Main Cast: Justin Whalin, Perrey Reeves, Jeremy Sylvers, Travis Fine, Dean Jacobson
Release Year: 1991
Country: US
Run Time: 89 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Several years have passed since the events of the previous film, and yet again the makers of Good Guys dolls -- a line which included the homicidal Chucky -- decide to reinstate their product line. Unfortunately, some of the materials used are still imbued with the evil spirit of serial killer Charles Lee Ray (voice of Brad Dourif), whose soul once inhabited the Chucky doll... and who returns to action in a spanking new Good Guy body. Determined at first to finish the job he started by swapping bodies with young Andy (Justin Whalin) -- who is now a teenager in military school -- Chucky decides to change tactics, setting his sights on a much younger boy. When Andy becomes aware of the situation, he is compelled to put a stop to Chucky's Satanic antics once and for all. The signs of a creatively-depleted horror franchise are evident (they had already shown themselves in the previous installment), but there is still enough juice left for the spooky climax, which borrows a riff from Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
Review
Child's Play 3 is fascinating not just because of the extremity of its badness, but because its badness suggests a fascinating story of production catastrophes taking place right outside the frame. Though the product of director Jack Bender and series creator/writer Don Mancini, this movie looks like it was shot by a variety of directors and written by a plethora of writers, with a budget, and vision that fluctuates from scene to scene. The story opens with a carefully structured, drawn-out sequence where Chucky (voice of Brad Dourif) stalks and kills the CEO of Play Pals Toys in his high-rise office. What does this have to do with the rest of the movie? Nothing! From there, Chucky tracks down his good-guy buddy Andy Justin Whalin at a military academy. The school's population fluctuates from a handful of students to a couple classrooms worth and provides plenty of opportunities to sleazily revel in the grotesque murder of young children. (Some so stupid they might be better off dead.) Eventually the kids are packed off for a simulated war game in the woods, curiously free of adult supervision, and accidentally outfitted with real weapons. (A long story, but they really shouldn't have those on campus anyway.) Once this gambit becomes tiresome, the kids stumble upon a carnival, for the most tired of horror movie tropes, a fun house-set finale. Will spooky laughing clowns pop up out of nowhere? You bet they will. Child's Play 3, sandwiched between the series' successful second installment and Ronny Yu's 1998 campy re-imagining, belongs to a tradition of long since overworked horror movies franchises that, while utterly forgettable, are entertaining in their own gut-bucket nonsensical fashion. ~ Michael Buening, All Movie Guide
Cast
Justin Whalin - Andy Barclay
Perrey Reeves - De Silva
Jeremy Sylvers - Tyler
Travis Fine - Shelton
Dean Jacobson - Whitehurst
Brad Dourif - Chucky; Peter Haskell - Sullivan; Dakin Matthews - Colonal Cochrane; Andrew Robinson - Sgt.Botnick; Burke Byrnes - Sgt.Clark; Ryan Austine - Cadet; Michael Chieffo - Security Guard; Matt Daniels - Cadet; David Ellzey - Ghoul; Donna Eskra - Ivers; Ron Fassler - Petzold; Lois Foraker - Sgt.Frazier; Edan Gross - Good Guy Doll; Alexis Kirschner - Carnival Kid; Mark Christopher Lawrence - Cop; Richard Marion - Patterson; Laura Owens - Lady Executive; Hannah Owens-Bender - Carnival Kid; Sophie Owens-Bender - Carnival Kid; Richard A. Pack - Nelson; Michael Renna - Cadet; Henry Sanders - Major; Aimee Joy Slutske - Carnival Teenager; Kim Stockdale - Mother; Matthew Walker - Ellis; Terry Wills - Garbage Man; Kent Winfry - Cadet; David Sosna - Trash Picker; Glenn Daniels
Credit
Laura Moskowitz - Co-producer, Jack Bender - Director, Edward Warschilka - Editor, Scott James Wallace - Editor, John D'Andrea - Composer (Music Score), Cory Lerios - Composer (Music Score), David O. Sosna - Production Designer, Richard Sawyer - Production Designer, John Leonetti - Cinematographer, Robert Latham Brown - Producer, David Kirschner - Producer, Ethel Robins Richards - Set Designer, David Kirschner - Special Effects, Kevin Yagher - Special Effects, Don Mancini - Screenwriter
