It’s time to catch up on some newer releases. We’ll take a look at 2024’s “Arcadian,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Cold Blows the Wind,” and “New Life.” For our oldies, we’ll look at 1966’s “Psycho Circus” and 1991’s “Child’s Play 3.” They’re mostly decent, but we had some nits to pick with each of them.
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2024 Arcadian
Directed by Benjamin Brewer
Written by Mike Nilon
Stars Nicolas Cage, Jaeden Martell, Maxwell Jenkins
Run Time: 1 Hour, 32 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was very slow-moving and low on action for the first hour or so, focusing more on survivors and how they were carrying on. We’re gradually filled in on how the world is now, and things pick up in the last half hour with much more action. Not everything is explained, but it tells a good story that we liked.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man in a backpack runs through the deserted streets. We hear sirens, gunshots, and explosions as credits roll. Paul continues running, past piles of bodies and past hordes of screaming people. He gets out of town as civilization collapses around him. At some point, he picks up a baby.
Fifteen years later, Paul and his two sons, Joseph and Thomas, live out in the country, away from the city. When it starts getting dark, they all close up the shutters over the windows and heavily lock the doors. Thomas has been spending a lot of time at the Rose farm.
As the boys play chess, the dog starts scratching at the floor, which gets all of them on alert. Suddenly, there’s crazy banging at the door, and they have to help hold the door shut. Whatever it is, they soon go away. In the morning, the outside of the door is covered with scratches.
Paul talks about the Earth being past the worst part, and the air and water are getting cleaner. He still has hope for humanity, but Joseph isn’t so sure. Joseph has gotten an old cart running, and they use it to drive to the town for some salvage. Thomas, on the other hand, is obsessed with hanging out at the Rose farm; Mr. and Mrs. Rose are nice, but he’s way more interested in their daughter, Charlotte.
Charlotte and Thomas play a game of recap the apocalypse badly in ten seconds. Charlotte says it’s something to do with bugs and a plague and the machines taking revenge. Thomas says everyone turned into wolves and ran into the forest. Or just maybe the kids are making all this up.
There’s an accident, and Thomas doesn’t make it home one night. Paul goes looking for him while Joseph stays to lock up and defend the house. Thomas fell into a ravine, and at least one of the creatures is down there. Joseph doesn’t lock the door properly, and one of them gets in– but is promptly caught in a trap. Joseph knew what he was doing. Meanwhile, the creatures are digging into where Paul and Thomas are trying to hide for the night. Paul ignites something that explodes.
In the morning, Thomas pulls the unconscious Paul out of the ravine and Joseph picks them up in the car. Thomas wants to see the creature in the cage, but it’s terrified of the sunlight. It goes badly, and they end up killing it when it escapes.
Thomas takes Paul to the Roses’ place for help, but they refuse to get involved. Thomas stays with them anyway, but Joseph takes Paul back to their house. Mr. Rose catches Charlotte and Thomas kissing and doesn’t like it one bit.
Charlotte gives Thomas some medication and runs home, but the men at the farm take exception and kidnap him. The monsters take the opportunity to attack Charlotte’s parents. Everyone dies except for Thomas and Charlotte, who escape back to Paul’s house and meet up with Joseph.
The three young people have to defend themselves and Paul from the monsters. They carry in a big chest freezer and a bunch of gasoline and explosives; he’s going to make a trap. The creatures soon get inside the house.
Suddenly, Paul wakes up and starts fighting the horde that’s gotten into the house. Paul uses himself as bait as everything explodes. Charlotte, Thomas, and Joseph hide inside the freezer to avoid the carnage. Not all the creatures are dead, so the three run to the car and drive off. The monsters pursue, even while on fire.
In the morning, they have a little funeral for… essentially everyone. Maybe some of the other neighboring farms survived, so they’re gonna go look…
Commentary
This one is very slow moving and at about the one-hour mark, I was starting to suspect that it wasn’t going anywhere. Nic Cage is good here, but he’s out of the picture for a large part of the film, leaving the drama in the hands of the two boys. The action does pick up in the final half-hour.
We don’t get a really good, close look at the monsters, but what we do see is really something else, like werewolf-alligators. We never really do get an explanation of what happened to the world or what the creatures really are.
2023 New Life
Directed by John Rosman
Written by John Rosman
Stars Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Hayley Erin
Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was heavy on human drama and psychological thrills with some horror on the side. The direction, cast, and script are all very good. It wasn’t what we expected, but we still liked it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on a bloody woman walking through a neighborhood alley. She goes into a house and washes off the blood. She goes through some drawers and changes clothes; she even finds a wedding ring. Is this even her house? Men with guns come in the front door as she climbs out the window. She’s Jessica, and she’s clearly on the run.
We cut to Elsa Gray, a woman who doesn’t look healthy. She takes her medication and gets a visit from Raymond. He’s a little pushy, but she goes along with it, making him coffee. He says that there’s a situation that’s gotten out of control, and he needs her help. “The subject is on the way to the border, and we can’t let her cross.”
We cut back to Jessica, who has a map and is hiding out in the woods. She comes to a farmhouse and sleeps in the barn. We flashback to her, locked in a cell in a very dirty old building.
Vince, one of Raymond’s security/hacker people, spots Jessica on a camera and reports her location to Elsa, who’s annoyed that her own hands are shaking.
The farmer invites Jessica inside for breakfast. Frank and Janie ask questions, and they seem nice, even though it’s obvious that she’s lying about her story to them. Frank decides to drive her where she wants to go and give her a bag of clothes and supplies. They go until the road ends, and he drops her off near more woods. We notice that he has a cough.
Elsa falls down; there’s definitely something wrong with her physically. She gets a call from Sal, who has Laura on the line, a woman who’s got ALS, the same disease Elsa has. Her prognosis is not good, and she knows it.
Jessica dreams about camping with Ian and a stray dog who gives them both fleas. Elsa talks to Vince on the phone, and we see a photo of Ian and the now-dead dog on the wall. Jessica stops into a bar and asks for a job from Molly, who points her to a mop.
Elsa gets a call about Frank and Janie. She goes in wearing a hazmat suit; she says that Jessica is carrying a special strain of ebola. When she gets there, Janie and Frank look– unlike ebola patients, more like zombies.
We flash back to Jessica and Ian. His “flea bites” are looking a whole lot worse, and he gets very sick. They take an ambulance to a place that’s very much not a hospital; men in hazmat suits kidnap her and lock her up.
Raymond admits the situation to Elsa. It’s not ebola, it’s a genetically engineered virus that the dog had. The dog escaped and infected Jessica and Ian. Ian died, and Jessica is a carrier now. Jessica doesn’t know any of this; she thinks she’s being chased for murder. Elsa says the scope of the search is way too small, and he says that this is all due to a sloppy pharmaceutical company which doesn’t want word to get out. She quits on the spot.
We cut back to Jessica in her cell, killing a guard to escape. This is why she was covered in blood in the opening scene. She sees Ian, who is a scab-covered mess.
Raymond knows all about Elsa’s ALS, and that’s why he hired her. He persuades her that she needs to work and not just retire and give up, and she gets back on the case.
Jessica wakes up with a hangover, but Molly wakes up with something a lot worse. Vince calls Elsa and says everyone at Molly’s bar has been detained. They don’t know where Molly lives, but they’re looking. Vince thinks there may be more to all this than a case of ebola, but Elsa doesn’t clue him in.
Elsa sees Jessica in town. Jessica walks away. Elsa has trouble keeping up and falls down. Jessica runs back to Molly’s house and sees what’s left of her friend before panicking. She starts packing her stuff and then hears Molly moving around upstairs. Molly’s dead though, so what’s going on? Jesscia goes back upstairs to look and Molly’s become a full-on zombie. Afterward, Jessica finds that all her hair is falling out; that’s new.
Vince finally figures out where Molly lives and sends Elsa to investigate. Elsa finds Jessica but sees that Jessica is sick. Elsa ends up shooting her, but it doesn’t have much effect; Jessica runs away toward the Canadian mountains before Elsa shoots her again. Elsa holds her hand as she dies.
We get a montage of all the records of the whole incident being deleted. Elsa goes home and continues taking her medications. Sal comes over with brochures about living with ALS and holds Elsa’s hand. In the middle of their conversation, he starts coughing. Is it over or not?
Commentary
The trailers for this one are a little misleading, it’s not at all what we expected.
The name of the film is “New Life,” and everyone continually talks about starting over, second chances, and reinventing their lives, so the theme here is pretty obvious. The acting is excellent all around, and the situation is more or less realistic and believable.
It’s got a good story, but it’s almost an hour into the film before we really know what’s going on and why. The horror elements are somewhat minimal, with a couple of disease-ridden sick people and one or two somewhat mild zombie attacks. It’s more psychological than horrific, but it’s good either way.
2024 Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Directed by George Miller
Written by George Miller, Nick Lathouris
Stars Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke
Run Time: 2 Hours, 28 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a little disappointing after the steady action of the previous “Mad Max: Fury Road.” There was plenty of action in this one, but also lots of talking and down time. And the CGI use seemed more obvious this time around. Still, the cast is good, and it does tell us how Furiosa becomes who she is.
Spoilery Synopsis
We hear voice overs about the collapse of society as the credits roll.
We zoom into central Australia, in a green place. Two children pick apples to eat. Furiosa and her friend see a motorcycle gang sneak in to check them out “invisibly.” She’s spotted, but she signals her people for help. The gang grabs the little girl and rides away. Two women on horseback pursue, “None must live to tell of this place.” It doesn't take long before the “gang” is down to two motorcycles and one determined pursuer.
The final gang man takes Furiosa to Dementus’s camp. He’s got a whole colorful crew of weirdos, and they want to know where she’s from. He wants to know where she’s from, but she won’t speak. Meanwhile, the pursuer, Furiosa’s mother, dresses up like one of Dementus’s men and sneaks into camp. Under cover of a sandstorm, Furiosa and her mother escape, but Dementus has a way to track them.
Furiosa rides on, but her mother remains behind to fight. When Dementus tortures the mother, Furiosa returns to Dementus, who puts her in a cage. The History Man advises her to make herself invaluable, and Dementus will have to look after her.
One day, Dementus, in his chariot, encounters a lone War Boy. The war boy says he, too, comes from a place of abundance. Dementus brings his whole crew to the place indicated, which just happens to be Immortan Joe’s Citadel.
They all ride and demand their leader’s surrender. He makes a speech about the people being able to choose their leader. He sees Immortan Joe and the People Eater and isn’t impressed. They aren’t impressed with him either, as they demonstrate that Joe’s soldiers are willing to die for their leader.
Rictus and Scrotus, Joe’s sons, decide it’s time for a fight– and we get a big one. Things do not go well for Dementus, whose army retreats at high speed toward GasTown. They watch the War Rig going back and forth with gasoline shipments to Immortan Joe’s Citadel. They capture it and replace the men aboard with their own people in disguise.
The trick works, and they capture GasTown and Joe’s brother. This makes negotiating with Immortan Joe more equal. For the negotiations, Dementus takes his leaders with him, and little Furiosa goes along. Joe wants her. They make a trade agreement, but Joe demands both Furiosa and the Organic Mechanic.
Furiosa is sent to live with Joe’s many wives. One of the wives gives birth to a four-legged baby, so that’s not good. Rictus gets a crush on her, but she gets away from him. Time passes, and Furiosa has blended in with Joe’s peasants; she’s working for them now.
We cut to a post-apocalyptic “shop class” where they gather to build a new War Rig. Furiosa is there, disguised as a boy. Praetorian Jack is the driver of the new rig. Some rogue warriors out in the wasteland attack the rig; Furiosa is there, under the truck, to keep the big truck running. It’s a long and costly battle for both sides, especially when the attackers have air power. In the end, only Furiosa and Jack remain. He offers to teach her everything he knows about “Road War.”
Furiosa and Jack drive the rig to the Bullet Farm, the third big fortress of the wasteland. They pick up weapons there for Joe’s army. Jack says she’s proved herself, and he’ll help her leave for wherever she wants to go.
When they arrive at GasTown, there appears to be a full-on revolt happening. Dementus is in charge, and he’s not happy with Joe’s management. He calls for a meeting of the leaders of the cities. Immortan Joe, The Bullet Farmer, and The People Eater are not willing to negotiatie with Dementus and prepare for war.
Jack and Furiosa drive to the Bullet Farm to load up for the war. It’s a trap, Dementus has already taken the place. Only Furiosa gets out. Jack is locked inside and can’t get out. Furiosa sees this as her chance to shoot Dementus, and takes her shots. Somehow, she manages to rescue Jack, but she doesn’t get Dementus.
Furiosa takes Jack across the desert toward her long-ago home. Except Dementus and his men are not far behind. There’s a battle. Jack gets shot and Furiosa injures her arm before they crash. Dementus makes a whole speech about justice and retribution. Furiosa is tied up, but she escapes after cutting off her own arm and sabotaging Dementus’s ride.
We cut to Mad Max standing on a cliff; this has caught up to the beginning of “Fury Road.”
But we continue. Furiosa returns to the Citadel and tells Joe’s people everything. Dementus has GasTown and the Bullet Farm, so he moves against the Citadel.
The battle rages on for forty days. Meanwhile, Furiosa gets a mechanical arm. She steals Scrotus’s car. The supercharged car easily overtakes Dementus and disables his vehicle.
After hours of torture, Dementus finally recognizes who Furiosa is. Eventually, she drags him back to the Citadel. They pin him to the ground and plant a tree in his living body.
Some time later, Furiosa leads Immortan Joe’s wives out to the rig to make their escape, which was in the other film…
Commentary
The standout character is Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworth, who’s so over-the-top that it’s just perfect.
There are many scenes that just seem posed, very artsy-fartsy-like. There are a lot of interesting characters here, better than any comic book movie. Unlike the previous film, “Fury Road,” there’s a lot of very obvious CGI in this one. This one was long and it felt long as well, especially since we already know who lives and who dies. It gave us a lot of backstory that we didn’t need and stretched on far too long.
It was exciting in the good parts, but there was waaaaay too much talking in this one. The one thing that really saved “Fury Road” was that it was relentless and never slowed down for an instant… This one did.
Short Film: Bite (2024)
Directed by Jack Pirie
Written by Jack Pirie
Stars Nichola Burley
Run Time: 4:37
Watch it:
What Happens
A dancer walks home from an audition and gets a call from the casting director. “We wanted someone with more ‘bite.’ Maybe next time.” She goes to her studio and practices. She’s not happy with her life, and then the mirror-version of herself starts berating her, too. How will she ever compete with the girl in the mirror?
Commentary
Vampires in movies are always graceful and skilled at everything they do; it’s probably just a matter of having time to practice, right? Maybe she’s not a vampire; it’s not completely clear. I think the vagueness about what Val is detracts a little bit. What exactly happened here? It looks good and is well-filmed, but the story itself is too brief to tell us what’s going on.
2024 Cold Blows the Wind
Directed by Eric Williford
Written by Eric Williford
Stars Jamie Bernadette, Victoria Vertuga, Torrey B. Lawrence
Run Time: 1 Hour, 25 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was a very well made low-budget film, with a good story, skillful actors, and good direction. Things start bad and keep getting worse as weirdness piles on, and it never lets up, packing a lot into a short film so it moves well. We liked it a lot!
Spoilery Synopsis
A couple opens the trunk of their car, and the guy inside wants help. Dean thought he was dead, but Tasha says they can’t leave him in there. He can’t walk, so they carry him inside. While Tasha goes to get the guy a glass of water, Dean chooses a knife from the drawer.
Tasha wants to take the injured jogger to the hospital, but Dean wants to finish him off. “If we take him to the hospital, they’re going to ask what happened.” They argue back and forth for a while. Dean gets his way, and soon, the jogger is very, very dead. They argue about cleaning up the bloodstains in the foyer.
They put the guy in a wheelbarrow and take him out to the woods behind their house, still arguing about whether it was murder or putting him out of his misery. As they dig the hole, someone watches from the trees.
Dean says his parents could show up at the house at any moment, so he wants to go back home. Dean wants to get back to normal, and she argues that this is all too easy for him.
Suddenly, there’s a banging at the door, someone’s calling for help. A woman comes in, saying a man has been chasing her. She’s Briar. Tasha thinks they can re-balance their karma by helping the woman. She knows about them burying the body in the woods, and she says as much.
She warns them that things buried in the woods around here don’t always stay dead. Dean goes out to make sure the body is still there, while Tasha and Briar talk about… journaling. Dean, on the other hand, finds the dead jogger shambling around in the fog. He cuts the man’s head off with his shovel this time.
Briar wants to take a bath, and Tasha notices scars on the strange woman’s back. She’s evasive about them. When Tasha gets a little too curious, Briar’s voice changes into something supernatural. Later, they talk about her getting away from the man who’s chasing her.
Tasha asks, “What do I have to do to get you to keep our secret?”
“Kill me,” Briar answers. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Dean comes back to the house and finds that Tasha has killed Briar. Suddenly, a car pulls up; it’s another stranger who says he’s looking for Briar. He’s weird and nosy. He wants to use their bathroom, but that’s where they shoved Briar’s body. He’s Uncle Stevie. On the way out, he warns, “If you happen to see Briar, whatever you do, don’t kill her.”
Since the buried dead don’t stay dead, Dean grabs a hacksaw and a garbage bag; the pieces won’t go anywhere. The two work together to dismember Briar. When Tasha shows Dean Briar’s scars, they’re gone. Tasha vomits up some black stuff and passes out.
Dean goes outside to bury the second body as Tasha reads Briar’s journal. She hallucinates Briar crawling into bed with her. “I’m here to help you with your husband problem. You know what you have to do.”
Dean finishes burying the still-moving body parts. He comes inside and tells Tasha to hurry up and get ready to go. She comes out of the bathroom, and she’s carved circles into her back and painted them on the walls– in poop. She wants to eat.
Dean makes the worst-looking frozen pizza ever, and Tasha doesn’t eat it. “You’re trying to poison me.” She accuses Dean of trying to kill her now. He soon finds Tasha biting chunks out of her own arm. They argue because she doesn’t love Dean; she doesn’t even like him anymore.
Now, Tasha wants Dean to kill her. When he won’t do it, she stabs him before walking into the woods. She eventually comes to an RV with Uncle Stevie inside. She now wants him to kill her, but he also refuses. “If I kill you, that thing inside you jumps into me.”
Tasha jumps on Uncle Stevie and they fight until she bites him in the neck, killing him. Dean staggers in, not dead. “Briar warned me about the hunger.” They fight, and she stabs Dean through the neck. She goes back in the house and gets all cleaned up.
Finally, she beats on some people’s door and asks for help from the person who’s chasing her. She says her name is Briar.
Commentary
It’s a low-budget film that’s really well-written and acted. The three main leads all do well here, and the situation just gets weirder and weirder as it progresses. It’s definitely a psychological thriller more than anything, as these two normal people basically go insane through events that just get worse and worse.
It’s good.
1966 Psycho Circus
AKA “Circus of Fear”
Directed by Werner Jacobs, John Llewellyn Moxey
Written by Harry Alan Towers, Edgar Wallace
Stars Christopher Lee, Leo Genn, Anthony Newlands, Heinze Drache, Klaus Kinski
Run Time: 1 Hour, 31 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
Despite the title and alternate title that imply otherwise, this is more of a crime drama and mystery than horror. It starts off as a very clever crime caper and shifts to a whodunit with lots of suspects. It does have Christopher Lee in a nice big role, even if he’s hooded for much of the movie. We thought it was very good and worth checking out.
Spoilery Synopsis
A man checks his watch and then peeps in the dockmaster’s office. Elsewhere, a group of men look at their watches as they set up signs saying the bridge is closed. The armored car stops, and they neutralize the police escort. They use the London Bridge’s drawbridge to trap the armored car, and then they rob it and drop all the money down to a man in a boat below. All the men drop down to the boat for their own escape. The men on the boat then get away as credits roll.
Inspector Elliot arrives on the scene, and one guard has been killed. The robbers unload their loot in an old warehouse and they all gang up on Mason, the man who shot that guard; no one was supposed to be hurt. The Boss calls the man in charge and tells him to give Mason an extra share. First, Mason needs to go see the Boss out in the country. Manfred, the man from the dockmaster’s place, is there, and he’s got crazy eyes.
Someone anonymously calls Inspector Elliot with a tip about a car’s license plate. The police soon find the truck with that plate and run it off the road, killing all the robbers inside.
Mason arrives in the country and wants to go to “The Old Farm.” He goes inside and finds a lion in a cage. Someone off-screen throws a knife and kills Mason.
We cut to the circus. Mr. Barberini owns the circus, and he greets Gregor, the lion tamer. Barberini says he doesn’t want another accident, and we see that Gregor is wearing a hood to cover his face. He’s badly scarred from big cat scratches under there, Barberini says it was one of the worst accidents he’s ever seen.
We watch a few circus acts as Mario and Gina argue about where she’s been. Mr. Big, the dwarf, threatens Gregor. Manfred comes to the circus, looking for work. It’s the weirdest job interview ever.
We see that Gregor has a suitcase full of cash under the lion’s cage. Mr. Big wants his money; he’s blackmailing Gregor for something. Inspector Elliot talks to Sir John about the heist, and they still really don’t have any new leads on the case. He gets a call that some of the stolen bills have been used, and he goes to check that out. Mr. Barberini has deposited some of the bills in the bank.
Back at the circus, Gina is sleeping with someone whose face we don’t see. We see that Mario is missing one of his knives, the one used to kill Mason. Elliot arrives at the circus just in time to see Mario fighting with Carl over Gina. Elliot wants to interview the various circus employees. He takes photos of most of them and sends them back to Scotland Yard.
Mario and Gina argue about her secret boyfriend as Mr. Big and Manfred skulk around outside. Someone opens up the door to the lion cage and lets it into the room with Gina, but Gregor comes to the rescue.
Carl, the Ringmaster, knows that Elliot is a cop and tells him about the business with Gina and the lion. Elliot gets a warrant to search the whole circus, and Barberini laughs at the whole idea. As Elliott questions Gina about the lion attack, the police come in and tell him that they’ve found a body and a knife. As they check out the body, someone kills Gina with another of those knives. Mario immediately becomes the prime suspect.
Eddie the clown sets up a guillotine for his act and scares Mr. Big with it.
Carl casts aspersions on Gregor and his niece Natasha; could that body that they found have been Natasha’s father? Gregor and Carl argue about Natasha. Carl wants to find the man who murdered his father; the killer was sentenced to prison for life, but he escaped. Gregor’s brother Otto was that murderer. Carl expects Otto to come back someday to find his daughter, Natasha.
Carl tells Inspector Elliott about Otto and Gregor. Has anyone ever seen Gregor’s scars?
Barberini identifies the murder weapon as belonging to The Great Danillo, who died ten years ago. He had a son, but he wasn’t in the circus. Elliot requests a photo of Natasha’s missing father, the escaped prisoner; he’s the same height and general physical appearance as Gregor.
We cut to Gregor getting more money out of his suitcase and paying off Mr. Big. Someone we don’t see follows him to look for the money, and Manfred follows him. Manfred gets a knife in the chest for his efforts.
Back in his trailer, “Gregor” takes off his mask, and he’s a very unscarred Otto, Christopher Lee, underneath, and Natasha is well aware that he’s her father. He denies having killed anyone; he says he simply found the suitcase.
Someone sets fire to the barn where Manfred and the money are hidden. Gregor runs in and grabs the suitcase but can’t get out. Carl runs in to help him. Carl pulls off Gregor’s mask, and he knows what’s up. Gregor whacks him and drives off with Natasha.
Otto/Gregor and Natasha hide in a cave. Carl finds the cave, and they all argue about who killed Carl’s father. Otto tells the story, that it wasn’t murder. Carl believes the story and offers to help them escape before the police arrive. Otto falls over the side of the cliff, and the real killer steps on his fingers. Otto dies, but all the money goes over the side with him.
They have the money, but Elliott says they haven’t caught the killer. Natasha and Carl cleared Otto of the murders. Elliott has an idea to catch the murderer.
Barberini has everyone gather together to watch Mario do his new act. Mario is throwing using those knives. Eddie admits that his father was Danillo, and he shows them how well he can throw knives. “I made clowns out of many of you!” Elliott comes in to arrest him, but Eddie runs and is killed. Barberini fires Mr. Big for blackmail, and that wraps it all up.
Commentary
Eddie basically just admitted the whole thing for no real reason. Yes, they found the knives, but that didn’t prove he killed anyone.
Christopher Lee is Gregor/Otto here, and he wears a black hood over his face in almost all the scenes.
This isn’t really a horror movie at all, it’s more of a whodunnit/crime thriller with lots of potential suspects and no real clues for us to guess. As soon as we heard about Otto, Gregor, and Natasha, we developed a theory that Otto was really the one under Gregor’s mask, but that also seemed pretty obvious, so we weren’t sure.
It’s entertaining throughout, but it’s more mystery than horror.
1991 Child’s Play 3
Directed by Jack Bender
Written by Don Mancini
Stars Justin Whalen, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers
Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This one tries to be pretty serious, with a few exceptions here and there, and it ends up being kind of dull. It’s a little too stretched out with very little new. It’s not terrible, it’s just there. The practical effects hold up well, but we’d probably call it our least favorite of all the Chucky movies.
Spoilery Synopsis
We open on the long-since-closed “Good Guys” factory, where people start pulling doll parts off the cobwebbed conveyor belt. They’re throwing it all away, including the lump of melted goo that used to be Chucky. A claw machine picks up the melted glob and it drips blood into the machinery… as credits roll, Chucky is re-formed.
We get a briefing about Andy Barclay and Chucky; this is the boardroom of the modern “Good Guys” company. They want to put “Good Guys” back on the market, even despite all the bad PR years ago. Of course they don’t believe anything about one of their dolls being alive. Mr. Sullivan, the CEO, is a hardass, talking about their consumers.
Sullivan takes home the very first new Good Guys doll in the box, which he takes to his office full of toys. Shortly afterward, Chucky uses the toys to make an impact on Sullivan. Chucky uses Sullivan’s computer to track down Andy, who has been recently enrolled in military school. Chucky knows that the only way he can get out of the toy body is to transfer himself into Andy, so off he goes.
Andy tells the commandant that his mother has been committed, and he has had “adjustment problems” with all the foster families. The commandant, Colonel Cochrane, talks about fantasies of killer dolls; he knows Andy’s history. The barber, Sergeant Botnick, is a hair-sadist. Tyler, a young cadet, likes watching the Good Guys cartoons on TV.
Andy meets his roommate, Whitehurst, who has been tied up by Shelton, the school bully. Shelton soon turns his eye to Andy. De Silva stands up to him and gets 25 pushups for it.
The officer in the mailroom gives Tyler a box to deliver to Andy. The box gets broken open, and he sees it's a Good Guy doll, which he decides to keep. Chucky leaps out and talks to Tyler about “mail tampering.” Chucky decides to try transferring himself into Tyler.
De Silva shows Andy how to shoot a rifle. Chucky, meanwhile, does his Voodoo transfer spell on Tyler, but they’re interrupted by Cochrane. Cochrane takes Chucky away since cadets aren’t allowed to play with dolls. Andy sees Chucky, and Chucky sees Andy.
Chucky gets thrown in the garbage truck and kills the driver to escape. Chucky gets into Andy’s dorm room and makes himself known. Chucky doesn’t try to take over Andy; Tyler would be a much better target. Just then, Shelton comes in and catches Andy and the doll, which he promptly steals.
Andy sneaks into Shelton’s room late at night to get Chucky back. He gets caught, and it’s a punishment for everyone. Chucky uses the distraction to hunt for Tyler, who wants to play hide-and-seek with him. De Silva uses the distraction to read Andy’s personal file, and she finds Tyler and Chucky in a closet. She puts lipstick on Chucky, which he does not appreciate.
Colonel Cochrane goes into his office and knows something is off. When Chucky jumps out with a knife, the old man just dies from a heart attack, much to Chucky’s surprise and glee.
Andy warns Tyler about Chucky, but the little boy doesn’t believe him. Sergeant Botnick finds Chucky and thinks his hair is too long– time for a little trim? No, Chucky trims the sergeant’s neck with a razor.
The new leader of the school announces that it’s time for war games, using paintball guns. Chucky, of course, swaps out the paintballs for real ammunition.
De Silva kisses Andy, and Chucky gets jealous. Chucky gets Tyler away from the crowd and reveals that he’s not a Good Guy. Chucky takes good advantage of the war games as everybody gets moving. Andy and Tyler track down Chucky, who has De Silva as a hostage. Shelton arrives on the scene, and sees Chucky just as someone on the other team shoots him with a real bullet.
Tyler and Chucky run away from the carnage toward the nearby carnival; Andy follows. Tyler gets the carnival’s security guard to help. Andy and De Silva find the guard dead soon after. De Silva takes the dead guard’s pistol. They all go into the fun house, where Chucky prepares once again to swap souls.
There’s a shootout, and De Silva is wounded; she gives Andy the gun, but he barely knows how to use it. An accident with the fun house ride rips off half of Chucky’s face, but Tyler isn’t crafty enough to keep evading him. Chucky does the spell, and the sky gets all supernaturally cloudy. Andy has to climb up to where Chucky and Tyler are.
Andy tries really hard and shoots at Chucky mid-spell. Andy wakes up Tyler as Chucky grabs him from behind. Chucky winds up falling into a ridiculously huge exposed fan blade that chops him to bits.
Andy goes off with the police, likely to be charged with something. We’ll never see Chucky again, right?
Commentary
Who would build a funhouse with so many actually dangerous deathtrap situations? When they say keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times there, they really mean it.
Chucky was still plastic and mostly done with practical effects here. Andrew Robinson, as the barber-nazi, is just hilarious here. Most of the other characters play it pretty seriously here. Actually, this is the last film of the series that can’t be called a straight-up comedy.
Don Mancini was forced to start work on this even before the second film had aired. Since the actor who played Andy was still only nine years old, they had to recast him with an older actor. Mancini also felt that being forced to make a third film so soon after the second was hard, as he was out of ideas. It shows.
This is, in my opinion, the worst film of the series. Fortunately, after this, they took a few years off, and the following movies were far better once they embraced the comedic side of Chucky.
Stay tuned for more reviews next week!
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Arcadian, New Life, Furiosa, Cold Blows the Wind, Psycho Circus, and Child’s Play 3