While it may have been dealt a difficult blow of recent, one iconic Nightmare on Elm Street franchises.

When many franchises remained dormant for some time, certain studios sought to revive interest in them with various reboots and remakes, a trend that became more infamous in the 2000s and early 2010s. There were some highs for the genre during this era, including Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, but also certainly many lows, ranging from the critically panned Nightmare on Elm Street reboot to One Missed Call, which holds a rare 0% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. There have also been some in which the fanbase was split right down the middle.

The Child's Play Is Coming To Streaming On The Heels Of The Chucky Show's Cancellation

Both It & The Original Release On Max Next Month

One such franchise to have gotten the remake treatment after some time away was Don Mancini's Child's Play remake decisively split both critics and audiences down the middle, with ScreenRant's own Sandy Schaefer giving it 5/10 stars and writing the following in their review:

Despite its mixed success as a satire of the Digital Age, Child's Play is an otherwise entertainingly bloodthirsty re-imagining of the slasher brand.

Some five years after the movie first hit theaters, Max has announced that 2019's Child's Play is coming to the streaming platform. The remake, along with the 1988 original, is scheduled to premiere on the streamer on March 1. The news comes on the heels of the announcement that SYFY and the USA Network had cancelled Chucky, the TV expansion of the original franchise, after three successful seasons on the networks.

For fans of:

  • The Child's Play franchise
  • Horror movies about creepy dolls
  • Horror movies about AI gone wrong

Why You Should Watch 2019's Child's Play

It Does Enough To Stand Apart From The Classic Original

While most horror remakes have found themselves dismissed by critics throughout the years, it should be noted that 2019's Child's Play is the rare example of one to have landed on the Fresh side of the Rotten Tomatoes spectrum. In addition to the aforementioned ScreenRant review, a calculation of 206 reviews put the film at a 64% approval rating, which is technically only just fresh, but actually fares favorably when compared to other installments in the franchise, which can be seen in the chart below:

Title

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score

Child's Play (1988)

74%

65%

Child's Play 2

47%

53%

Child's Play 3

19%

40%

Bride of Chucky

45%

50%

Seed of Chucky

37%

43%

Curse of Chucky

78%

61%

Cult of Chucky

81%

62%

Child's Play (2019)

64%

57%

Despite some of the movie's larger tonal and predictability issues, it's hard to deny that Child's Play does generally stand out from its predecessor, thanks mostly to its darker sense of humor that the sequels of the original franchise would begin to infuse, though in favor of more overt scares, for which the remake tries to go for. In also bringing in a sci-fi twist with its tech-driven Chucky compared to the supernaturally possessed doll of the original, the remake has enough changes to keep things feeling fresh.

What else ScreenRant has said about the Child's Play remake:

Of course, this is still Child's Play, and the movie is ultimately more interested in getting to the moments where Chucky brutally slays people than preaching about kids and their iPhones these days. Downside is, the film's early attempts to explore the ways that Chucky is corrupted (being mistreated by humans, not understanding their behavior, or consuming violent media without context) ring a bit hollow once the doll starts devising elaborate ways of killing anyone who threatens his "friendship" with Andy.

Other Killer Doll Movies Available To Stream Now

  • Chucky (TV Show, Peacock)
  • Cult of Chucky (Netflix)
  • Annabelle (Netflix)
  • Annabelle: Creation (Max)
  • Annabelle Comes Home (Max)

Source: Max

Child's Play 2019 poster

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Child's Play
R
5/10
7.0/10
Release Date
June 21, 2019
Runtime
90 Minutes
Director
Lars Klevberg

Cast

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Child's Play is a 2019 remake of Tom Holland's 1988 film of the same name. Instead of Chucky being a Good Guy doll, he is now a high-tech Buddi doll that becomes evil after a disgruntled factory worker disables his safety protocols and ends his own life. Child's Play received mixed to negative reviews, and after Don Mancini released his Chucky TV show, any ideas for a sequel were shelved.

Writers
Tyler Burton Smith
Studio(s)
Orion Pictures, KatzSmith Productions, Bron Creative
Distributor(s)
United Artists, Elevation Pictures