don mancini – Horror Ghouls

Child’s Play 3 (1991)

Posted on October 6, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It has now been 8 years since Chucky’s second death, and the Good Guy dolls company have re-opened their abandoned factory. As Chucky’s “corpse“ is being removed, a drop of his blood falls into the molten plastic which is used to produce the new Good Guy dolls, which of course gives him a new body so he can start killing and cursing once again.

Since 8 years have passed, Andy is now 16 years old, and he has been sent to Kent Military School. And yes, his mother is still in the loony bin. At this military school he befriends an 8 year old boy named Ronald Tyler, another cadet named Harold Aubrey, and the spunky female cadet Kristin De Silva whom of course becomes his love interest. His only struggle so far is the sadistic lieutenant colonel Brett C. Shelton, who bullies the cadets and really has one out for Andy. This not nothing compared to the threat of Chucky, who of course has managed to find out where Andy is and gets himself shipped to him as a package. Chucky is in for a surprise, though, as it isn’t Andy who ends up opening the package, but 8 year old Tyler who really, really wants his own Good Guy doll. Chucky decides to tell Tyler his secret, which will give him the opportunity to use a voodoo soul-swapping ritual to take over the kid’s body. None of this goes exactly after Chucky’s plan, but as always he’s determined enough to do anything to get his way.

Child’s Play 3 from 1991 is the third film in the franchise, once again written by Don Mancini but this time directed by Jack Bender, with David Kirschner as executive producer. And this one received mostly negative reviews from critics, and ended up being the lowest-grossing film in the series. The movie was made very shortly after the second film, giving it a tight schedule. It was filmed at the Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, while the rest was filmed in California at Los Angeles and the Universal Studios Lot, with the carnival scenes shot in Valencia, California.

It also became somewhat notorious in the UK as it allegedly inspired a real-life murder of a child named James Bulger, where the killers were two ten year olds. It was said that they had imitated a scene where one of Chucky’s victims were splashed with blue paint, but this was just a rumor mainly based on that the father of one of the boys had rented the film some months earlier. The boy in question had most likely not even seen the movie since he had not been living with his father at the time. What can you say…people always try to blame shit on movies, games and other media.

When it comes to franchises, there will always be those movies considered the “better“ and “worse“ ones. Sometimes you have a dip and rise of varying quality, while other times you have a constant nosedive (like what happened to the Hellraiser franchise, where pretty much none of the movies after the third one seemed like they were made to be Hellraiser movies at all, and the Hellraiser elements felt like they had been shoehorned in). I guess we can say that in Chucky’s case, the character definitely feels more important than the story at this point. And I’m going to guess that this is why Child’s Play 3 was the last movie in the franchise to have “Child’s Play“ in the title, and the upcoming ones were always titled Chucky-something-or-other. And that’s very understandable.

What’s mainly different this time around, is that Andy is now closer to becoming an adult. Thus the movie spends some time with how he interacts with the other people, including his love interest, all of which isn’t that much of interest to be honest. You just wanna see Chucky messing around and killing people. The animatronics and effects are still really good, and Chucky looks more menacing than ever. And while the death scenes are a bit mixed (there’s one where a guy literally just gets a heart attack because he’s so scared by seeing Chucky), I loved the mean spirited garbage truck scene.

Many seem to consider Child’s Play 3 to be the “black sheep“ of the franchise, and while I personally find it far from the best, I still had a good time with it.

Director: Jack Bender
Writer: Don Mancini
Country & year: USA, 1991
Actors: Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers, Travis Fine, Dean Jacobson, Brad Dourif, Peter Haskell, Dakin Matthews, Andrew Robinson, Burke Byrnes
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103956/

Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Posted on October 5, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

It has now been two years since Chucky died, and the manufacturer of the Good Guy dolls are still trying to recover from all the negative publicity. Easier said than done when everyone thinks your product is faulty to the point of becoming a death threat. So, in order to recover from the bad reputation, they decide to “prove“ that nothing was actually wrong with the doll at all, and takes the Chucky doll’s remains and reassemble him into…not exactly as good as new, but at least whole. Sounds like an excellent idea to reassure their stockholders, right? Well, after having made Chucky whole again, a power surge suddenly electrocutes and kills one of the workers, and Chucky comes alive.

Then we’re heading over to Andy who has been in foster care after the Chucky incident, since his mother was institutionalized after she refused to back down from the claim that the doll was alive. He is now trying to live a normal life. That is, as normal as you possibly can when your possessed doll killed people and got your mommy thrown into the loony bin. Chucky, however, still needs Andy to get a proper body, and manages to find out his new living location. He figures out a way to get himself inside the house, and takes the place of another Good Guy doll already there, who is named Tommy. Yes, the Good Guy dolls are produced to come with different names. Andy soon finds out that Chucky has re-entered his life, but the problem is that no one believes him…at least not at first.

Child’s Play 2 from 1990 is the sequel to the first 1988 film, this time written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia with Alex Vincent and Brad Dourif reprising their roles. Tom Holland was asked to return as director, but he refused due to conflicts with the film’s producer David Kirschner and United Artists during the making of the first film. While the first film was mostly shot on location in Chicago, this one was shot on Universal Studios Lot, and the toy factory scenes were shot in an abandoned warehouse in Valencia, California.

Kevin Yagher returned to make the special effects for the film, and he even directed some of the scenes too. The puppetry and animatronics look great, and Chucky’s facial expressions are even more wild. He’s just as foul-mouthed as ever, and Brad Dourif’s voice has pretty much merged with the character at this point. Dourif is the only Chucky by now, with it impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.

It is overall an entertaining sequel with some decent kills and great effects, but it is the climax of the film that goes in a really fun direction, and the most impressive part of this sequel. It’s using the toy factory setting, where there’s a maze of who knows how many Good Guy doll boxes. While it was obviously filmed in a way where it was later edited so it looked like the maze was considerably much bigger than it was, it still looked really cool. Then the actual ending of the movie is so goofy and fun, and definitely one of the biggest highlights in the entire franchise! Well, at least in my opinion. Child’s Play 2 offers more of the comedic tone than the first film, but it fits well together with how the movie also goes for a more crazy ride.

Director: John Lafia
Writer: Don Mancini
Country & year: USA, 1990
Actors: Alex Vincent, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham, Christine Elise, Brad Dourif, Grace Zabriskie, Peter Haskell, Beth Grant, Greg Germann,
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099253/

Child’s Play (1988)

Posted on October 4, 2026 by HorrorGhouls

Charles Lee Ray aka The Lakeshore Strangler is a serial killer who is fleeing from the police in Chicago. Police Detective Mike Norris is at his heels, and inside a toy store Norris manages to shoot him. Before dying from the gunshot wound, Ray invokes the power of Damballa, a serpent spirit in Haitian Voodoo, and asks to have his soul transferred into the “Good Guy“ doll nearby. A lightning strikes the building, and Ray now lies lifeless next to the doll. Looks like the serial killer’s murder spree has come to an end…unless perhaps the voodoo spell had some merit? Yeah, we know his spirit has been successfully transferred into the doll, of course we do.

Ray certainly chose his toy wisely, as the Good Guy talking dolls are very popular. And of course also expensive. Karen Barclay, a widow with a six year old son named Andy, struggles to save up money for one. Her friend from work suggests that she can buy a doll from a homeless peddler outside, who’s gotten his hands on one and sells it cheaply. Wonder why. Well, Karen decides to put her morals to the side for this little occasion in order to make her son happy. And of course Andy is over to moon, who is totally captivated by the doll who presents itself as Chucky. While all seems fine and well, the little boy Andy understands little about all the things the doll is saying to him. How could a little kid possibly know that his favorite toy is possessed by the soul of a dead serial killer? And Ray, now aka Chucky, isn’t too happy with his plastic body. He wants a new one…one made out of real flesh and blood.

Child’s Play is the 1988 killer doll film which doesn’t really need much presentation. We all know who Chucky is. The film was directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia. It was based on an original script by Mancini, which was first titled Batteries Not Included, then changed into Blood Buddy, and it was more a whodunit story which left the ending ambiguous as to whether it was the doll or the kid who killed people. Well, in the new script there’s no doubt from the very start that the doll is a serial killer, and a new horror star was thus born. The film has since spun several sequels, a reboot, a series, and tons of merchandise. Chucky, whether you like him or not, is one of the most iconic and popular horror film characters that just never seem to die.

The “Good Guy“ dolls were inspired by the actual My Buddy dolls by Hasbro, and you can definitely see the resemblance. In fact, Chucky’s name was originally Buddy in the script, which the writers decided to change into Chucky instead so they didn’t have to worry about Hasbro getting their lawyers involved. Better play it safe, buddy! And Chucky definitely is a blast to watch on screen, in all his practical glory. The doll was controlled by a whole team of nine puppeteers, led by Brock Winkless. Chucky’s mouth was moved via radio control, and in some scenes Chucky was also played by child actors. There’s no doubt that Chucky’s character is one filled with personality, a foul-mouthed killer doll who definitely slashed his place into the horror community, made at a perfect time when cheesiness could so easily fit into an otherwise serious story. Because yeah, the premise in Child’s Play is laughable and sounds schlocky as hell, but it all just, you know, works. The music for the film also fits really well with the electronic/orchestral mix. It was composed by Joseph Renzetti, using mostly electronic music with some orchestral elements. Originally Holland had planned for the film to have a fully orchestral score, but Renzetti thought the electronic soundtrack would be best.

Performances are overall pretty good, especially Brad Dourif who is voicing Chucky and delivers the perfect maniacal and sardonic performance. This, combined with the effects of the doll with its various facial expressions ironically makes Chucky looking more alive than many of the flesh ‘n blood slashers villains from other horror movies. Auditions for the film’s roles were held at the Hollywood United Methodist Church in 1987, where Tom Holland were quick to cast Chris Sarandon for the role of Detective Norris, as he had previously worked with him in his first feature film Fright Night (1985). As for Andy’s role, hundreds of kids were considered, and the role was given to Alex Vincent, despite the boy’s lack of acting experience compared to several of the other kids. The reason? Apparently their hearts melted a little when Alex pretended to forget his lines because he didn’t want to say any curse words in front of his mother. Aw. How cute and innocent. That being said, the performance does leave a little to be desired, especially when he’s supposed to be scared.

I think Child’s Play is a fun 80’s slasher psycho doll movie, one with that certain amount of charm that only the 80’s (and 90’s, for that matter) could produce. It’s cheesy and energetic, and Chucky and his foul-mouthed character is always fun to watch. I also liked the somewhat cheesy twist of involving the lesser known Voodoo spirit Damballa, rather than going for the usual satanic twist of making a deal with the devil.

Fun Fact: when the film was released, a crowd of worried people protested at the main entrance of MGM because they thought the film would “incite violence in children“, and wanted it to be banned. And it actually got banned in Finland for “excessive graphic violence“, a ban that was lifted in the early 2000’s.

Director: Tom Holland
Writers: Don Mancini, John Lafia, Tom Holland
Country & year: USA, 1988
Actors: Catherine Hicks, Chris Sarandon, Alex Vincent, Brad Dourif, Dinah Manoff, Tommy Swerdlow, Jack Colvin, Neil Giuntoli, Juan Ramírez, Alan Wilder
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094862/