Child's Play 3 (1991) review

11. Child’s Play 3 (1991)

Directed by: Jack Bender

Produced by: Robert Latham Brown

Screenplay by: Don Mancini

Starring: Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers

“Child’s Play 2” was a pretty solid success at the turn of the decade, as the horror industry attempted to keep momentum with the slasher craze. But literally not even 10 months later, Universal hurried out “Child’s Play 3” in the summer of 1991, and while the last film had logistical problems with the story, they weren’t distracting enough to spoil the experience; this one, however, is full of nonsensical logic, and surrounded by boring characters, a lame setting, and rushed special effects. It takes all the good will and overall likeability of the first two movies, and buries it in favor of a generic plot that doesn’t belong in a “Chucky” movie. Pop quiz, does anyone want to see Chucky (Brad Dourif) infiltrate a military school? Well, this is what you get, like it or not.

Picking up eight years after the events of the last film, it begins with Play Pals Corporation attempting to resume manufacturing of Good Guy Dolls in the now-abandoned factory; yeah, apparently everyone just left this place to collect dust and didn’t gather anything for evidence, but whatever. Blood seeps from Chucky’s melted corpse and is mixed with the plastic, reviving him in a new body; soon after, he kills Play Pals CEO Sullivan (Peter Haskell)—I don’t know why, since it’s his blatant capitalism that pushed for remanufacturing—and locates Andy Barclay (Justin Whalin) through computer records. He’s now 16 and attending Kent Military School, having failed to fit in at several foster homes; he befriends nerdy Harold Whitehurst (Dean Jacobson), develops a crush on the sassy Kristin DeSilva (Perrey Reeves), and is bullied by lieutenant colonel Brett Shelton (Travis Fine). Meanwhile, Chucky mails himself to Andy, but is intercepted by 8-year-old cadet Ronald Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers), who’s a Good Guy fan. Initially annoyed, Chucky resolves to transfer his soul into Tyler instead, but is frequently interrupted at this confined, militarized facility, which Andy tries to navigate and stop him again.

The easiest way to describe the tone is less horror and more just a weird mishmash of “Stripes” and “Full Metal Jacket.” Like most people, I really like those movies, the former because it’s hilarious and the latter because it’s so brutal and uncompromising, yet deeply personal. But this just feels like a stale imitation of those storylines and adds nothing unique to them; in fact, they directly steal lines and concepts. Even taking away how fundamentally off this idea is, the situations aren’t funny enough to be satirical and aren’t nasty enough to be straight either; it’s just a lot of random interactions with military stereotypes, and you’re just tapping your foot saying, “Where’s Chucky already?” Andy’s now played by Justin Whalin, and while I appreciate the concept of him lamenting a lost childhood, he isn’t very interesting, although he and Kristin’s scenes are sweet enough I suppose, Tyler is just kind of irritating, Shelton is a typical dumb bully, you get the idea. The most memorable character is Sgt. Botnick (Andrew Robinson), the camp barber who is WAY too enthusiastic about cutting these kids’ hair, and he doesn’t even do it well; he declares them bald, when they’re anything but.

So while I did say the movie leaves you waiting for the Chucky scenes, said scenes don’t improve the quality that much. His Charles Lee Ray face is pretty much the same throughout: slightly pinched with often gritted teeth. Some of his walking shots don’t look very polished; this was the first film to use computer technology with his visuals, and I think coupled with the fast production, he just looks awkward at times. Not only that, but so much of Chucky’s actions just don’t make sense; after he escapes a garbage truck, he goes to Andy’s room to tell him his plans for Tyler. Why the hell would he do that? All he’s done is put himself in a position where the only person who knows who he is has a chance to stop him for no reason. Other various murders are completely pointless; I already mentioned Sullivan, but there’s also the garbage truck driver—he already escaped, why kill him?—and Botnick. I know he’s got a penchant for killing, that’s his whole character, but in a place where everyone’s closely monitored and he wants total privacy to do his voodoo spell, this can only draw more attention to himself.

With that said, Brad Dourif is still trying to make this work, and he does some of the sick, twisted actions you’d want from Chucky. But it’s hard to even get sucked into it, considering the cinematography’s overuse of zoom-ins and cheap musical stings. You’re also just left questioning a lot of things. Why are there live bullet rounds and grenades at a school? What pop-up carnival has such an elaborate haunted house with a real scythe sharp enough to cut half of Chucky’s face off? How can toy darts incapacitate Sullivan? Why does blood mixing with a whole vat of plastic create just one living Chucky doll? Well, the answer to the last question is that writer Don Mancini—who admitted to being strapped for ideas with the movie—wanted to have multiple Chucky dolls, but budget constraints prevented it. I’d like to say this film was just a victim of studio interference and an impetuous production schedule, but I think it needed a lot of reworking before you’d call it anything resembling good.

So does anything actually work about “Child’s Play 3”? Well, I think the opening credits featuring the Chucky doll slowly being put together are pretty neat visually. Chucky screwing with Sullivan by setting up other dolls and toys in his office is a little funny. Kristin up until the third act is a pretty cool character; I just like her “give-no-f***s” attitude, directly calling out Shelton’s behavior and casually flipping her hair around when Botnick does his breakfast inspection. And for as overblown as this haunted house chase is, it’s honestly a lot of fun, featuring probably the most definitive and gnarly way Chucky gets killed, falling into a giant fan and getting shredded to pieces. But all in all, it’s still a drab, underwhelming movie; director Jack Bender has almost exclusively directed TV shows, and this has all the pacing and stakes of a TV show. If this movie was a Play Pals toy, I would probably call it defective and have it scrapped for parts; just skip ahead to “Bride.”

My rating: 4/10