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SYFY WIRE Chucky

What makes Chucky from Child's Play so evil?

By SYFY WIRE Staff
Child's Play Chucky

After decades of slashing, stabbing, cackling, and murderous hijinks, Chucky is finally making his way to the small screen with SYFY's upcoming series, Chucky.

For the uninitiated, we first met this evil little dude in 1988's Child's Play, which follows single mother Karen Barclay (Catherine Hicks) after she buys a "Good Guy doll" for her son, Andy (Alex Vincent). The seemingly simple gift turns into a living nightmare, though, when the doll, Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif), comes to life and goes on a murderous rampage. Since then, Child's Play has been followed up by six sequels — and Chucky has gone on to sow chaos wherever he goes.

Child's Play

SYFY's upcoming Chucky TV series, created by Child's Play franchise architect Don Mancini, will see the return of the eponymous doll, who mysteriously shows up at a yard sale in a small, seemingly idyllic town. In short time, though, the town is thrown into chaos as a series of grisly murders exposes long-hidden hypocrisies and secrets.

We wonder who could possibly be behind the murders…?

Before Chucky gets himself a new set of victims, though, SYFY is looking back on the films that came before. On Thursday, April 1, SYFY will host a day-long marathon of the Child's Play series, starting with Child's Play (1988) and working all the way through to 2017's Cult of Chucky. Additionally, all the movies will make their way onto the SYFY app on Friday, April 16, and will remain there until mid-June (save for the first Child's Play, which leaves April 30).

But what makes Chucky such a monster? What is it with this freakin' doll? Let's review.

If you watch Child's Play (1988), you'll learn that Mancini's dastardly doll isn't just possessed — it's possessed by a serial killer named Charles Lee Ray, aka The Lakeshore Strangler (played by Dourif). One night, on the Southside of Chicago, Ray is chased down and shot by homicide detective Mike Norris (Chris Sarandon), but it doesn't kill him. Ray's able to make his way into a toy store where Norris shoots him again, this time in the chest, and delivers the killing blow — to his body, at least.

Because that's not the end of The Lakeshore Strangler. Not by a long shot.

Bleeding out, Ray uses the Heart of Damballa amulet and the Damballa chant — a Voodoo ritual — to transfer his soul into the body of, you guessed it, a Good Guy doll. He vows to get revenge on his accomplice who abandoned him, Eddie Caputo (Neil Giuntoli), and Detective Norris for "killing" him. The ritual causes lightning to strike the toy store and it explodes. Although Norris survives, he believes Ray hasn't upon finding the serial killer's body.

If only he'd been right.