31 Days of Hallowe'en Challenge: Day 7

It's Day 280 of the year and main project. That brings us to Day 7 of the 31 Days of Hallowe'en challenge and #31DayHorrorChallenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street.

As always, I'm starting with my own 31 Days of Hallowe'en challenge, and my mini theme is A Film From the Child's Play Franchise. I picked Child's Play 3

It's been eight years since the events of the second movie, and a new batch of Good Guy Dolls have begun production. As the company president is presented with the first doll off the assembly line, we learn it's Chucky. Chucky strangles him with a yo-yo then mails himself to a military school where Andy has ended up. Andy has befriended a group of students who all quickly become targets of Chucky's. One of which is a young kid named Tyler. Telling the young Tyler who he is, Chucky then sets his sights on transferring his soul into Tyler instead of Andy.

This is the first film in the series to start adding in more of the comedic elements. Though it does keep the horror at the forefront. One of the things I really liked about this movie, is the fact it went back to basics with some of the plot points from the first movie, but started to expand just enough on the lore. It manages to be a perfect middle movie, balancing what we knew about Chucky in the first two films and what we would see him become later in the franchise. When Andy sees first the commercial for the new line of dolls, then a while later actually sees Chucky on campus, the fear and PTSD is expressed through the close ups of his eyes to near perfection. Without him even saying anything, you feel the discomfort along with him. There is just something about this franchise, and how it mixes genres easily. From witchcraft to Frankenstein to heavy drama to comedy to old fashioned slasher; it's managed to hold up over the last four decades.

The prompt today for the 31 Days of Horror Challenge being hosted by Nightmare on Film Street is High Society Horrors. I picked American Psycho.

Business man Patrick Bateman works at a high profile highly stressful office job, where he just wants to fit in. He becomes obsessed with trying to one up his co-workers and buddies, while his jealousy gets the better of him. He's unhappy with his girlfriend, he's unhappy with the woman he's having an affair with, and he's unhappy with the regular call-girl he's been seeing. More and more he finds himself escaping into the dark fantasies he nurtures. And one by one he starts to remove his biggest competition.

There is just something satisfying about seeing that opening credits scene with the red droplets falling on the white background that you expect to be blood or even paint, but as the camera pulls back you see it's in fact raspberry sauce being delicately added to a fancy meal. This single element says everything about the tone of the film you're getting into. The idea that nothing is really what it seems, yet seeing something out of context can send your mind onto a path of half truths and assumptions. I've seen this movie about twenty times over the last twenty-five years, and every time I see something I missed before. I've said over the years that this story feels like what would happen if SATC and Texas Chainsaw Massacre had a crossover. I've never exactly been sure if the ending was explaining that he had schizophrenia or a spilt personality or an honest mental breakdown? Could be a combination.

I'm posting everyday this month, so come back tomorrow and see what's on the slab. If you want to follow along with my Letterboxd lists you can find them here and here.