It was a seemingly normal
day at the MGM/UA Home Video headquarters in Culver City when Suds, my
assistant, buzzed in to say that a special guest had just arrived … not just
any special guest, but a Hollywood star.
“June Allison?” I
asked. “No, shorter,” smiled Suds.
“Mickey Rooney?” She could hardly contain herself, “No, even
shorter.”
And then suddenly
standing there in the doorway to my office was none other than the star of
United Artists’ recent theatrical hit Child’s Play. It was none other than Chucky himself.
Now the only reason I
bring this Spring of 1989 encounter with Chucky up is that Universal Studios
Home Entertainment announced this past week that his last film outing, Curse
of Chucky, will be heading to DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack (with
UltraViolet) on Oct. 8.
Let’s get a few things
out in the open. First, Chucky is real;
a little person — I signed a non-disclosure agreement back then that I honor to
this day not to reveal his real name. I
can tell you this much, he has a child-like voice, so producer David Kirschner
and screenwriter Don Mancini recruited Brad Dourif to provide a more sinister
tone to the character — it was a masterstroke; genius.
So you’ve learned that
Chucky is a real actor (not some mechanical thingamajig or CGI), has a
child-like voice (hence the need for Dourif) and one other thing. He has a temper!
On this particular day he
had stopped by Filmland in Culver City to approve the packaging for the April
of 1989 VHS launch of Child’s Play (had a clause in his
contract that gave him artwork approval … what a pain that is when the talent
has artwork approval).
The conversation was
pleasant at first. A little chit-chat
as we walked down to creative services to review the selections. But once Chucky saw the choices he blew his
top, grabbed a pair of scissors and attacked me. “Not scary enough,” he kept screaming!
Eventually we calmed him
down, made the packaging more menacing (see the final VHS sleeve) and he went
on his merry way.
It’s now the 25th
anniversary of the original Child’s Play theatrical launch and
Universal has the sixth installment in this venerable horror franchise ready
for fans to enjoy. How this film
franchise ended up at Universal is a story for another day, but let’s just say
it had to do with an Australian conman, a clueless Hollywood mogul and a little
something called a force majeure.
Once again the team of
Chucky and Brad Dourif work their magic in both rated and unrated versions of Curse
of Chucky. Bonus features
include commentary from director Don Mancini, make-up and f/x wizard Tony
Gardner and the film’s co-star Fiona Dourif, a gag reel, deleted scenes and the
featurette titled “Playing with Dolls: The Making of Curse of Chucky.”
Exclusive to the Blu-ray
SKU are two additional featurettes.
