![]() Chucky has done extensive cross-promotion with other brands, showing up to talk shit on World Championship Wrestling and SNL’s Weekend Update. At one time you could download a Chucky-themed Temple Run knockoff on the app store. There’s a Chucky doll at Spencer’s Gifts for $49.99, along with countless t-shirts and plush toys. As a child’s doll turned evil, Chucky was literally made to be merchandised he’s all our fears about the soullessness of mass production come to life. Jason and Freddy might have their Funko Pops, but they didn’t begin their lives on an assembly line. Most of all, the Chucky movies are unique because consumption, consumerism, and commodity fetishism - the very things that give slasher movies a reason to exist - are their primary concerns. ![]() It's also remained in the hands of mostly the same creative team, creator Don Mancini and voice actor Brad Dourif, who, after a public tiff over the rights, will continue their own franchise with a TV series on SyFy next year. (The less you know about Jason X, the better.) Clear continuity is hard to come by in slasher movies but until this year, Child's Play had never been rebooted. Any kid can put a little green paint on their face and be Frankenstein, but you have to buy a piece of plastic to be Ghostface.Īmong all the major slasher franchises, the Chucky movies are unique, a remarkably consistent series of products in a genre notorious for inconsistency. Imagine Michael Myers without the jumpsuit, Jason without the hockey mask, Freddy without the hat - and then imagine Halloween (the holiday, not the movie) without any of those things. Slasher movies don’t just sell themselves slasher movies also have merchandise. ![]() Because of their devotion to tropes, archetypes, and creative algorithms, slasher movies are very clearly products, which is partially what I like about them: They allow us to think about movies as an industry, not just an art form. After all, you can’t be a slasher if you just kill one person. The final girl survives, but the slasher almost always rises again, whether by the supernatural forces established in a film, or the economic forces demanding he return for another installment. And, yep, that’s why we love you.Few film genres are as open about their reliance on formulas as the slasher movie, to the delight of those who love them. We know that a little while later Hasbro busted out Kid Sister to help boys be nice to their ‘fairer siblings’ (Side note: Was there an epidemic of brothers beating up their little sisters in the 80s? Quite possibly the research isn’t complete.) but even if that was their intent, the company quickly realized the error of its ways, just as soon as little girls started snatching them up off the shelves and not you. Hell, it STILL plays in our heads on occasion, almost 20 years later. In 1985, you and your ‘typical boy’ look (overalls, ball cap, tennis shoes, requisite button nose) stormed the shelves as Hasbro bombarded our brains with that song… that jingle that we heard practically every time we turned on the TV. ![]() And if you were lucky enough to be adopted by a boy with a sister, you were pretty much guaranteed (during at least some point in your life) that you’d be subjected to some sort of girlie play. ![]() And sure, they may have stuck you in a dress and forced you to play tea party, but that was simply the life you were destined for, it seems. Hasbro really just wanted to make it cool for boys to play with dolls.ĭid they succeed? Maybe… to a select few boys, but come on, all those little girls liked having you around just as much. We know what you were intended for (and, no, it wasn’t to creep people out. Yes, you did happen to be close to life-size, and some folks may even say that the horror movie doll Chucky was based on you, but don’t let that bring you down. Man, did you come along at a great time! The 80s really were the cream of the crop (if you ask us), and honestly, boys really DID need a doll that they could latch onto and love… one that no one would think was (ew!) girlie.Īnd you’re a BOY doll so, you know, there you go. ♫ ♪ My Buddy… my Buddy… Wherever I go, he gooooes! My Buddy… my buddy! My buddy and me! ♩ ♫ ![]()
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