Child’s Play 1988

Detective Mike Norris chases the fugitive serial killer Charles Lee Ray through the crowded streets of Chicago, their pursuit spilling into a toy store while Ray’s accomplice Eddie Caputo flees and Norris’ partner Jack Santos stays hot on their trail. Ray is shot and dies, but a final voodoo chant transfers his soul into a nearby Good Guy-brand talking doll, just as a bolt of lightning strikes the shop and an explosion tears through the storefront. Norris later discovers Ray’s lifeless body lying beside the doll, the eerie scene underscoring a horror that won’t be contained by conventional means. The doll, now inhabited by Ray, is revealed as Chucky.

Meanwhile, Karen Barclay Karen Barclay struggles to make her six-year-old son Andy Barclay Andy Barclay happy on a tight budget, hoping to gift him one of the coveted Good Guy dolls he’s admired. A homeless peddler outside the store manages to obtain a Good Guy and, after Karen purchases the doll for Andy, the boy is immediately drawn to the new companion who introduces itself as “Chucky.” That night, Maggie Peterson Maggie volunteers to babysit while Karen works a shift, and the toy soon reveals a dangerous, murderous personality. Chucky comes to life, attacks Maggie with a hammer, and she meets a fatal fall from a window, the room left to spill secrets and questions.

Karen returns home to a grisly crime scene with Norris at the forefront of the investigation, convinced that Andy could be involved even as the boy maintains that Chucky is the killer’s vessel. Andy claims the doll has talked to him and even shared the killer’s real name, Charles Lee Ray, deepening the chilling mystery. Karen traces the doll to the peddler, who is coerced into admitting the theft from the destroyed toy store, but he remains a volatile and dangerous witness. The pursuit grows darker as Chucky confronts the truth about his own humanity, while Ray’s rotting plan hinges on a transfer that could make him unstoppable.

Seeking answers, the trio discovers that the doll’s lingering humanity is tied to the trick of voodoo taught by a former instructor, John John, who explains that the longer Sarcastic soul remains in the doll, the more “human” it becomes. He also reveals a desperate condition: to escape the body of the doll, Ray must transfer his soul to the first person to whom he ever confessed his true identity—Andy. This revelation shifts the danger squarely toward the young boy, forcing Karen and Norris to adjust their plan as the clock ticks down.

The confession sets the stage for a chilling confrontation at the psychiatric hospital, where Chucky eliminates the doctor with an electroshock device and pursues Andy as the boy attempts to flee. Karen and Norris arrive just in time, and the trio fights to stop the possessed toy. They set Chucky aflame, and although the burned doll fights back, Karen shoots its head and several limbs off, delivering a devastating early victory. The ruined body then bursts through a heat vent, prompting Norris to finish the threat by striking Chucky’s heart as the ambulance-ready duo escapes with injuries and a shaken resolution. Andy watches the remains, a stark reminder of the price of fear, and the long road to healing that lies ahead.