Child’s Play 20th Anniversary DVD review

Childs Play 20th Anniversary DVD cover
Childs Play 20th Anniversary DVD cover

Wanna play? Voodoo meets terror when film’s most un-likely horror icon returns in Child’s Play: Chucky’s 20th Birthday Edition, which was released on DVD on September 9th from MGM Home Entertainment. I’ve always loved this stylish thriller that shook both audiences and the box office, when it was released two decades ago, Child’s Play

The featurettes on the disc are made just for fans of the franchise, describing how Chucky came about, how the original puppets were made and of course, the behind the scenes documentary.

Directed by Tom Holland (Psycho 2, The Langoliers) and featuring character actor Brad Dourif (Deadwood) as the voice of Chucky, the film also stars Catherine Hicks (7th Heaven) and Chris Sarandon (The Princess Bride). The Child’s Play: Chucky’s 20th Birthday Edition DVD contains all new special features, including select scene commentary by Chucky himself, all-new interviews, vintage featurettes and more.

Child’s Play follows the aftermath of serial killer Charles Lee Ray, who after being mortally wounded by police, barricades himself in a toy store and uses an ancient ritual to transfer his spirit into the must-have toy of the year. When young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) gets the vexed doll as a birthday gift, bodies begin to pile up as Chucky devastates the once sleepy town. After the six-year-old’s babysitter is violently pushed out of a window to her death, nobody believes him when he says that Chucky, his new birthday doll, did it until things start going terribly wrong…dead wrong. When everyone around Andy finally realizes his stories are true it’s too little too late. Chucky will stop at nothing as the soul of Charles Lee Ray wants a human body. And when an ensuing rampage of gruesome murders lead a detective (Chris Sarandon) back to the same toy, he discovers that the real terror that a deranged doll has plans to transfer his evil spirit into young Andy.

My Final Word: This is a fantastic DVD for fans of the franchise, horror fans, and anyone who really wants to relive a well done piece of camp history, and get the background information on the film and its production.

Special Features

  • Audio Commentary with Alex Vincent, Catherine Hicks and Chucky designer Kevin Yagher
  • Audio Commentary with Producer David Kirschner and Screenwriter Don Mancini
  • Select Scene Chucky Commentary
  • Evil Comes in Small Packages Documentary
  • The Birth of Chucky
  • Creating the Horror
  • Unleashed
  • Chucky: Building a Nightmare Featurette
  • A Monster Convention Featurette
  • Vintage Featurette: “Introducing Chucky: The Making of Child’s Play”
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Photo Gallery
  • Trailer Farm