Three decades ago, audiences around the world were introduced to a diabolical little doll with an unforgettable name: Chucky. The pint-sized, knife-wielding villain of the Child’s Play franchise was a red-haired menace that haunted the dreams of anyone with a toy collection and spawned a beloved series of horror movies that saw Chucky kill, die, get married, somehow have a child, die again, and possess human hosts that he forces to do his murderous bidding. Now, 31 years since the original Chucky terrified audiences, he’s been resurrected for the modern age.
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Child’s Play will be relaunched this summer from Orion Pictures, and Chucky is getting a makeover worthy of Silicon Valley. Gone are the haunted toy stores with voodoo curses. (In case you’ve forgotten, the original Chucky was the result of a serial killer transferring his soul into a lifeless doll as he was on the verge of death.) They’ve been replaced with a doll equipped with artificial intelligence and a toy company — the creepy, reckless Kaslan Corporation headed up by company patriarch, Henry Kaslan (Tim Matheson) — focused on pursuing next-generation technology no matter the cost. Enter Chucky: Internet of Things-ready killer doll, furnished with military-grade sensors and a cloud-based software package.
This take on Child’s Play is a complete retelling of the original story, and the nods to growing concerns about modern technology, like artificial intelligence and always-listening devices, are welcome updates. From the first look — the shots of gleaming factory floors, monochrome research labs, augmented reality goggles, kids hypnotized by a brightly lit tablet — Child’s Play seems to be a tech-weary satire disguised as a horror movie, a conceit that gives the movie another nefarious layer. One thing is for sure from the trailer: This is not the Chucky we all met three decades ago. It’s something much smarter — and much more diabolical.