SPEAKER_00 0:04

I'm shooting blanks over here.

SPEAKER_04 0:10

Greetings and salutations, and welcome to Hack or Slash. If you're joining us again, welcome back. We're your friends to the end. If this is your first time listening, welcome to the party. We are a horror movie review podcast dedicated to telling you whether a movie is a hack, total joke, waste of time, or a slash.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Totally killer, pun intended.

SPEAKER_04 0:29

We believe horror is for everyone, and as such, we're rating these movies with the perspectives we've gained from our varying walks of life and the flavors of fear we fancy most. My name is Chris, and I'm your friendly neighborhood slasher enthusiast. This week I'm joined by the Superfly Space Guy Mac.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Hi, I'm Chucky, ew.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

The core lover Alexis. Hi, I'm Tommy. And the Scream Queen Paris.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

I hate you all.

SPEAKER_04 0:51

This week we're reviewing the 1990 sequel to a classic film we covered in the early days of our podcast. An episode that has now made it to the archives. You can find our archived episodes at our website, hackerslash.com, but that was a different time with different folks and honestly very different strokes. But we'll do a quick lightning round to bring our new team up to speed on the original. Before we get down to business though, we do have some follow-up.

SPEAKER_00 1:15

You know, Chris, we do have some follow-up. So we recently reviewed a film called Ready or Not, and we, you know, for the most part enjoyed it. I personally had to hack it, but we were curious as to what our fans thought. So we reached out on Twitter, and in our poll this week, the movie actually did very well. 85% of the voters gave it a slash, and only 15% were on my side saying that it was bad. We have a lot of really good comments about this movie. Alan from Instagram said this is a great movie that makes you question, do you want to play games with the in-laws? And I think that's a great takeaway.

SPEAKER_04 1:49

Hell no, Alan.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

We also have a comment from Sean who said this movie was so good. That ending though, side-eye emoji, mind-blown emoji, which really plays a double entendre in reference to that film. And we also want to take a moment to thank one of our latest patrons, Jason. Jason's been digging through the uh episodes in the past few weeks and he's been sharing his feedback, and we really appreciate that from him. In regards to this movie, he said, I saw it opening night. Samara Weaving was great in Babysitter and Ash vs. Evil Dead. Of course it helps that she's gorgeous. Something about those Australian blondes. Loved this movie. I laughed throughout and was very happy with the ending. I figured they'd go with a BS spoiler warning. Oh, they were just crazy and there's no actual deal. Ending, but it was a total slash from me. Thanks, Jason. We appreciate your support. And that's our follow-up.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Alright then. Well, sorry, Jack Chucky's back this week as we break down the 1990s sequel to the film that popularized homicidal dolls, Child's Play. Now we checked out the franchise reboot last year, which featured a different kind of Chucky. A Chucky born of and corrupted by the technology we've seen rapidly evolve in recent years. This week, though, we're looking back at the early days of the Brad Dorf incarnation, a doll possessed by a serial killer in pursuit of a human vessel for his soul. This movie follows Andy as he's working his way through the foster system. In the wake of the first film's events, his mother backed up Historian court proceedings and was subsequently admitted to psychiatric observation. The police denied everything, of course, and now Andy is left to navigate a world in which no one believes him. A world in which Chucky is still out there. This week we're talking about Child's Play 2. Now, obviously, this is a different team from when we first covered the original, so let's get this taken care of right up front. Child's Play, 1988, the first coming of Chucky. Was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_00 3:38

I had to give it a slash. I rewatched it before watching the sequel. Turns out I hadn't actually watched the whole thing. Uh, I'd only seen the beginning parts, but uh Chucky was a really major source of trauma in my childhood, so uh it's still scary to this day. And for that, it's a slash.

SPEAKER_03 3:56

I love that. I too was the same way and very terrified. Um, and I definitely gave this a slash back then.

SPEAKER_02 4:04

The first movie is definitely a slash for me, and it always reminds me of the doll that I had growing up, the My Buddy doll. And I think My Buddy was one of the dolls that was like an inspiration for the dolls in these movies, and that just makes me like like these movies even more.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Ew, wait, so this was real?

SPEAKER_04 4:21

Not necessarily, but we'll uncover that as we can as we continue on. It was more like a commentary on like consumerism and marketing and whatnot. But I'm happy to know that you all would have slashed the original Child's Play. I don't believe it was a universal slash the first time around, but I of course loved it. Now, who had seen Child's Play 2 before?

SPEAKER_03 4:39

So super funny. I've grrew up with this. It's crazy. I remember I short story, grew up um on this. My stepdad introduced me to this one at a very young age. Nightmares of Chucky stabbing my mom in the back while she's putting me to bed. And yes, uh, it was crazy. Yeah, this is really funny, Alexis. So funny.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

It's relatable.

SPEAKER_03 5:06

I know. It's so relatable. And this Chucky still scares me to this day. Um, I'm very familiar with their franchise. Um, I definitely have seen like The Bride of Chucky, um the one they just came out on Netflix with uh like a year or so ago. So I've seen like the newer ones, um, but believe it or not, like the first like three that were made very close together, um, I had not seen except for the first one. So this is like my I say my first time because I think I caught this on TV maybe like last year and watched the end of it.

SPEAKER_04 5:36

Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 5:37

So I had seen, yeah. So I was like, oh, what is this?

SPEAKER_04 5:40

So you you've kind of seen it, but not really.

SPEAKER_03 5:43

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:44

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

For me, I, you know, when I was watching the first one this week, I thought I knew it was gonna happen, um, but I didn't because I hadn't actually finished that movie ever before. Uh, but what I did remember was everything that happens in the second one, as it turns out. Uh so I don't know when I saw this movie, but a lot of it has been blacked out in my mind. But watching it all unfold again, I remembered everything. And I was like, okay, I've definitely seen this one. And yet there's still some unsorted fragments of Chucky in my mind. So I'm thinking maybe I've seen parts of, if not all, of the third one as well. Who's to say? I don't know. I need therapy to unlock these memories.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

I have seen every Child's Play movie. Now my memory of each one is not perfect, but looking through the list here, I've definitely seen each one, and a couple of them I have seen multiple times. Child's Play, Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3. I've probably seen a good two to three times each. I have seen the latest Child's Play movie once. I just watched it within the last few months, and it was pretty fantastic. The other movies I've probably seen once.

SPEAKER_03 6:45

Seed of Chucky. I like that one. That is such a controversial pick.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

My memory of that one is is pretty light. Like I remember Curse of Chucky a little bit more, Cult of Chucky a little bit more, uh Seed of Chucky, I don't remember that well, Bride of Chucky, I remember pretty well. But yeah, one through three, I definitely remember the most because I've seen them the most times.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

I love that. I've seen the films in this franchise a number of times, and it's look it realistically, it's not my favorite franchise. The first two installments have generally been my favorite among them, though. I love the approach that we get of like early Chucky. The movies tend to get more absurd the further you go, and there's certainly like a noticeable shift as soon as you start getting Chucky in the title versus Child's Play. But Alexis, since you kinda have seen it, but you kind of didn't, what were you expecting from this movie going into it?

SPEAKER_03 7:34

Um, I definitely wasn't expecting like a continuation of the uh first movie. I was definitely just, hey, he's Chucky's just gonna terrorize another family, you know, or someone got a doll, and you know, Chucky's just finding his way trying to terrorize and you know, be very violent in some sort of way to another family. But I definitely appreciated that it was a continuation from the first one.

SPEAKER_04 8:00

Oh, right on. For Paris Mac, you both have seen the second one before. How are you guys feeling while you're watching this one?

SPEAKER_00 8:06

I will admit that being a near 30-year-old man, I did feel scared. I did feel tense, I felt anxious, and it was a rough go for me.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

This is amazing, and I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

I was not scared, but I did feel it was pretty entertaining. I had, you know, some some decent memories of this movie as I was watching it though. I realized, like, man, this is pretty short. I think I remember pretty much everything that happens in this movie. And it was a good time. It was a it was a short but interesting ride.

SPEAKER_03 8:37

I too was entertained. Um, I definitely love this uh franchise just because it's so um humorous and they definitely have a lot of one-liners in here, and I also had like a lot of WTF moments, which we can get to after the spoiler break. Mostly just like random things that happen in movies that you're like, okay. But a lot of them popped up in this one that I was curious about.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

Quite frankly, though, the entire Chuck E franchise can be summarized as a series of WTF moments, realistically. Very so it's not hard to find.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

It's a WTF premise.

SPEAKER_04 9:12

Really? Honestly. Now, it's been a long time since I've seen this particular one. I knew it wasn't going to be the same brand of like can be nonsense we get from Chucky later, but I still found myself entertained, which was a pleasant surprise. And I was also pleasantly surprised by just how much it works. I feel like the more you see new Chucky, the less seriously you can take old Chucky. But I was really happy to be proven wrong while I was watching it. And I was also disappointed in retrospect, looking at the 2019 reboot that we saw, that I didn't make more connections to this movie. I'm so disappointed in myself. I wasn't frightened, but I feel like this is definitely peaked Chucky in my mind. So this is like the Chucky of Nightmares versus like the lewd, lascivious, inappropriately funny Chucky that you get later on. And I can see why this movie would have scarred people. I can see why it scares you, Paris. I can see why it get got to you as a young kid, Alexis. Because honestly, Chucky's face is menacing straight up. He is not a good-looking dude.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

Honestly, one of the ugliest things I've ever seen in my entire life to this day.

SPEAKER_03 10:16

It's the red hair.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

No, it's the blue eyes, too. There are plenty of beautiful red-headed people with blue eyes. I think it's I think it's like the ratio of his facial features that makes it frightening to people.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

The teeth. It's the teeth.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Oh, the teeth do a good job.

SPEAKER_04 10:32

It's also how fried his hair is and just like stands up straight. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Like Oh god, it's so bad. It's so dry.

SPEAKER_04 10:39

There's literally nothing about him that works. Uh-uh. So red hair, yes, red hair is beautiful. However, Chucky is not beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Yeah, it's crazy because um I was really surprised that because I think I'm I mean, I'm familiar with the franchise, but more towards the end of the franchise, um, where you kind of get this, like, like you said, really crazy, off-the-wall, kind of rude. If that's a light word to use for him. Um, and then you just get like all he he's scary, but he just has a whole bunch of scars on his face. So it's nice to kind of see a little bit more cleaned up. Um, but yeah, I was surprised at like just how menacing it was because I thought I'd get a lot more of the humor, a lot more of the violence, and just shocking value, but I didn't get that. Um, well, I take that back. I got it, I got it in a good ratio.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Uh, for me, I was surprised by one, how this still managed to scare me to this day, years later. Um, but more specifically, like how, like you guys are saying, there's definitely uh some some moments of like comedy in this. Um, and Chucky's like a central part of some of those moments. Um, but even when it was like taking that direction, I still was scared. Like there's some moments where there's like nothing particularly aggressive happening, but I'm still just like, I hate this so much. I want this to not be happening.

SPEAKER_04 11:59

It's because of his fucked up face.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

It's so many things. I actually was able to break it down while watching this, but we could talk about that a little bit later. Um, I think I've like dissected what it is for me that makes me hate this.

SPEAKER_02 12:09

I was mostly surprised by the fact that this film had a phenomenal ending to it, like a really memorable ending. And when we dive in in the spoiler section, we can go into all the details about it. But I remembered it so well that I couldn't remember like which movie it was from, but I knew the ending. And so when I got to it in this film, I was like, oh, it's this one. Okay, cool. I like completely remember it, and it's so vivid. And even like like film-wise, it's a it's a very vivid, you know, scene. But it is pretty solid and action-packed, which is awesome. And I don't know, depending on who you are, you might root for one party or the other in the movie.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

I have another thing that surprised me. Um when I think about Chucky, it's especially the Chucky that is in my recurring nightmares. Um, it's always Chucky with like that like chef's knife, that like signature knife. But I was surprised by how many other creative ways he pulled off kills in this.

SPEAKER_04 13:03

Oh, for sure. He gabbed he grabs just about anything he can. And what I love even more is his little judo chops with his hands. But Mac, I love that you bring up the ending because the ending is hands down one of the best parts of this movie, especially because you get into like Don Mancini, who's like written every child's play movie with the re with the exception of the reboot. You get into his vision of what he wanted to see happen in the original. And the the ending of this one in particular is so satisfying, and even more so in my opinion, because you have this weird blend of absurdity and terror that I think is executed better than the original. So in the original, you have the ending that you have where Chucky's like trying to like strangle a grown man. It's like, I find it hard to believe this, even though Chucky looks really cool, uh, even though the effects are done really well. You kind of lose sight of like the tiny little hands grabbed around his throat, and it seems more like a nuisance than a real threat. And it's hard to forget his scale in that movie, but I think in this one they shot it so well, and they really took such a better approach to handling his actions that it's easier to forget.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

There's that one there's a f well, there's a few scenes, and it's you know, you get on Chucky's level and then you're scared to be on the ground. It's like hot lava, like crazy like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

I was surprised just a moment ago, Chris, when you said that the ending was Did you say satisfying? Yeah. Uh, because I do not feel satisfied by this ending. I feel it lacks a level of conclusivity that I require from a film like this.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Are you kidding me? It's the most conclusive ending we've probably had on this movie. I mean, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

No way. Absolutely not.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

It's so conclusive, it doesn't leave much to the imagination.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Um, yeah, well, you haven't been inside my head.

SPEAKER_04 14:55

Okay, your wild imagination shouldn't take away points from the events that actually happen on screen.

SPEAKER_00 15:00

We will unpack this after the break.

SPEAKER_04 15:03

You're gonna start the child's play conspiracy theory.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

There should be.

SPEAKER_04 15:06

Yeah, you're a chucky truther, man.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

For this not to be conclusive, you would have to be a writer for a soap opera, effectively.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Listen, I will say that this ending was less conclusive than the first ending, and we saw where that went. And I'm gonna leave it at that for now.

SPEAKER_04 15:21

Okay. I I don't buy it, but what I will say is obviously, folks, you know that this movie is not the end of Chucky. What kills me as you get later on in the franchise is that there's a certain mechanic that could have been easily used to justify the events of like one of the more recent Chucky movies, and they completely just ignored it. So I feel like Don Mancini in his early days wrote this pure gold of A, conclusive endings, but B plausible exits from those endings if it needed to be revived. But when you look at the comparison of the two, right, Paris, you're just comparing it to the conclusion of the first film. What I love most about this movie is that it takes a different turn from the original. And so the voodoo element is still there because it has to be, but it's taken a back seat. And you also don't have to waste all that time on the setup of Chucky being a normal doll because we've already been there. I think this is as successful as it could have been with respecting the premise of the original, but still inserting its own flavor. So it's like a continuation of originality versus having to be uh it's its own totally different, inconsistent piece.

SPEAKER_02 16:26

Yeah, I mean, again, that ending was so vivid in my imagination and in my memory that like I couldn't even remember what movie it was from, but I knew that it was one of the one of the Chuckies that had the best ending, obviously. But the rest of the film, it has its own story, which is really cool. A lot of the other Chucky films and child's play films just kind of merged together in my mind. And especially if you watch them back to back, it's kind of hard to tell you know what's the title of what and what exactly happens in what. But the the story here in the in the Chucky universe, I think stands alone from a lot of the other films, and it continues that first one so well, even like bringing along the same child actor, which is fantastic, that I feel like if you had to, you could just take the first two movies and and set them aside and then everything else afterwards you could portion off into its own little chucky universe.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

I totally agree, Mac. I was thinking that the first two films are really like a like a two-part of like an overarching narrative because they work so well together and because they're so cohesive. Um, so I don't really feel the need to separate them as far as originality goes. I feel like all the originality points that the first movie gets are applicable to the sequel, in my eyes.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

Taking another look at it, it's crazy because it's in my opinion, there's a lot of movies that have dolls coming alive, especially in horror. Um, and before this, I can't recall like many. Um, but after Chucky, like Puppet Master, that that that that that was so scary. These little itty bitty things with little knives.

SPEAKER_04 18:04

The little itty bitty things are the worst because they can fit in all the spaces. Exactly. I was so scared. Hard to see them coming.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Yeah, I know, right. I was so scared when I was a kid, and then I realized that this came after this, after the first one, in between the first and second child's play, but I don't know, it's crazy. I think you don't see many um like demented, you know, dolls or possessed dolls that come out on like a more comical side of things. Um mostly it's like super serious, super, you know, focused on the story. And you know, that's how you appreciate this franchise.

SPEAKER_04 18:37

I think realistically, Alexis, it's because any other doll that we see, how many of them really talk to you and are just like your average guy who's also a serial killer whose soul is now embedded in it, right? Usually the doll is just doing creepy things silently in the background, and now you have the crates of like Annabelle escaping allegedly, and it's a mess. It's a mess.

SPEAKER_00 18:59

Ugh, don't even get me started on that.

SPEAKER_04 19:01

But Chucky's a pioneer.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

No, for sure. Chucky really kind of put this genre on the map, I'd say.

SPEAKER_04 19:08

Oh, for sure. And I'm really excited because I feel like this might go in terms of its scoring differently than what I expected, but we're gonna get there in just a moment. Now, before we start rating everything, Alexis, how many deaths are in this movie?

SPEAKER_03 19:23

We have a total of seven deaths. Not bad for a doll. Not bad, not bad at all. You know, tiny hands do plenty things. Plenty of things. Yeah, size does not matter.

SPEAKER_04 19:36

Definitely does not. And Paris in Ryan's absence. How's our animal report?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Uh, we have a clean animal report. Praised be his miracle.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Excellent. Well, let's go ahead and start getting down to business then. Child's Play 2 from 1990. The year a couple of us were born, was it a hack or a slash?

SPEAKER_02 19:54

It was a slash. Obviously, based on my description of it up to this point. I think no one's probably surprised there. I found it to be entertaining. I think the story was actually solid. It had what I felt to be a really great ending. The characters were actually pretty well developed in this film as well. And I think we got Chucky prior to jumping the shark, which is nice. Because even in Child's Play 3, I'm not a huge fan of Chucky. And then after that, it just, you know, kind of continues on into ridiculousness. But I feel like in the first two, we get a pretty decent Chucky, who you can respect as a horror icon, before, you know, we got like the deadpool of talking dolls.

SPEAKER_03 20:34

Um, I kind of like that version of him though. But it was crazy, so crazy to see like him um in um his natural habitat, like you know, OG, what he originally was meant to be and destined, and then realized he was stuck forever in a doll, and then was just like, well, I'm gonna live it up and live life. And it's crazy because I wasn't sure how I'd like this. I definitely like the first one. Um, I like the newer one, so I was like, I didn't know how the you know middle was going to play out too much, but there's still that humor there, and there's still that menacing, you know, doll that scared me when I was a kid. And I can appreciate that that still lasts and still has resident reson resonance with me today. So with that, I'm going to have to give this a full-on slash. Full on. All right, no fractions here.

SPEAKER_00 21:26

Okay, so as we know, I was afraid during this movie, and I think that my fear of dolls probably started because of this movie specifically. Um, having realized that I never finished the first one at any point until this week, um, and apparently remembered everything from this film. Um, so I do have to give it a slash. I don't like it. I won't ever watch it again unless I have to, because I don't enjoy the way it makes me feel. Um, but that's also a boon for this movie. It does what I want a horror movie to do to. Me. Um, this one just does it in a way that I don't want to do again.

SPEAKER_04 22:04

Ooh. See, now that is the sweet spot of horror movies. It's when you you like it enough and you respect it, but you don't necessarily want to live through it again, but you know damn well it was effective in its job.

SPEAKER_00 22:17

Uh-huh. Too effective. I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Now look, Chucky has never been among my favorites. Uh when you get later on in the franchise, he gets really cheesy and really inappropriate. But Don Mancini had lightning in a bottle in these first couple movies, and this movie is a hundred percent a slash. It is the perfect blend of continuing a story without going off the rails. And the exposition that we get to set up and fill in the gaps of what has happened since the first movie leading into the second movie is so exceptionally well done without leaving me feel like I'm upset about the gap in in time between these two movies taking place. Chucky is in his peak form. You don't get really you don't really get much better Chucky than this, at least in terms of the original magic of his character's vision. But with that, Child's Play 2 is a universal slash, much like the original would have been had we reviewed it tonight. Now, we have so much to unpack because there are a lot of kills that uh Chucky gets into somehow despite being a small doll, and we're gonna get there. Now, this movie's available to stream. Uh, if you have HBO Max or if you have the HBO add-on through Amazon Prime, you can find it there. Otherwise, it's available for rent. But check it out, give it a watch, and join us in the second half while we go through all the spoilers.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

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SPEAKER_04 24:33

Alright, welcome back, folks. You are now entering the spoiler zone for Child's Play 2. The 1990 sequel has earned a universal slash. We have a lot to unpack here, but before we get into the specifics of our ratings, we have the matter of gore to attend to.

SPEAKER_03 25:07

Nothing will get high unless it's in the Saw terrifier range.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

Except Cabin in the Woods, in which case it'll be low no matter how much blood you have.

SPEAKER_03 25:18

Exactly. Exactly. If someone's not being tortured, I am uninterested. Exactly, right? Just turn it off. Which I was happy. There was a little bit of torturing in this movie. Um it's crazy. Like I'm giving it a medium, but I when I think of like Chucky, I don't necessarily think of it as very gory. I think of it more violent than gory. So I think the gore comes comes from the violence that he um ensues on all his victims. Um, so you get a lot of that. And especially, I forgot, there's not much gore, um, in my opinion, until you get to uh Miss Kettlewell, the teacher. Um, her death. Her death, very pivotal, in my opinion. Um, I think after that they get they get gory. And you get to the end and you get this blown up, melted, you get this like disformed, then melted, then blown up, Chucky. Yeah. It's fucked up looking. It is, it is, and it's it's crazy because I think the most gorgeous like parts are you know with him, which I think is interesting because I'm like, you know, he gets his hand cut off and he's like all putting it in, and it's like bloody. I'm like, why do I think this is like gory, but it's with a doll? It's because it doesn't belong there, Alexis. Yeah, he was trying to pull a candy man. Like, there's only one candyman. I I do appreciate this um film just because like we all previously had mentioned, there's like so many different types of kills. Um, and I like that. Um, and I know with that, I think we can go around and say, I know my favorite death will have to be uh Miss Kettlewells. I think there's a lot of buildup in that scene. Um, and I also, you know, I mean, she gets stabbed with a freaking like pump for the basketball. Yep, yeah. Yeah, what the hell?

SPEAKER_04 27:09

I know, right? I thought that was gonna go the direction of like when Michael Myers put that syringe, he put it in her temple and then put oxygen into her bloodstream, so she like died really quickly. I thought that was the direction it was gonna go. I wasn't expecting her to be launched backwards with such a force and then just beat me.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Her reaction to that was so dramatic. She knocked over like 10 desks on her way down.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

She really did. I appreciate that uh that uh exaggeration on all these kills, right? But I also love he's like beating her with a yardstick, like she's beat to death with a yardstick, which is so ironic. Naughty naughty. But I would love to know what you guys thought about like either your favorite kill or just an aspect of like maybe like Chucky's violence that you appreciate, I guess would be the right word.

SPEAKER_02 28:01

I like Phil's death personally, because I find it to be kind of kind of funny. It was really sudden, and that was a bummer because Phil's a cool character. The actor has also starred in Star Trek before. Of course, I would I would recognize him. So I've got to tie that in. But I think the whole like suddenness of just like boom, neck snap, that was that was too much. It was such a such a bummer because he seemed like like a halfway decent human being, and then he gets you know, falls on his head and snaps his neck and it's over. And that's why I liked it, because like I wasn't expecting it, and because it was kind of disappointing, and there was no like massive stab to the face or anything like that. It was different from other typical Chucky kills.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

Just trip you down the steps. I tell you you gotta watch out for your feet with Chucky.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Ew, yeah, and like your tendons, your Achilles tendons specifically. Um, once again, Alexis, you and I have the same favorite kill. Uh, I thought the teacher's death for me it was actually the most memorable. Uh when I was going into this, I was like, I remember this scene vividly. Um, but watching it this time, I was like, it's still my favorite death, but because she was the character I think that deserved to die the most. Like, first of all, this kid is troubled, and she did not do anything to like welcome him or like make him feel safe. Uh, and then proceeded to like keep him after class and lock him alone in a classroom with what she doesn't believe is a doll that's gonna kill him, but actually is. Um, but just like when she locked that door and like left, I was like, what if there's a gas leak? What if there's a fire? Like, what are you doing here? You should not have this job.

SPEAKER_04 29:27

I love that because I think Miss Kettlewell's death is one of my favorite scenes cinematically, but in terms of a kill, look, there's just nothing better in this movie than the factory worker just trying to do his job and troubleshoot the troubleshoot the machine to get slashed very lightly by Chucky, but then have Chucky eyes just gouged out into him. That was insane, and that was like one of the most iconic images from this movie for me.

SPEAKER_00 29:55

I gotta say, Chris, I did not see that one coming. Uh, mostly because as we were getting towards the end, I was like, well, there's only so many characters left. There can only be so many more kills. And they were like, oh wait, here's another guy, and we're gonna kill him. Just threw us another one there at the end.

SPEAKER_04 30:07

Yeah, that was classic Leslie Vernon. That was patting the body count.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

For sure.

SPEAKER_04 30:12

So obviously, there's a lot to appreciate in terms of the visuals of this movie. I was mentioning that Miss Kettlewell is one of my favorites. The other one of my favorites is when, and this isn't gonna really count as an official kill, clearly, but it's when Chucky enters the foster home and he meets Tommy and he kills Tommy. Obviously, Tommy's not alive, but you have this like thunder and lightning, and so you have the house in moments of darkness and then moments of flashing light, and he's just grabbing the statue and beating the doll and then drags him out and buries him. Tommy's face looked kind of fucked up, kind of the way that is an omen for what's to come for Chucky's own face later on in the franchise. You didn't appreciate the um thing he said, hug this, like you know, I could have done without some of the one-liners, but honestly, visually, it was stunning. So I'm not mad.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

I always love the voodoo scenes where there's clouds overhead. It's always pretty cool. And like, you know, when there's lightning involved, the whole like Frankenstein kind of thing going on where the electricity brings him back to life or whatever. That's always fun.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

So Miss Kettlewalls was definitely probably like a favorite scene of mine. I just like the like uh visual and the suspense that it brings. Um, but I think visually, like, and this is when I was uh surfing channels and it was like, oh, this is interesting. What is this? Is this child's play? Because I've never seen this, and this is exactly where I picked it up with it. It was the last scene when they're in the factory. And I just love this look. You've got this like clean, really sharp edges, you know, all these sorts of buttons, all these little and I like looking at that. I think it's super cool because a lot could go down with that, and a lot definitely did, but I I just love the set design of that. It was just like this, you know, massacre that's happening in it, yet it's so happy, and it has like yellows and greens and blue well, mostly yellow and red, but um, and some white. So I really like that about it.

SPEAKER_00 32:06

I think that's a great call out, Alexis. It's definitely a very memorable uh setting for a climax. Um, for me visually, this entire movie um tickled my sweet spot for Venetian blinds because literally every scene was lit with like just light being scattered through some Venetian blind. Um and they did a lot of really great things with lighting, but specifically the scene where Kyle uh discovers Tommy's body underneath the swing. Um, it's like so like haunting because like you're at a time where like you know that she thinks she's safe, but we all know she's not. And she's like, I'm just gonna smoke my cigarette on this swing. And then she finds the body, uh, and then she like turns back towards the house, and like the light on her face is like gorgeous. I wanted to like freeze frame that one shot because I was like, this girl's beautiful. Um, and then she obviously goes back and realizes he's not in the trash can anymore and that this shit's for real. Uh so that was my favorite moment.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

I can say she absolutely is gorgeous, and for some reason, that moment when she's like sitting under the tree and with the trash cans, if nothing else, for the fact that it's a blonde woman with shorter hair, it gave me scream vibes. When Drew Barrymore's character, Casey, is out found hung by the tree. Looking back, obviously this movie came out a few years before Scream, but I think if you were to watch these movies out of order, it could be easily to expect in that moment of tension Paris for her to get strung up and gutted like a fish from that tree by Chucky.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

I think it's also the chunky knit sweater that they were both wearing that may have inspired you.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

Potentially. One of the things when we're talking about, you know, that climax, the labyrinth of good guy dolls was intense.

SPEAKER_00 33:45

Was it or was it the same three corners being shot from different angles? Because that part I was like, okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Potentially, but that's okay. Because think about the poor person who had to A build those boxes, B, stack those boxes.

SPEAKER_00 33:58

But also, like, that's not an efficient way to store inventory anywhere.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 34:03

A part of my WTF movement.

SPEAKER_04 34:05

It's 1990. I think one of the other things that stands out to this about this movie visually is how much better Chucky looks than the original movie. The animatronics were vastly improved. And when you think about like the engineering that went into the puppeteering of Chucky, it was truly a sight to behold.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Yeah, I completely agree. Um, I kind of watched a short documentary on it because I just found it so interesting because like his just facial expressions just seem so real um that I could totally believe this there was a serial killer in this in this uh doll. And I like because they I I guess from like um watching this documentary, you can they reference the child's play one, child's play, um, the original, and pretty much I guess they use an actor in um some most I'm not sure of the frequency, but there was a live actor used in that one.

SPEAKER_04 34:59

And the other cool thing about the original is you have this slow progression of Chucky's face. So he starts out super, super doll-like, and then as the movie carries on and he's becoming more and more alive and he's transitioning longer, he looks more and more human. Like the eyebrows start looking weird, the hair starts getting out of place, and it it looks more like skin versus like the doll plastic.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

Yeah, it's a great thing to mention. I like that, and I never noticed it till now, so that kind of goes with you know, his character and like what's going on with in the movie.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

I I really enjoyed just like in the film itself how Chucky becomes like flesh and bone by the end of the film, and it's so interesting to see him like hack off his own hand and you know throw the sharp object in there so he can you know attack people with it. But it is it is interesting to see him become just more damaged over time with you know blood starting to come out of him, and to see like the gore of the doll itself. But I think it was so well executed in this one because like you said, the animatronics were so good the puppetry rather was was so good that you don't you're not looking at that and thinking that's big bird technology or anything. You're looking at it and thinking like that's disgusting. That's a doll who has flesh and bone and who's like ripping his own hand out and it's you know blood's coming out of it and stuff. So they did such such a fantastic job with that.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

I agree that this was very well done. Um and earlier I mentioned that my fear for Chucky has been sort of analyzed uh this week, um, and I was able to sort of break it down into two distinct elements. Uh, and this really applies for any sort of like creepy doll movie. Um so the first part that's scary, at least for me in my experience, is the doll when it's not moving. So just by itself, the vessel, because it has this sort of like unknown. Like, what is it doing when you can't see it? Um, even just like the face they put on it. Like the default Chucky doll is very ugly and creepy. And then the second side of the fear comes from like how it looks when you can see it and it is moving. Uh, and this when I was thinking about it, it reminded me of something Chris mentioned a few weeks ago on an episode where she said that like terror is like the idea and like the fear of something, and then horror is the fear actualized. And I was like, that is exactly why I hate these dolls. Um, because no matter what, I don't like it. Like when it's just sitting there being blank, I'm like, no, I hate that. Get that out of my house. And then when it's moving, I'm like, the way its face contorts, the way his little legs like run around. I'm just like, ew, I hate it so much. Uh also, like, shout out to all the like tucking and rolling that Chucky did. Every time he gets thrown, he just like spins a hundred times and does a barrel roll under a couch or something.

SPEAKER_04 37:42

He's for sure the most aerodynamic slasher icon in history.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

He does flat.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

Is it really creepy, also, when he's thrown around? Because you're you're like, oh, you're about to get it. Like people just throw him as it like resets the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

I'm like, don't throw him.

SPEAKER_03 38:00

Ever.

SPEAKER_04 38:00

You're just getting him there faster, really.

unknown 38:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

I'm like, now he can hide again.

SPEAKER_04 38:05

It's like the Chucky Express. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Um, but I love what you guys are mentioning with uh like the the process behind bringing Chucky to life. Because for me, there's like so many different Chucky's. There's like the default blank Chucky, there's the creepy animatronic face-moving Chucky that I'm pretty sure is like animatronics and puppets. And then there's also like that Chucky that they use once in a while where it's like literally a person in a suit running, and they just like blend these all together so well. And each one is unsettling to me in its own way. But most of all, it's the one where it's a person in a suit because I'm like, who is that small and how did they make this happen? There was actually a scene that I I rewound a bunch of times because I was like, How are they doing that? Because, like, did they make a giant set that's to scale and like film just that one part? I don't know. But watching somebody run in a Chucky costume is nightmares to me.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Oh, for sure. And one of the beautiful things is that only happened in the first movie. They didn't do that for the for Child's Play 2.

SPEAKER_00 39:02

They must have done it because there's a part where he runs behind the stairs and it's fully somebody running.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

They did not.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

I hate it still.

SPEAKER_04 39:09

Yeah, so I'm sorry, it's even more believable now for that doll to be running. A couple years ago, we went to a haunted house in Virginia, and Alexis was supposed to come. She didn't show up, but Pee was with me, and the the end of the house was a small woman who was probably about Alexis' height, dressed up as Chucky, just running around chasing you.

SPEAKER_02 39:29

That's fantastic. You know, if we ever get like robots that have AI built into them, I hope one day we do. But I can just imagine somebody holding a Chucky-like doll in like a baby chest carrier and just the like the creeps that it would give people. It would be hilarious.

SPEAKER_00 39:46

No, veto, veto that idea.

SPEAKER_04 39:48

Alexis, I know you were saying earlier before we were started recording about the this the process behind Chucky and the puppeteers behind Chucky. And we're talking about the number of puppeteers, like you know, I think I'm pretty sure there's one for lips, eyes, and eyebrows, and then the legs and arms.

SPEAKER_03 40:05

Yeah, there's actually um nine, believe it or not. And I tell me how I mean it's hard to work in a group project already. Um, tell me why you gotta all be so synchronized that all the movement looks so freaking natural for nine people. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_04 40:23

Honestly, most people who have been to school and have been on a group project would not be able to cut it on this movie.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Not at all. And it's crazy. I mean, um, we will drop it in the show notes, but it's just cool to see um it's kind of dated in the beginning. I thought it was something very old, but it was only uploaded a year ago. So maybe that's just when it was uploaded, not clearly not filmed. But they just have all these wires coming from underneath, and it's like once I saw that, I thought, like, you know, there's you know, the scene with um the teacher, and he she's he's literally walking, and I was like, Well, how the hell do they do that? How is he walking? Like, are there magnets underneath? Like, you know, it was crazy. Like, I mean, I was like, no one's gonna fool me. He is clearly real on and can walk because I don't see anything, but yeah, it it was cool to just see the way they like did that and just you know what pulls what, you know. I mean, you don't see all of them, but you're just like, okay, this moves that I'm just like wow, it's kind of it's mesmerizing.

SPEAKER_04 41:22

500 feet of cable, and you don't even see a centimeter of it in the final product, which is just a testament to how incredible the team behind this movie was.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

I'm gonna have to watch this in the hopes of like demystifying Chucky for me, uh, because like you, Alexis, this thing is visibly real to me. The results are just chilling, you know? It's effective.

SPEAKER_03 41:40

It kind of reminded me of Alien when I watched it. Like I was like, oh, look, it's got a whole bunch of like wires, like it's from an It's a robot from Alien.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

I think hands down, though, one of the best parts about this movie is just the way it approaches its whole story, right? So we start out with the refurbishing of Chucky. Uh so he's about to be well, he's really being inspected to prove that there was nothing wrong with the actual product, and then there's this whole hoax. And it really shows this idea of like a corporation, not necessarily with an incredible amount of greed, but really just trying to protect their brand and protect their customer base and protect their profit, really. But I loved the way that they a address why the mom isn't in the movie, and it's actually pretty realistic and plausible to me. Who else would would believe you in that circumstance? At the end, and that's something that I felt even at the end of the original child's play. It's like even though the cops are there, who's gonna believe any of this? I think that's even a a question that the characters ask themselves as well.

SPEAKER_02 42:42

It was such a perfect way to move from from child's play to child's play too, to have that setup where Andy's now in foster care because, well, his his mom, everyone thinks that she needs help because how could she not if she's out there saying this to the world? And I just caught myself thinking about like who would be prepared to help out with this sort of trauma with this child. And I think it's so perfect that in the film the parents clearly clearly are not the right people, and they're having major troubles with it. It is really sad, however, that they don't like reach out for help at any point to be like, hey, like this kid is not ready for us and we're not ready for him. But it's so it's so realistic to see that like normal everyday people could not deal with a child that's experienced this sort of trauma, especially back then when there wasn't you know the internet available. Not that it probably helps in any way.

SPEAKER_04 43:35

I can just imagine the search behind that foster kid experiencing trauma. What do a serial killer's inside my doll?

SPEAKER_03 43:42

How do I get rid of the serial killer inside of my doll? Yeah, I think I that was like um one of my favorite parts. Um, is and I think it just builds a suspense and it just moves this story along that I feel like you don't get in many movies that we've seen, we've reviewed. That have such a seamless, plausible, like usually it's just jumping. It's one of those, eh? We don't know how you got from one to two, but you know what? It's horror, it's in the horror realm. So something clearly happened. Um let's just make some story. But no, I I I think it was done with um excellent taste and it just builds a suspense for me, like throughout the entire movie. So I'm like, okay, like ooh, you know, like what's going on? And it's just it it really kept my attention throughout the movie.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

That whole refurbishing process, though, was a brilliant idea. Like whoever came up with that as a way to move from the first movie into this movie deserves, you know, at least some form of cookie or pat on the back or golden star or something, because that was super fun to watch.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

No, they don't, because they literally didn't give him any dental work, which pissed me off.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

I'm annoyed that they weren't concerned about the fact that they had to do dental work. Like, obviously, there should not actually be veneers in this doll.

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Truly. Like rotted smokers' veneer.

SPEAKER_04 45:02

Yeah, it's like, I'm sorry, does Chucky need dental records? Like, what are you what are you making these dolls out of? Are you just like killing small children and putting their teeth in this doll? That's not okay. You shouldn't like it shouldn't make that sound when you scrape it.

SPEAKER_00 45:16

I totally agree with you, Alexis. I feel like this sequel works so well because it doesn't have to make any excuses, because it just makes sense. And that was really successful, and part of why I feel like the first two films feel like two parts of one whole. Chris, earlier you mentioned that like the recap of the first movie was really successful. And I'm gonna kind of challenge that because it's literally Andy explaining the premise of the first film to his therapist in like one quick bite, which was effective, but a little on the nose for me.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

Actually, it was the conversation between Matson and Sullivan when they're walking through with a doll, and he's explaining, like, ah, the cops didn't say anything, the mother's in psychiatric observation, now are all these rumors. Someone thinks someone tampered with the doll, so we're just trying to disprove that. That was the explanation.

SPEAKER_00 46:01

Yeah, but then Andy's like, I had a dream that Chucky was a serial killer who was trying to kill me and put his soul into my body. And I was like, Well, that's exactly it. Yeah. So yeah, I guess it was done in two parts.

SPEAKER_04 46:13

What else was he gonna say through a therapist?

SPEAKER_00 46:15

I also looked at the therapist was like, This is a dream though, Andy, right? And the Andy's like, okay, sure.

SPEAKER_03 46:20

Yeah, because it's clearly what you want me to say. Yeah. The best part for me, and I know I will uh have people that disagree, um, whether here on the podcast or people listening, but um I love this whole franchise because of the comedy, and I think it it had a perfect balance in this one. It wasn't, you know, too on the nose, it wasn't too, you know, just like you said, Chris cheesy. Um, although I find it like not cheesy. I find it, you know, it's definitely got that brie sort of vibe, baked brie. Baked brie is great until you add like fig to it, and then it's just gross.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

Oh my god, fig is so good with brie, Chris. How dare you?

SPEAKER_04 47:01

I don't like sweet flavors. Oh, yeah, you don't. I wish I was like that.

SPEAKER_00 47:04

You also don't like comedy.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

I don't. I don't like anything nice. I want everything serious and better.

SPEAKER_03 47:09

I mean, he has some of my like some of I just want to give you guys a few of my favorite lines because I just thought they were freaking amazing. One, it was like hug this to Tommy. Um, when Chucky comes in. Um when he's with Matson in the car. I just thought that was so funny because he had a squirt gun. He's like bang bang, like and it's the squirt gun. And they're just cracking up laughing. That was like a joker vibe. Oh, yeah, that's true. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 47:37

Chucky's laugh is horrible.

SPEAKER_03 47:39

And then I like when he's like pretending, you know, he has to be Tommy. So he he goes, Hi, I'm and then he stops and looks Tommy, and I'm like, that's perfect. I remember what scene it was in.

SPEAKER_00 47:53

That was the funniest part for me.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

It's like shit, what was his name? Tommy. And I think the comedy that I just really get a lot of is when they're driving. And it's cool because it's like those things we get where I'm like, oh wow, you know, he said he's like floor it. She's like, get real, it's a station wagon. Like that was just great. Yes. And that whole scene, because like you, you know, you watch, I feel like, especially in horror, you watch a lot of movies and it like, yeah, they don't get pulled over by the cops. Yes, something magically appears that you know helps you know the protagonist or antagonist, you know, or something like that. In this one, they actually get pulled over by the police, which is great because he's like, She goes, I can't, you know, like, or I don't even know why. He's like, pull over. Like Chucky's ordering this chick, and she's just chilling. I have to pull over the police, you know. And clearly, this police officer loves Chucky, knows about him, you know, and sees his blood coming out of him. And she's like, you know, those dolls that pee themselves. Well, this is some bleeds.

SPEAKER_04 48:57

Like that was so great. And honestly, like, if you were to imagine this being a real scenario, man, tops to her because I would not be able to think that quick on my feet.

SPEAKER_03 49:07

I wouldn't either. Also, like it was just like two friends driving in a it just reminded me of two friends driving in a car. It was never like this doll, you know, which you know, I appreciate it. I think I'm I like these. I I appreciate the franchise later because those are the ones I really picked up on. But I really like, you know, visiting these because there's definitely like the a good mix between the comedy and um the drama and the um other stuff that Chucky is.

SPEAKER_00 49:37

I love that you brought up that car scene, Alexis, um, because that was part of what I was mentioning before where it's like one of the scenes where things are less uh action-packed, but I still was like really creeped out. Like Chucky's literally like casually sitting in the passenger seat of this car, like really just having like a road trip moment with Kyle. Um, and I still didn't like it. Uh, but actually the worst part of these this movie for me was any of the scenes where Chucky is in a car. Uh, because for me, Chucky has his he has like the most power when he's like in a like an open space with lots of things to like hide behind and like come at you from different angles. But in a car, there's like such a limit to where he can come from and like what he can do. So there's a lot less like unknown and a lot less mystery to it. So it's more like, oh, I'm right behind you, it's like strangling you with a bag, or like, oh, I'm in the passenger seat. Uh so I think the way a car limits him uh really sort of makes him a little less potent for me. But there's really no point in time where I'm not disturbed to be looking at him.

SPEAKER_03 50:39

I was gonna say that's probably good for you because you're like Yeah, it was the most most bearable parts. Right. I thought the most unbearable thing um was the house that these these people lived in. Atrocious, truly. Gosh, the pink? It was ridiculous. Also, this movie had a lot of WTF moments for me. Let's talk about how you casually just pull up to a liquor store. I'm sorry, but I that got on my nerves. I was like, how do you just I think because I would love to just pull up in front of a liquor store and walk in, and you could just never do that anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 51:14

Wait, what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_03 51:15

I don't know. This guy just pulled up right to the front door of the liquor store. I was like, damn, that's so convenient. I wish it was that convenient for me to pull up to a liquor store like that. What shopping centers are you going to?

SPEAKER_02 51:25

Because they are you need to live in a state that doesn't have ABC stores. That's why.

SPEAKER_03 51:29

Okay, that might be it.

SPEAKER_02 51:30

Oh, yeah. Like other states that have like, you know, private liquor stores, you can just pull up and go shop.

SPEAKER_03 51:35

Okay, well, here, well, especially where I live, it's like a kind of a downtown area, and like there's never parking in front of the liquor store, clearly.

SPEAKER_00 51:43

Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 51:44

That's the fault of the city, not the liquor store.

SPEAKER_03 51:46

Yes, it's true. It's not, I I was just envious, I guess. I was just like, oh, that seems pretty simple to get liquor. What's it?

SPEAKER_00 51:52

Well, but they didn't take cards, so don't be too envious.

SPEAKER_03 51:54

Yeah, I know. Didn't take the gold, did it? Also, we talked about the teacher, but the teacher was so horrible. I literally did a WTF moment when she locked him in the room. Oh, you cannot do that. Insane. Clearly, this is the 90s when you could do it then.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

And let me tell you, the actress who plays her, Beth Grant, I have so much rage built up about her because my girlfriend had me watch Donnie Darko for the first time, and she was in that movie and was the obnoxious neighbor and also a PE coach. And I was just so happy to remember that she does expire in this movie because unbearable this woman.

SPEAKER_02 52:32

Expire.

SPEAKER_04 52:33

That's a really good movie.

SPEAKER_02 52:34

Really? Because I think of her from The Office as Dwight's babysitter.

SPEAKER_04 52:37

I don't think of her from The Office, but I also do think of her from the Mindy project when she's like this old crazy cahoot of a receptionist. Oh wow. So she's clearly in a lot of things. She's more than this.

SPEAKER_03 52:48

She is. Quickly, two more. Other thing, um, were the boxes. I was like, why aren't all these boxes moving? Like they're all perfectly lined up, and very we talked about it, and not a good organizational system for a factory. And also, these parents, these foster parents, are the worst because they just are. One, she never finished the story. Um Did you really need to know what happened? Nah, I guess he doesn't. You know, he's not traumatized or anything. They're talking behind his back, like they don't hear the door open. Well, I feel like I'm bringing up stuff Ryan would bring up right now.

SPEAKER_00 53:24

Right. Somebody's got to.

SPEAKER_04 53:26

Well, hold on, because Phil is real the real piece of shit here. But even then, he's not the worst human. But she Joanne was really defending Andy for a long time, up until Phil died. And then she's like, God.

SPEAKER_03 53:36

Oh, you mean the Joanne that put the doll that scars Andy for like giving him like clearly why he's in the situation he's in and being casually falling off the like shelf.

SPEAKER_04 53:51

Like I mean, I didn't see that as intentional. I mean, like, it seems like they're turning and burning quite a bit there, and this was kind of like a last-minute drop on them. Still. It was the hottest product in Chicago in the 1990s.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

There you go. I guess I'll let that one pass. But yes, those were my WTF moments.

SPEAKER_02 54:07

That's why it was so well stocked though in the factory, because they were trying to build up their inventory before they shipped them out for the holiday season. They actually, I think we're about to set this during like holiday shopping.

SPEAKER_04 54:18

Which would have been wild considering what else what other movie came out during the holidays in 1990. Spoiler alert, it was Home Alone.

SPEAKER_00 54:25

Do you want to take a moment to appreciate slash uh absolutely hate uh towards the end when we have um what did I write down? Burned melted plastic fetus Chucky. I felt like that was Chucky at his most terrifying. Um, I believe it was after he got like mushed inside that thing, and then before they dumped all that hot plastic on him. He was just this like gross, like three little scraggly orange hairs, like bald, like veiny, burned, nasty thing. And I hated it so much.

SPEAKER_04 54:56

Hold on, because Chucky literally gets he combusts in this ending, and yet you feel like it's not conclusive.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Yes, and I will tell you why. In the first film, they break it down, they're like, kill him in the heart, and that will kill the soul from the whatever. Um, and they literally do exactly that, dismember him limb for limb, burn him, and really just completely obliterate him. And yet they still manage to refurbish it. This time, they really only exploded the top half, let's be honest. The whole bottom part is still intact, just under that melted plastic. Uh, anybody could whip that back into shape if need be, and clearly that happens because there's a third movie. This Chucky is never dead. Chucky is omnipotent, he is always alive, uh, and this death was less uh certain for me than the original, which was very certain.

SPEAKER_04 55:47

So you're telling me that if you saw this movie in 1990 and you did not know that there was a third one being made, that you would actually believe that Chucky survived.

SPEAKER_00 55:58

Yes, because he managed to survive after the first one. They literally took all of his limbs and scattered them about, and he still came back.

SPEAKER_03 56:04

You swayed me. I I will say.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

Like, where where is the soul contained in this? Is it like a builder bear where there's a little heart?

SPEAKER_04 56:12

I mean, but look at this, right? Like, so there's the Halloween. Michael Myers gets shot, he falls, he dies, he's gone at the end of Halloween one, so you know he's out there somewhere. Halloween two, he literally falls in flames and he's dead. And that was like the written end of John Carpenter's Halloween, Michael Myers. So at that point, just because you have two movies doesn't mean that the killer never dies. I feel like that's like a conditioned response based on just knowing horror movies. I still feel like exploding melted Chucky is still pretty conclusive, considering this wasn't his voodoo magic transferring his soul over from a dead corpse. This was electricity bringing back a doll that was already there.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

Oh, so you think it's not as like as legit as the original?

SPEAKER_04 56:56

Nah. Nah, because they didn't even hit the sweet spot in the original. And had he not come in contact with electricity, much like Frankenstein's monster, much like Jason Voorhees in a number of movies, he wouldn't be here right now.

SPEAKER_00 57:10

They literally shot him through the heart in the first one, which is exactly what they were supposed to do. Um, and I will still say only his head blew up. The rest of that body's still in there in that messy little pile.

SPEAKER_03 57:21

Yeah, you know what happens with wax though, too, it hardenes so he will just be disfigured a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 57:27

Yeah, he's like calcified, like a fossil.

SPEAKER_04 57:30

Could you imagine? Like as is, right? Like, let's forget that other Chucky movies came out. As is is like calcified blob with no head and running around trying to, where's Andy? Where's Kyle?

SPEAKER_00 57:42

No, I mean, honestly, without the face, it is less scary. So I wouldn't be mad.

SPEAKER_04 57:47

Yeah, and you're not wrong. I do think one of the driving forces behind this movie, though, is just how incredible the characters are, especially Kyle. Kyle, for me, is my favorite character in the entire child's playslash chucky franchise. She's smart, she's edgy, um, she's compassionate, and she's had to live life and mature at a rate where honestly, 17-year-old wants to go to work because she's gonna be on her own next year. She wants to set herself up for success. I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 58:15

Yeah, 90210 all the way. Kyle was definitely the goat.

SPEAKER_03 58:19

I appreciate that, Chris, that you would pick someone um edgy. Uh and high that somehow has a misfortune in their life. I loved Andy in this. Um, I felt like a lot of them were a little bit stocky. They kind of played their part. They played it well. Um, but Andy, like, I I just like his like mini little transformation he gets. He's not, you know, this he he can't hide, not hide necessarily, but his mom's not there to protect him anymore. And he's like, okay, clearly no one is freaking believing me. So like he's just it it just seems like cool to have this, like, you know, brave little guy in this movie. And you know, he takes his turkey carver and just is like, I'm gonna mess his hair up, really.

SPEAKER_04 59:05

Yeah, you got a brave little guy going for a fierce little guy. It's really even playing field, honestly.

SPEAKER_03 59:11

It really is. And tell me who's gonna go down in the basement ever. Um, and he's not he's like, I I I I think because maybe I saw that this movie around when I was his age, um, originally, like the first one, that I would be like if I had seen this, I'm like, oh my gosh, maybe I can I can stand up to Chucky as well. So I feel like he has this like fearfulness that I would like I I admire actually. Fight your boys, you too can prosper.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

It is pretty fantastic that they brought Alex Vincent back from the first movie, and they bring him back later in the franchise to play Andy, which is fantastic because you don't get that with with child actors, they always just replace you with someone who's like a couple years older. So it was really cool to see that little bit of an arc we get from the first movie into this one. So yeah, Andy's MVP, but Kyle's definitely the goat.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:04

I totally agree, Mac. I really was happy to see that Andy returned for the sequel here, and I think it it's part of why this movie works so well. Um, yeah, obviously Andy and Kyle are the two best performances in the film. Uh obviously they're the two main characters as well, so that works out nicely. Um, I'll give an honorable mention to the mom for all of the accent work she did for this role because what the fuck was that accent?

SPEAKER_04 1:00:27

What accent?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

It was like vaguely British, kind of transatlantic, almost like 1920s Hollywood.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

What? It was kind of weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

Oh, yeah. I was like, where are you gonna land with this?

unknown 1:00:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:37

There's a reason for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:38

Sorry, maybe this is just my hearing loss kicking in because I did not I did have to watch the movie with captions, but I did notice her poor accent, and it was mostly bad because I think she was trying to be American in this movie, and she's not. So I think we were hearing That sounds right? Yeah, we were hearing some of that natural accent actually come out, and then the rest of the time it was mostly kind of American. So yeah, you definitely get that transatlantic feel, but yeah, fantastic though. Seen in other sci-fi movies. I don't know if anyone's seen Logan's Run before, but pretty fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:11

I have literally never seen her again, but she still sounded very familiar to me. Like she had this like nurturing, mothering vibe that had she not turned on Andy the way she did, I was really rooting for her for the majority of the time. And I also am slightly bummed that her death that her death was off-screen.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Yeah, that was lame. Um yeah, also she really did turn on Andy because that was very clearly an accident, no matter which way you slice it. Like, yeah, he's sitting down there and he fucked up a bunch of clothes in the laundry, but like he clearly couldn't have pushed your husband down the stairs.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:43

I think she probably was just really projecting her rage at Andy because she felt so guilty herself about like Phil clearly didn't want anything to do with this kid. She kept on saying, No, let's see it out, let's see it out. He can be fixed, he can be helped. And really, I I I I took that as her blaming herself more than Andy, um, and not being able to stomach looking at him. And I also love that in the aftermath of that, you have Kyle stepping up, even though she felt like she wasn't gonna really be around long. You have Kyle stepping up to not only console her, but send Andy packing in a way that felt compassionate still. Like you can tell that she cared about him in that moment. Ultimately, though, I know we all read this as a slash, but really what it comes down to is if we'd watch it ever again. And I can tell you that this may not be something I would watch regularly, but it's it's something I've watched throughout life and it's something that I'll continue in the future. How about you guys?

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

I definitely would re-watch this. I'm like kinda you know how I am with when we watch part two. So I'm like, oh, I need a part three and watch the rest of them. But yeah, I definitely would love to watch the series um again, especially watching the newer reboot, because I feel like I I got some nuances from you know this movie that was in that one.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:59

I think this is worth adding to a binge watch. You should watch, you know, all of the Chucky films and the latest Child's Play movie at some point, all in in order, all back to back, don't sleep, just watch all the movies. But I think it's it's gonna be fun to watch again when the TV series like comes to fruition. Hopefully it does, because it's gonna have Brad Dorf and Jennifer Tilly in it, supposedly. It's not a thing yet, it's been announced, but if it truly happens, I'm gonna be so psyched. And then you'll obviously have to go back and re-watch all the movies and then start the TV show.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:32

I mean, you guys can have fun with that because I will not be doing this. Like I said earlier, I don't want to watch this movie again because it's very scary to me. Um, I've had this recurring dream since childhood where like Chucky basically chases me up a hill with a knife and then chases me back down the hill with a knife in an infinite loop. Uh and I was afraid that I was gonna have this dream last night after watching these movies. Luckily I did not, but I'm not gonna roll those dice again. So you're telling me I should hit eBay and then send you a my buddy doll? Mac, don't do that.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:00

Mac, you don't even have to go to eBay because I actually have a my buddy doll in the house. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:04

You're wrong for that, Chris.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:06

Now, my brother, so again, I'm the youngest of five, right? My oldest sibling was born in 1975. So there is a my buddy doll in the next room, in the storage room.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:17

When I lived with my cousins, they had this um like classic-looking ventriloquist dummy doll, kind of like the one from Goosebumps. Uh, and they would just like hide that in places, and it was a real source of terror for a lot of us.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:29

Uh no, the worst dolls are my cousin has a uh American girl doll. And no kidding, I was like 13, but that she cut her hair just like this doll. It was kit and had short blonde hair, and I was like, this is a creepy, why do you look like your doll? But also I can't blame her because I had a like a my size Barbie when I was like six or something like that. And I thought it was so cool we had the same PJs. Nope.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:57

That shit is probably haunted now, Alexis. Definitely. We love a my size Barbie, and I bet she's exactly your size now. Yeah, exactly. We were always the same size. Was the doll actually taller than you for a while?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

The doll actually took over and is now on this podcast. Alexis has been gone for years.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:17

We've spoken a lot about the intricacies that went into making this film, but there are still yet a lot to learn about it in Max Fact or Fiction.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:25

Yeah, let's learn. Number one. Brad Doriff was on set more than any other cast member because he was obsessed with making sure the Chucky Doll emoted well enough to match his voice.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:36

Um, I'm gonna say fact because with all the puppeteering that went into this, he must have been on set. Maybe they did it live and like coordinated it together. That'd be cute.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:46

Yeah, I'm gonna say fact because um he seems pretty creepy. So he could do something like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:53

Wow. Well, it was fiction. His lines were pre recorded and he was rarely on set. Well, and also. He's an amazing actor. Not only was he in Star Trek, he was also in Wise Blood, which is fantastic. A movie based on a Flannery O'Connor novel. Good.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:10

Well, he was also in Halloween and Halloween 2, the Rob Zombie edition, and he was in The Exorcist III Legion and X-Files.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

Boom. Amazing act.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:18

Your boy gets around, is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:20

Not creepy. I mean, I've never met him in person. Maybe he is, but he doesn't seem like he would be just because he plays creepy characters. What if he's the nicest person on earth? Anyway, you guys don't have to know that. That's not fact or fiction. Number two. This is one of two Chucky films in which Chucky does not wield a gun. Are we not counting the squirt gun, I guess?

SPEAKER_00 1:06:37

Is that a real gun? No. Uh I'm gonna say fiction.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:42

I'm gonna say fact, but I have no reason why.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:47

Cool. It is a fact, the other one being Curse of Chucky. Number three, this is one of two Chucky films in which Chucky doesn't get shot. I don't know. Fiction. Fact based on nothing, but it is also a fact, the other one being Seed of Chucky. Number four, the actual inanimate doll, Tommy, is named after their director's son.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:07

I'm gonna say fact because Tommy was such a big name in the 90s.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:10

Depends if it's an IE or a Y. I'm just kidding. Uh I'm just gonna say fact.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:15

It's a fiction. It was named after the the director of the first film, Tom Holland. I'm shooting blanks over here. And lastly, number five. Fright Knight favorite Chris Sarandon was going to return as the detective from the first film, but his scenes were cut because money.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:30

I'm gonna say fiction, and I'm probably wrong. Um, but it seemed like people were apprehensive to sign on to this sequel, specifically the mom from Seventh Heaven.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:39

Um, fact?

SPEAKER_00 1:07:40

It was. It was a fact.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

Well done. Well, there we go. Yes, budgets are a thing, and sometimes you have to cut out entire scenes and entire characters because you ain't got that money, though. Even though this opened at number one in the box office. So obviously it was gonna make that money, they just didn't have it up front to spend.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:57

Yeah. Well, even Chucky has a budget, and sometimes compromises have to be made. There you have it, folks. Child's Play 2 from 1990 has thus far earned a universal slash. Now, while we've certainly had a robust discussion here, it doesn't end here by any means. We want to know what you think. Keep in mind there are a number of ways you can reach out to us, starting with our website, hackerslash.com, and on our social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And if you also have experience with a number of creepy dolls, reach out to our Hackerslash Hotline, or just, you know, comment on the movie. You can call us, text us, leave us a voicemail, or send us an audio message to 757-606-0128. That number is also down in the show notes.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:37

Or if you, like me, put the incorrect tape into your My Buddy doll to make it speak demonic gibberish, you can send us an email to feedback at hackerslash.com.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:45

And if you've enjoyed listening to our podcast, consider becoming one of our patrons. You can visit patreon.com slash hack or slash and earn cool perks for as low as one dollar a month.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:54

We'll see you next time.