Child's Play
2019 · Directed by Lars Klevberg
Original language: English
- horror
The story
Karen, a single mother, gifts her son Andy a Buddi doll for his birthday, unaware of its more sinister nature. A contemporary re-imagining of the 1988 horror classic.
What it’s like
Glossy, cold digital photography over Chicago suburbs and apartment interiors, with flat fluorescent light in the big-box store and a sickly blue glow from screens and tablets that makes ordinary rooms feel watched. Camera work is mostly tidy handheld and quick cuts, with the doll framed in tight, low angles that keep its face in the corner of the shot. The score leans on synth pulses and sudden stingers, and the sound design makes the Buddi's chirps and mechanical whirs bright and unsettling against quiet kitchens. The vibe is brisk, slick, and mean: a jumpy, tech-anxious horror that plays best late at night with the lights on. Its pace is steady and escalating, and its emotional core is a frazzled single mother trying to hold her family together as her son's bond with the doll curdles. The violence is frequent and bloody, with stabbings, impalements and a few gory kills, and dread builds through jump scares and dark humour more than sustained tension. Not gentle, and not for anyone wanting restraint. It suits fans of slasher-style killer-toy horror and modern android-paranoia stories who want a fast, grisly ride.
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