Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Child's Play 3 Blu-ray Movie Review

"I got a new game we can play. It's called Hide the Soul. Trust me, you'll love it..."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown October 4, 2013

Director Don Mancini's Child's Play trilogy and subsequent Chucky sequels aren't exactly unique among fan-favorite horror series. The first installment remains unmatched. Reinvention is the franchise's lifeblood. Camp slowly displaces straight scares. The diabolical baddie becomes more central to the story with each passing film. The human element becomes more and more inconsequential. The kills gorier, the deaths zanier, the body count higher, the satire more pronounced, the entries more niche, and the true series fans that much more ravenous. Like the Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street sagas before it, the Chucky movies aren't so much about developing a terrifying mythos as they are keeping a franchise alive and kicking. And, like the well-established icons of the genre before it, the series' undying killer has become an indelible fixture in horror, no matter how hit or miss the original Child's Play sequels may be. Chucky has slashed his way through four different decades -- the 1980s (Child's Play), 1990s (Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3, Bride of Chucky), 2000s (Seed of Chucky and 2010s (Curse of Chucky) -- and I suspect this won't be the last.

"I'm new and improved!"

Chucky of course is actually Charles Lee Ray, or the Lakeshore Strangler if you're feeling morbidly nostalgic; the briefly disembodied spirit of a voodoo-practicing serial killer forever possessing a Good Guy doll, best friend to children everywhere. More than that, Chucky is voice actor Brad Dourif's rampaging id. Murderous, maniacal and armed with a barbed wit and twisted sense of humor, Dourif (and Mancini's puppeteers) summon the obsessive drive of Jason Vorhees, the mercilessness of Michael Myers and the riotous, madcap lunacy of Freddy Kreuger. (As a grown man with a wholly irrational and debilitating fear of dolls, I can attest to Manchini's grasp of precisely what makes the knee-high ankle-slashers the stuff of cold-sweat nightmares. It doesn't mean Mancini is the greatest writer or director, mind you, but a healthy twinge of genre terror goes a long way, even through the silliest of sequels.)

Had the Chucky franchise bled out with Child's Play 3 -- the undisputed worst of the collection's six films -- I doubt many genre junkies would have mourned the series' passing. Leaping eight years into the future, the would-be trilogy capper follows a 16-year-old Andy (Justin Whalin) to military school, where he makes an enemy of a skeptic colonel (Dakin Matthews), makes a few friends, and meets the love of his life, Kristin (Perrey Reeves). You know what comes next. Killer doll inbound. Chucky arrives via mail to spoil it all, only to fall into the hands of another young boy named Ronald Tyler (Jeremy Sylvers). Once again, bodies pile up as Chucky can't find the time to complete the voodoo possession ritual that would transfer his soul into a new host. And, once again, the deadly doll has to deal with Andy, who refuses to lay down and die. All well and good for a Child's Play sequel... if Mancini and director Jack Bender knew what to do with the older-Andy premise and military school setting. (My postmortem suggestion? Scrap the whole thing and start again.)

If Child's Play 2 was an episode of "Horror Sequel-Making by the Numbers," Child's Play 3 amounts to an episode of "How to Wreck a Franchise." In retrospect, the fact that 3 is the midpoint of a full-fledged series is a miracle in and of itself. This is where things get downright embarrassing for Mancini who, to his credit, at least managed to rebound eight years later by taking things in an inspired (and risky) new direction with Bride of Chucky. The third film in the series, though, fumbles just about everything: dialogue, which is mind-numbingly bad; the Chucky kills, which are cheesy, stilted and ridiculous (the live rounds subplot anyone?); the cinematography, which is far more direct-to-video than anything in Curse of Chucky, the direct-to-video sequel of the bunch; the music, the effects, good God the performances; troubles accumulate from the get-go and never stop mounting. Child's Play 3 is the Batman and Robin of the Chucky-verse, and most everyone involved looks back on it as such. Dourif is the lone saving grace, but his enthusiasm and crackshot humor only goes so far. Toss this sequel on the so bad it's... something list.

Child's Play 3 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like its Child's Play 2 predecessor, Child's Play 3 mostly impresses -- mostly -- with a fairly faithful 1080p/VC-1 video transfer. Colors are warm and richly saturated, primaries pop, and black levels are nice and deep. Fleshtones are a touch pink and crush is prevalent (especially in the third act), but none of it proves too problematic. Detail, though, is quite striking on the whole, with crisp edges and textures. A heavy veneer of grain is present and largely undeterred as well, without any signs that might point to overzealous DNR or processing. Artifacting, banding, aliasing and other encoding issues are nowhere to be found either, and only a few (thankfully brief and negligible) nicks and scratches pepper the print. There is evidence of artificial sharpening at play (ringing and the like), but it's limited. Softness creeps in from time to time too, although it's mainly tied to the original photography. All in all, Child's Play 3 looks great.

Child's Play 3 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Child's Play 2 and Child's Play 3 feature comparable DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless stereo tracks. Dialogue is generally clear, intelligible and competently prioritized, and air hiss, muffled lines and other irritations are the exception rather than the rule. The soundscape isn't over-crowded either, with effects and music given plenty of room to breathe. Granted, each film's sound design shows its age, but further remastering work couldn't accomplish much more, unless Universal went back to the original elements and creating new 5.1 remixes. All told, the sequels' lossless tracks are more than serviceable.

Child's Play 3 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Like Child's Play 2, Child's Play 3 arrives on a barebones disc, save a standard definition theatrical trailer.

Child's Play 3 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The One That Nearly Ended It All remains the low point of the Chucky Collection. However, a surprisingly impressive video transfer salvages the unsalvageable and makes it a bit easier to watch. Guilty pleasure enthusiasts are in for a treat, even if the disc's DTS-HD Master Audio stereo track isn't as exciting and its supplemental package is almost non-existent. As for the film, approach it as if it were pure parody and you might just come out of it alive and chuckling.