YMMV / Child's Play (1988)

• Accidental Innuendo: Chucky telling the witch doctor he has a date with a 6-year-old boy.
• Awesome Music: The end credits theme by Joe Renzetti, which has a hauntingly beautiful yet child-like feel to it.
• Catharsis Factor: Granted, the series didn't end with this movie, so he doesn't stay dead for long, but after seeing the sadistic serial killer Chucky terrorizing and taking advantage of Andy, getting his mother Karen separated from him, and just gleefully turning the lives of these two innocent people into a complete hell for almost the entire movie, it still can be immensely satisfying to watch both Andy and Karen finally turn the tables on him at the end and deliver him a nasty and humiliating defeat that includes burning him alive and reducing him to a headless, pathetic and charred body.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Despite her insistence on not losing Andy, the second film reveals Karen was sent to a mental hospital because nobody believed her.
  • While the aforementioned line of "I have a date with a 6-year-old boy" was already an unfortunate Accidental Innuendo, it became much worse in 2023 after Ed Gale (the suit actor for Chucky) got exposed for being a real life pedophile.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Charles Lee Ray's long black hair, black suit and black trenchcoat would look fine in the 80s...but not in a post-The Room world, where he's often compared to Tommy Wiseau.
  • In the first film, Brad Dourif and Chris Sarandon are adversaries to one another, which is a coincidence as both actors had competed for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor back in 1975. Dourif was nominated for that category for the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, while Sarandon was nominated for his supporting role in Dog Day Afternoon.
  • Head special effects technician for the first film Kevin Yagher would marry Catherine Hicks, making an amusing situation where one of Chucky’s creators is married to the actress playing the mother of his archenemy.
  • This wouldn’t be the last film about a kid named Andy whose toys come to life. Though that Andy had far better luck with his own toys.
  • The old lady called Chucky an ugly doll.
  • Naomi Watts in the 2019 film Luce has similar looks and clothing to Catherine Hicks' from this film's climax.
  • Shortly after the film's release, Playmates Toys would dip their hat into the talking doll market. One of them, a redhead named Corky would be voiced by Edan Gross, Chucky's Good Guy doll voice.
• It Was His Sled: Partially because it's a Late-Arrival Spoiler, The Reveal regarding the killer is now widely-known to the public thanks to Chucky's status as a horror icon.
• Memetic Molester: Chucky, thanks to this infamous line:
  Chucky: I have a date with a 6-year-old boy.
• Narm:
  • Chucky screaming "YOU STUPID BITCH, YOU FILTHY SLUT! I'LL TEACH YOU TO FUCK WITH ME!", a comically over-the-top series of insults. Similarly, his burnt body yelling "Give me the boy, and I'll let you live, you hear me?!" and his detached head screaming for his body to kill everyone at the end. Also, much like the majority of the film, this is supposed to be serious.
  • As much as a Large Ham he is from what little we see of him in the film, when Charles Lee Ray learns that he's mortally wounded, he gives out a calm yet somehow wangsty realization of "Oh, God. I'm dying...". He seems more annoyed at his imminent death than anything else.
• Nightmare Retardant: Although it's supposed to be Nightmare Fuel, the babysitter's murder is completely stilted and unconvincing. Apparently, getting hit in the forehead with a toy ball-peen hammer is enough to make you stumble across the entire kitchen and throw yourself out the window.
• Signature Scene: Karen realizing that Chucky's been running without his batteries, and the ensuing Jump Scare.
• Special Effect Failure: In the scene leading up to Maggie's death, Chucky can be seen in the background running. However, even from afar, it's obvious that it's a toddler running instead of the Chucky puppet.
• Spiritual Adaptation: With the gothic snowy setting and ominous electronic-dominated music score that reminisces Carl Zittrer's and Paul Zaza's horror film music scoring, this film gives off a Canadian horror vibe as if Bob Clark of Black Christmas (1974) produced this film with Tom Holland directing.
• Squick: The uncomfortable Accidental Innuendo of Chucky saying "I have a date with a six-year-old boy." Even though it's a set up to be followed up by the Pre-Mortem One-Liner "And you have a date with Death!", it's still creepy for reasons it wasn't meant to.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Andy pleading with Chucky to tell everyone the truth after Chucky blew up his accomplice - it's at this point we learn that Chucky had threatened to kill Andy if he ever told anyone about how he could move on his own.
  • When Andy is locked in the mental hospital, he sees Chucky coming up the stairs, he yells for help but Dr. Ardmore just blows him off, leaving him to scream "he's going to kill me!" and then burst into tears.
  • After Andy is sent to the mental hospital, Karen quietly goes home and looks completely dejected. This quickly turns into Nightmare Fuel as she suddenly realizes Chucky has been running without batteries all this time.
  • The end credits theme, which combined with the ending, really hammers home that Andy won't ever recover fully from his experience. It's often described as the feeling of childhood innocence being destroyed beyond repair.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Detective Mike Norris was Chucky's initial Arch-Enemy who was also responsible for his first death. He might have became the franchise's equivalent to Halloween's Dr. Samuel Loomis as The Hero with an established history with the killer, but he doesn't appear after this film.

---