"Child's Play 3" -- Zach's Take

I'll be straightforward and honest: I really enjoy Child's Play 3. In fact, I like all of the Chucky movies. Sure, they're incredibly silly and not scary in the slightest -- but they are so much fun.

See, Chucky is the kind of the character that Freddy Krueger morphed into. The wise-cracking serial killer who you don't take seriously. But Chucky's character is more consistent, as he was a smartass spewing one-liners since the first film.

To be clear: Child's Play 3 is not a good movie. But it is a good time (mostly). A big part of that is Brad Dourif's vocal performance. He's funny but also kind of sinister. You're totally rooting for Chucky the whole time, and that's not just because all the other characters behave like idiots. He's just kind of a cool dude, except, of course for all the voodoo and soul stealing and killing people stuff.

Actually, I think the only person here who is having more fun than Brad Dourif is Andrew Robinson, who plays a military barber obsessed with a perfect haircut. He just hams it up perfectly; never over-doing it and never under-playing it. Honestly, a whole movie could have been centered around his character -- he's just a bizarre delight to watch.

Also, the direction is actually kind of great. This was Lost veteran Jack Bender's first feature film, but he films what could have been very banal stuff in a stylish way, never really letting anything get boring (until the third act, but that's not entirely his fault). He relishes in the tight, claustrophobic framings that help bring out the oddity and weirdness that this movie exudes.

However, as I mentioned, only two-thirds of this film is actually fun. The last act of the film derails as the climax shifts away from the military school and into a lame carnival ride. Really, it doesn't make a whole lot sense (thematically or logically) to have it take place at a carnival, and feels very forced.

Also, the movie doesn't always go far enough. Chucky at one point switches out paint bullets in guns that are to be used in a war game with real live ammunition. The payoff isn't as great as it could be, as only one person actually dies from this when a whole platoon of soldiers fire at each other, but as a gag, it works well enough.

Overall, maybe this isn't the worst Child's Play movie. It's got enough teeth when it needs to, but considering this is the film that preceded Bride of Chucky, you can see the foundation of humor that was absent in the previous films. This is the first film on our site that I wholeheartedly recommend to the rare horror fan who hasn't already seen it. Just don't expect it to resolve itself all that well.