Synopsis:

Child's Play (1988) with a restructuring that aims to restore writer Don Mancini's original intentions of leaving it ambiguous during the first half whether Chucky is actually alive or not.

Intentions:

When writer Don Mancini penned the early drafts of what would become Child's Play, he had something quite different in mind. Originally developed as "Batteries Not Included", then retitled "Blood Buddy" before settling on "Child's Play", Mancini's approach had several key differences from the finished film. For starters, there was no Charles Lee Ray and no voodoo, the doll was a sort of catalyst for Andy's darker traits (this all would get carried over to the 2019 remake, in quite a few ways closer to Mancini's story than the original film was), and most important, for quite a good chunk of the story the narrative played up the ambiguity of whether Chucky was actually alive or it was all in Andy's mind. Which in my mind is way more interesting than the structure that director Tom Holland and/or additional screenwriter John Lafia ended up using by starting the film with Charles Lee Ray becoming Chucky. The movie as released is highly enjoyable but also kind of frustrating, knowing that it could have been so much more. So, enter this edit, which aims to recreate as much as the original structure as posdible. While Mancini's structure can't be entirely reconstructed (both Charles Lee Ray and the voodoo stay, both for consistence with the rest of the series and for lack of any alternative material to replace them), the film is now once again a mystery for a good portion of its running time, by moving the Ray scene to much later as a flashback, trimming the early kills to avoid showing that it's Chucky doing it, removing all early indications of the doll being anything else than just a harmless toy, and having the reveal exactly where Mancini wanted it: when the mom discovers the unused batteries. DISCLAIMER: It goes without saying that, despite the title, Mr. Mancini had no involvement in the creation of this edit.

Change List:

- Added FE.org logo at the start. - Removed the Charles Lee Ray scene to be used much later in the film. - Added customized credits in the style of the originals to the scene of Andy preparing breakfast. - Cut Chucky turning his head to pay attention to the news report. Slowed down a shot of a still Chucky to cover the gap. - Cut Andy asking Chucky why he is not looking at him, and Chucky turning his head again and saying "Hey, wanna play?" Replaced the music cue from the movie playing on TV with the same cue taken from the original film (if you are curious, it's 1960's "The Boy and the Pirates") to get rid of the sounds of Andy playing with the toy tools. - Tweaked the audio of the line "Aunt Maggie, Chucky wants to watch the nine o'clock news" so the word "news" does not stand out so much as obviously taken from a different take and quite crudely spliced in. - Cut Andy asking Chucky if he wants to see his room. - Cut Andy telling Chucky about Maggie getting angry if he watched the news, then kissing Chucky goodnight and going to sleep. - Shortened shot of Chucky running in the background before the Maggie kill so it is less clear who it is. Tweaked the pitch of Chucky's breathing sounds so they sound less like those of a grownup. - Cut scene of Andy noticing the flour on Chucky's soles. - Trimmed the end of the scene of Andy and Chucky in bed while Karen listens behind the door, to avoid showing Chucky moving his head in a too revealing way. - Heavily trimmed the Eddie Caputo kill to get rid of the shots of Chucky's hands inside the house, and of Andy outside. Once Andy leaves to "go tinkle", that's the last we see of him and of Chucky in the scene. Chucky's offscreen laugh to startle Eddie is replaced with the sound of a falling pan hitting the ground. - Cut Mike and Karen's exchange about Charles Lee Ray's last words to him (out of necessity, as I had to cut those last words from the actual scene due to the original credits rendering the shots unusable). - Charles Lee Ray scene, trimmed and turned to B&W, used as a flashback depicting Mike's memories while he drives, right before getting attacked by Chucky. - Cut elevator scene with the neighbors ("ugly doll"). It is kind of a non-sequitur, and showing neighbors in the building sort of have the unconscious effect in the viewer of making Andy feel less isolated and devoid of help while Chucky is going for him. - Trimmed the fireplace climax to have Andy be more proactive. He doesn't just stand there watching for so long, and reaches for the matches without Karen having to tell him to do so.

Additional Notes:

Sony Vegas Pro to do the actual editing, Audacity for demuxing and remuxing the audio and do tweaks, and MKVToolNix to mux the final .mkv file.

Other Sources:

"The Boy and the Pirates" (Bert I. Gordon, 1960) for a clean music cue as the movie plays on TV. - Freesound.org for the audio clip of an object hitting the ground, used for foley replacement.

Special Thanks:

Robulon, whose "Terminator: The Hunt for Sarah Connor" edit was key in reigniting my interest in doing this project, and then provided highly valuable feedback and ideas. - ArtIsDead for the amazing poster art. - Blueyoda, for everything.