other kids still freak out on Andy and blame him. Um, you just saw an evil doll sitting on a rock and threatening people – did you miss that whole exchange?
You can only resurrect a possessed doll so many times, and Child’s Play 3 didn’t bode well for future endeavors.
