Now this is just getting ridiculous. At the last Empire count, we reckoned that there were maybe three horror films from the 70s or 80s that hadn’t been scheduled for a remake.
Well, now there are two, for it’s just been announced that creepy killer doll movie Child’s Play is set to get the redo treatment.
"We're going back and remaking the first one,” confirmed the original movie’s producer David Kirschner, talking to Shocktillyoudrop.com, “and even pushing it further and making a very terrifying version of the first one, which is pretty scary as it is."
Quick recap in case you haven’t seen Child’s Play, or any of its four sequels: serial killer (played by Brad Dourif) gets killed, transfers his soul via Satanic methods into child’s doll named Chucky, terrorises his new owner, young Andy Barclay, with a combination of knifeplay and jokes so bad they were rejected by hospital radio DJs.
The first, as is almost always the case, is the best: a creepy and strangely affecting thriller, relatively light on blood, which was directed by Fright Night helmer Tom Holland, and starred Chris Sarandon. The second was meh; the third even meh-er (although it gained notoriety after being linked, erroneously, to the Jamie Bulger trial), and the series only got its mojo back when it dumped the Child’s Play moniker and allowed Chucky to become the star of the show in the sick, twisted and darkly funny Bride Of Chucky and Seed Of Chucky.
Those movies were written (and the latter directed) by Don Mancini, and he’s in talks to oversee the revamp of his own movie, although Kirschner confirmed they may just tweak his original script.
"I think it would be pretty close to it, that's for sure, but there's some other things that we're exploring also, and some twists that we don't want the audience to expect, as far as a couple deaths, where you think you're going in one way and you're going to go in another way as a result of knowing it and it being such a popular franchise."
So expect the hero to get offed in the first 20 minutes, then, although for once we’re not going to condemn this idea. Yes, Child’s Play is an effective little horror, but no more than that, and it might just be time, effects-wise, for Chucky to have some proper big screen fun. After all, there may have been five movies in the series, but the franchise - nor its villain - have reached the status of a Freddy, a Jason or a Michael Myers. Now might be the time.
For more from Kirschner on his plans for a new Child’s Play, including a chilling hint that it might take the Rob Zombie Halloween road and fill in the background of a psycho who should remain vague and mysterious, go here.