Child's Play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia based on a story by Mancini. The film stars Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon with Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky. Its plot follows a widowed mother who gives a new doll to her son, unaware that it is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.
Child's Play was released in the United States on November 9, 1988, by MGM/UA Communications Co. through its United Artists label. It received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed more than $44 million against a production budget of $9 million. Along with the film gaining a cult following, the box office success also spawned a media franchise that includes a series of six sequels, a television series, merchandise, novels, comic books, a video game, and a reboot. The original Child's Play film was distributed by United Artists, although the rights to the series were sold to Universal Pictures in 1990. MGM (via United Artists) retained the rights to the original film and Orion Pictures (through United Artists Releasing) also distributed the reboot in 2019. A sequel, Child's Play 2, was released in 1990.
Plot
Police Detective Mike Norris chases fugitive serial killer Charles Lee Ray, known as the "Lakeshore Strangler", through the streets of Chicago and into a toy store while Ray's accomplice, Eddie Caputo, flees the scene with Norris' partner, Jack Santos, pursuing him. Shot by Norris and dying, Ray invokes the power of Damballa and casts a voodoo spell to transfer his soul into a nearby Good Guy-brand talking doll. The store is struck by lightning, causing an explosion. Shortly thereafter, Norris finds Ray's lifeless body next to the doll.
Widow Karen Barclay's six-year-old son Andy wants a Good Guy doll for his birthday, but she was not able to save up enough to afford one. At work, her best friend Maggie informs her that a homeless peddler outside has gotten his hands on a Good Guy. Karen excitedly buys the doll and gives it to Andy. He is immediately captivated by the doll, who introduces itself as "Chucky".
That night, Maggie babysits Andy while Karen covers another employee's shift. Chucky comes to life and attacks Maggie, striking her with a hammer and causing her to fall out of a window to her death. Karen returns home to the crime scene where Norris is serving as lead detective. Norris believes Andy may have been involved in Maggie's death, while Andy claims that Chucky may have been involved. Andy tells his mother that Chucky told him his real name was "Charles Lee Ray".
The next day, Chucky convinces Andy to skip school and take a train ride to a bad neighborhood. Chucky sneaks into an abandoned home where Caputo is hiding out and kills him in a gas explosion in revenge for abandoning him. Andy is discovered by police and again considered a suspect, and Karen is informed that he will be admitted to a psychiatric hospital for observation. Karen returns home with Chucky and discovers that the doll has been moving and speaking without batteries. After Karen threatens to throw him into the fire, Chucky violently comes alive and attacks her, then escapes. Karen goes to Norris, but he does not believe her story.
Karen finds the peddler and asks for more information, but he attempts to rape her; Norris saves her and forces the peddler to admit that he stole the doll from the destroyed toy store where Norris killed Ray. Norris, still skeptical, is later attacked by Chucky. He shoots the doll, whose wound inexplicably bleeds and causes pain. Chucky escapes to his former voodoo instructor John, demanding answers; John informs him that the longer his soul remains in the doll, the more "human" the doll will become. He refuses to help and is tortured by Chucky with a voodoo doll, forcing him to reveal that in order to escape the doll's body, he must transfer his soul to the first human he revealed his true identity to: Andy. Chucky leaves as Karen and Norris arrive and find John bleeding to death. Before dying, John tells them that in order to kill Chucky, they must destroy his heart.
Chucky arrives at the psychiatric hospital and kills Andy's doctor with an electroshock therapy device. Andy flees home, where Chucky knocks him out. As Chucky prepares to possess Andy, Karen and Norris arrive. Chucky wounds Norris, but Karen and Andy gain the upper hand, setting him on fire. A burned Chucky attacks again, but Karen shoots his head and several of his limbs off, appearing to kill him. Jack arrives, refusing to believe the trio until Chucky's body bursts through a heat vent and attacks Jack. Norris shoots Chucky's body through the heart, finally killing him. The group leaves to get the wounded Norris to the hospital as a traumatized Andy looks back at Chucky's remains.