Horror has been climbing back to the top spot in a big way in recent years. In the face of mega-budget flops and tired franchises, zany ideas expressed through the horror genre have become major crowd-pleasers. Of course, Obsession and Backrooms are the most recent examples, but even the more out-there horror premises are enjoying a comeback.
That brings us to the trend of killer dolls on the big screen. A classic formula that’s been present throughout the history of cinema, but really found its face in the late 1980s, we’re seeing them waddle back to the forefront of the genre. So, why has this kooky sub-genre of horror come back, and will it have legs?
Something Unnerving About a Killer Doll
While many came before it, it’d be tough to overstate the impact that Child’s Play had on this idea of a doll come to life to do some killing. There are certainly horror elements to it, but the film clearly recognizes the fun side, too, sliding it into that horror-comedy bracket quite nicely.
After all, the premise is rather unnerving. Dolls and toys are there to be gifted, cherished, and to offer entertainment through imagination. Everyone has their favorite from decades ago. It’s this angle that makes them such appealing subjects in entertainment for adults, as shown by the persistent popularity of Fluffy Favourites.
Loaded with stuffed animals won at a carnival, the game fully leans into their cutesy nature and the classic setting, triggering that fondness that we all have. It then leverages the best ones in its hit features. Child’s Play turned this all on its head, taking a popular and immediately cherished doll and imbuing it with a killer.
There are some extra steps with voodoo, some sacred words, and the need to jump bodies from the doll to a living body, but the main driver of the doll, Chucky, is that he won’t let anyone get in the way of his goals. The film led to a whole series which was disastrously rebooted in 2019, and went toe-to-toe with Puppet Master in the 1990s.
Toys to Life the Modern Way
As is classically the case, a hit new horror film spawned a spin-off with M3GAN 2.0. It flopped, deserting its steady premise from the original to become a weird kind of action film. Between these, though, we also got Imaginary and The Monkey. Neither would rank as particularly worthwhile films to watch, but did well on their low budgets at the box office.
The trend doesn’t stop there, either. Dipping into the killer dolls sub-genre and the twisting of classic stories entering the public domain, Pinocchio: Unstrung was unnerving in its aesthetics, but uninspired on the horror and writing front. The M3GA-VERSE also expanded with Soulm8te.
Following a similar, but not as hidden, premise as Companion, but as an M3GAN spinoff, it tells the story of an increasingly protective AI companion who’s purchased by a grieving widower. As The Hollywood Reporter explores, it drew connections to Obsession’s themes and offered more of a return to form for the series.
With all of this action in the sub-genre he has long been the face of, apparently, Chucky is buzzing to get back to the big screen. Thanks to the success of the likes of M3GAN, as well as the SYFY show, filmmaker Don Mancini is now confirmed to be attached to the next Child’s Play movie as writer and director.
Killer dolls can be both eerily frightful and rather comedic, and when done well, films in this genre can provide around two hours of fun storytelling and some crafty set-pieces.