On the Plains, there is no Halloween parade, and very few adult Halloween parties (at least, none that we've been invited to). So we turn on the porch light, stream a horror movie, and pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. This year our movie was Child's Play (2018). I've never seen the original, but I wanted to see this one because I heard that the kid is gay.
(I couldn't find any beefcake photos of any major cast member, except for some photos that I already posted of Bryan Tyrell Henry. This is the result of a search for minor character Serge Jaswal, but the text says "Steven Spence Tumblr Posts," so it might be Steven Spence (whoever that is).
Chuckie's powers become more and more magical. For instance, Andy's Mom, who looks like she's about 15 (actually 33 year old Aubrey Plaza), has a boorish, abusive boyfriend (David Plaza). So Chuckie tags along to his house, pushes him into a wood chipper, cuts off his face, and then somehow walks all the way across town carrying a human face to give Andy as a gift. No one noticed?
Andy doesn't express any romantic or erotic interest in anyone. He doesn't even have a cheesecake poster on his bedroom wall, which is good enough for a gay subtext. (Being prepubescent or barely pubescent doesn't matter; lots of 10- and 12-year old boys in mass media get girlfriends.)
Police detective Mike Norris (Bryan Tyree Henry) hangs around a lot because his mother lives in the building. He doesn't express any heterosexual interest either --- one expects him to start dating Andy's Mom, but that never happens. In one scene, he tells Andy to ignore the "rumors about him." Gay rumors?
Turns out that this is not the second Chuckie movie, it's the eighth! Several of the previous movies have gay, lesbian, and gender-bending characters. Chuckie has a gender-bending child named Glen/Glenda, and he takes over a woman's body to start a romance with his human girlfriend. And in the new Chucky tv series, the central character himself (Zackary Arthur) is gay.
In the original Child's Play movie, a six-year old boy receives a boy-sized doll named Chuckie, which is possessed by the spirit of a serial killer. Here it's 14-year old Andy ( his age never stated, but he's played by 15-year old Gabe Bateman), and Chuckie the Doll is a Buddi, an advanced artificial intelligence companion with the ability to learn, reason, and experience emotions -- with all of the safety protocols disabled by a disgruntled employee in the factory in Vietnam. Gradually the doll starts hurting people (and cats) who have hurt Andy. Then he starts taking out competitors for Andy's affection, which basically means everyone.
Chuckie's powers become more and more magical. For instance, Andy's Mom, who looks like she's about 15 (actually 33 year old Aubrey Plaza), has a boorish, abusive boyfriend (David Plaza). So Chuckie tags along to his house, pushes him into a wood chipper, cuts off his face, and then somehow walks all the way across town carrying a human face to give Andy as a gift. No one noticed?
Another nitpick -- what time of the year is this? After Mom's boyfriend is shown taking down the Christmas decorations from his house, the Big Corporation CEO (Tim Matheson) unrolls his new 2.0 version of the AI dolls to screaming, eager crowds. Wouldn't that happen before Christmas?
During the big unveiling (which coincidentally occurs in the store where Mom works), Chuckie uploads his corrupted program to the cloud, resulting in an army of Chuckies (and drones) trying to kill everyone, including Andy.
Andy doesn't express any romantic or erotic interest in anyone. He doesn't even have a cheesecake poster on his bedroom wall, which is good enough for a gay subtext. (Being prepubescent or barely pubescent doesn't matter; lots of 10- and 12-year old boys in mass media get girlfriends.)
His friend Pugg (17-year old Ty Consiglio) doesn't express any romantic or erotic interest in anyone, either, not even in Andy -- their interactions are always mediated by Pugg's sister Falyn, and later, by the group of friends Andy hangs out with. But again, a lack of expressed heterosexual interest is enough for a gay subtext.
Police detective Mike Norris (Bryan Tyree Henry) hangs around a lot because his mother lives in the building. He doesn't express any heterosexual interest either --- one expects him to start dating Andy's Mom, but that never happens. In one scene, he tells Andy to ignore the "rumors about him." Gay rumors?
And Chuckie himself behaves like a controlling, possessive boyfriend: "We'll be together forever, Andy."
My grade: B.
Turns out that this is not the second Chuckie movie, it's the eighth! Several of the previous movies have gay, lesbian, and gender-bending characters. Chuckie has a gender-bending child named Glen/Glenda, and he takes over a woman's body to start a romance with his human girlfriend. And in the new Chucky tv series, the central character himself (Zackary Arthur) is gay.
So apparently this movie has the least LGBT representation in the franchise. I'm still giving it a B.
Times are changing so, even old (& boring IMO) franchises like this have to adapt 😏🤷♂️
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