October 1st, 2015 
James Shotwell 
Of all the holidays celebrated worldwide, no single day is loved by the UTG staff more than Halloween. With October’s arrival, the time has finally come to begin rolling out a slew of features and special announcements we have prepared in celebration of our favorite day.
Now in its fourth year, 31 Days Of Halloween is a recurring feature that will run throughout the month of October. The goal of this column is to supply every UTG reader with a daily horror (or Halloween-themed) movie recommendation that is guaranteed to amplify your All Hallows’ Eve festivities. We’ll be watching every film the day it’s featured, and we hope you’ll follow along at home.
This year, the entire 31 Days series is dedicated to the memory of our friend, Justin Proper. We wouldn’t have a film department without him, and he specifically helped pioneer our involvement in the horror genre. Rest in peace, JP.
Day 1: Child’s Play (1988)
Having been born in 1987, I was too young to see Child’s Play when it initially hit theaters in ’88. It wasn’t until sometime in the 1990s that I first encountered the villainous doll known as Chucky, but it was still far too soon for my young mind to fully comprehend. I never owned a doll that looked like the one featured in Tom Holland’s iconic film, but I did have something called a ‘My Buddy Doll’ that was basically the next best thing. Take a look:
Just to be clear, my doll never came to life and murdered people while attempting to return his tormented soul to a human vessel. At least, not that I know of. I haven’t actually seen my ‘buddy’ doll in about ten years, so he could very well be slicing folks into pieces from coast to coast.
Child’s Play tells the story of Charles Lee Ray, a serial killer who uses black magic to place his soul in a toy doll moments before police end his life. The doll, in turn, comes to life, but not before becoming the prized possession of a young boy named Andy. Chucky feels a sort of bond with the child, even if it’s only because he needs the child to maintain his cover, but everyone else he encounters might as well be a crime scene waiting to happen.
As the story builds, Chucky plots his escape from Andy’s home. This requires killing a few people, including police and innocent civilians, all while Andy is completely unaware that his beloved toy has sprung to life. When the big reveal happens, the wait is entirely worth it, as the puppetry used to make Chucky move perfectly transitions from unassuming to horrifically menacing in a matter of seconds. You know Andy could probably outrun him, or at the very least kick him halfway across his home, but even with that knowledge there is still something about that tiny plastic face that incites notions of terror deep within your soul.
Nearly three decades since its initial release, there is something inherently scary about Child’s Play that continues to terrify audiences to this day. Every watch, even if witnessed through a basic cable edit, is littered with moments of genre brilliance that went on to inspire an untold number of horror storytellers to find their own way to be unique. We don’t need to further discuss the franchise that followed this entry, as numerous titles have made our 31 Days series in the past, but I dare say none of them can hold a candle to the original. This is what started it all, and it remains one of the best genre titles of all time.
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