Introducing... Child's Play!

As you can tell by the title of this post this is going to be about the introductions to the Child’s Play movies. Of course I mean the two sequels and the original or the shitty ones after Child’s Play 3. Yes, as trivial as the introductions may seem… to me they are some of the most memorable intros to a horror movie (or any movie) that I have seen. I know there are a few people that I have spoken to that understand where I am coming from and why I think so. I am going to try to do my best to explain my reasoning.

Child’s Play 2

The beginning shots of the movie show extreme close-ups of workers scraping off all the burnt wax off the Good Guy (Chucky) doll. They polish up his metal framework and clean the burn wax out of his mouth, then they proceed to put a fresh rubber cover over his metal skull. They spray paint the brown eyebrows and freckles on his face and then they assemble his body parts and put clothes on him. They put batteries into his back and they prop him and Chucky is reborn.

I guess the reason why I enjoy this opening so much is because of how precise and careful the shots and the actions are, especially before the actual doll assembly. You are watching the birth of a killer take place but at the same time it’s still a little happy and somewhat clowny. When it comes to the assembly of the doll parts, I loved the camera angles because they were either canted or they showed the object in perspective, giving the picture a stylized comic-book feel to it.

Child’s Play 3

I will probably remember this one the most out of all the Child’s Play movies because of what it was. It starts off with people coming into the old Good Guy doll factory and cleaning up the place. They use a claw to pick up the melted body of Chucky so that they could throw him out, but as they hoist the melted remains some blood drips into a vat of boiling wax. What happens after is a montage of some really grisly, raw and bloody shots of the max molding and melting back into the doll as the blood spins around it.

It was the photography and the effects that won me over with this opening. The photography is beautifully lit and darkened, giving the picture that grisly macabre feel to the film. We are watching the second re-birth of a killer who is at his wits end and it’s gory, sick and grotesque. Shots of spinning wax and melting blood give the montage this chilling atmosphere. The effects were actually pretty good and some shots (the spinning wax, the ribbons of blood) I wonder how they did it. I loved that they used high-speed film and reversed it for the end shot where Chucky’s head is being remade.

A friend of mine, Jeff Olsen, best described why opening credit scenes can be good for a movie: “[it] gives you a chance to get a drink, get comfy, then enjoy the flick.” I could not agree with him more on this. It sets the mood and the tone of the film and these credits do exactly that. Honestly, they are probably one of my favorite parts in the whole film and it’s something that I always look forward to when the movie starts.