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Child's Play III
(Doll/Possession/Slasher) 6******skulls
*Blood* *Violent* *Strong Language* *No Nudity* *No Sexual Situations* *Gory*
1991/Color/89 Min./MCA Universal Home Video & Universal City Studios/Rated R
Director..........Jack Bender
Screenplay....Don Mancini
Music.............Cory Lerios & John D'Andrea
Producer........Robert Latham Brown
Executive Producer....David Kirschner
Chucky Doll created by David Kirschner
Chucky designed and engineered by Kevin Yagher
Characters created by Don Mancini
Dramatis Personae
Justin Whalin
Perrey Reeves
Jeremy Sylvers
Peter Haskell
Dakin Matthews
Travis Fine
Dean Jacobson
Matthew walker
Sergeant Botnick.......Andrew Robinson
Voice of Chucky.. ......Brad Dourif
Critique: Like its predecessors, this is an expensive film with a professional score and fine camera work. As always, the initial premise in this series is a bit shaky (a possessed doll), but we do get used to it. Chucky's Jack Nicholson-Shining imitation is pretty effective. The sadism of the military school is a nice backdrop for Chucky's more lethal brand. This installment continues to keep up a lively pace. as Andy does a good job, as do the other young actors. Also effective are the scenes in the fun house. Lost in this one, however, is the sense of urgency as the doll comes alive, and will be stuck in the doll body. Also missing is the terror we feel in the small child. Although it's effective when Tyler is in the funhouse and is as scared by the exhibits as he is by Chucky, Tyler is not as young as Andy was in the original installments, and the military school backdrop is not as easy to identify with as the mundane apartment and house setting of the original.
Plot Summary: Chucky's slagged body, a gooey ruin dripping with blood from the events of part one are picked up by a robot arm. That blood gets mixed into the vat which proceeds to produce the new batch of Good Guys. Questions of identity being as vexing as they are in such a case, who's to say that the first one out isn't Chucky? We start off with the board discussing the wisdom of putting the Good Guy back on the market after all the scandals. There is worry about another Good Guy being effected in the way Andy Barclay was eight years before. But business is business. The president is presented with the first Good Guy of the nineties. Putting alone in his office, the president may have a little visitor. The president soon begins to regret his decision to start up the Good Guy line again. Nothing like a strangulation to get the circulation going. Chucky learns from the president's computer that Andy Barclay has been remanded to the Kent military school resulting from a history of juvenile delinquent activities. Andy has his hair cut in preparation for his entry in the camp and gets to watch the first Good Guy commercials coming across the air waves. Andy and some of the others get leaned on by Lt. Colonel Shelton, apparently the head student at the academy. A female student, DeSilva, who isn't brow beaten catches Andy's attention. He soon strikes up a relationship with her at the gun range. A large package arrives for the new kid. However, it falls down a fight of stairs, and the messenger sees that it's a Good Guy doll. When Chucky gets out, he reasons that he's got a new body, so the first person he tells his secret to gets to be the potential recipient of his soul. It looks like Tyler is it. He starts up a game of hide the soul. Pretty soon those dark clouds start to form, but the ritual is disturbed by some adults. When Andy sees the officer dragging a Good Guy doll across the parade field he is decidedly discomfited. Chucky ends up in the garbage and has some fun with the garbage man. When Andy hears the screams he is further concerned. Eventually, Chucky shows up in Andy's room. When he starts wrestling with Chuck, in comes Shelton. He's not impressed and decides he's got a new whipping boy. When Andy goes to look for the confiscated doll, he's caught looking for the Good Guy. The whole barracks is made to march. Tyler, fortunately, decides to play some hide and go seek with Chucky, who he considers to be his new friend. A few of the female students break into the records office and stop the process once again. When Colonel Cochrane arrives and sees Chucky out on the floor he's a bit surprised, when Chucky comes at him with a knife, Cochrane's fragile heart does the rest. The next day, Andy tries to warn Tyler but Tyler seems pretty skeptical. When the barber tries to give Chucky a hair cut, he gets a close shave himself. Andy's roommate, Whitehurst, who walks in on the action, is finally a believer. During war games, Chucky is the only one with live rounds. Whitehurst won't admit what he saw. Tyler's on the other team for war games, so Andy steals the reconnaissance map and goes out on his own to find the "red" team. When he gets there, he hears Tyler has gone off with a new recruit named Charles. Although Tyler gets away momentarily, Chucky grabs Christine (DeSilva) and sets up a massacre for the unsuspecting combatants.
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