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This is the second part of a set of reviews covering all ten movies in the "Child's Play" and "The Omen" franchises. The first part, reviewing the original "The Omen", directed by Richard Donner, can be found here.
Child's Play (1988)
I didn't remember being at all impressed by Child's Play the first time I saw it. I think my expectations may have been somewhat skewed by the film series' indirect connection with the Jamie Bulger killings. "Child's Play 3" was accused of inspiring one of the ten year olds who abducted and murdered James Bulger, a 2 year old boy. In actual fact, at best it seems like the Jon Venable's father, not the boy-killer himself, may have rented the movie on one occasion. Jon Venables actually claimed to dislike horror movies.
A detective on the case claimed the police had checked 200 movie titles rented by the killers' families. They were looking for any signs that they may have directly inspired the Jamie Bulger murder. So strong was the media's obsession with 'video nasties' at the time. The detective announced that: "If you are going to link this murder to a film, you might as well link it to The Railway Children."
Still, that the movie could cause this controversy made me expect something rather different. I was under no illusion that a Child's Play movie could lead someone to murder, but I did at least expect the movie to be scary enough or gory enough to stir up controversy. When I first watched "Child's Play" I wasn't yet a big fan of horror comedies. What I saw seemed cheesy as hell.
( Read more... )
Child's Play (1988)
I didn't remember being at all impressed by Child's Play the first time I saw it. I think my expectations may have been somewhat skewed by the film series' indirect connection with the Jamie Bulger killings. "Child's Play 3" was accused of inspiring one of the ten year olds who abducted and murdered James Bulger, a 2 year old boy. In actual fact, at best it seems like the Jon Venable's father, not the boy-killer himself, may have rented the movie on one occasion. Jon Venables actually claimed to dislike horror movies.
A detective on the case claimed the police had checked 200 movie titles rented by the killers' families. They were looking for any signs that they may have directly inspired the Jamie Bulger murder. So strong was the media's obsession with 'video nasties' at the time. The detective announced that: "If you are going to link this murder to a film, you might as well link it to The Railway Children."
Still, that the movie could cause this controversy made me expect something rather different. I was under no illusion that a Child's Play movie could lead someone to murder, but I did at least expect the movie to be scary enough or gory enough to stir up controversy. When I first watched "Child's Play" I wasn't yet a big fan of horror comedies. What I saw seemed cheesy as hell.
( Read more... )
