Horror fans are notoriously hard to please, especially when it comes to old established favorites. I would argue that horror fans are almost as hard to please as comic book fans if it weren’t for the fact that you don’t hear about so many death and rape threats coming from the horror side. When it was announced that there would be a “reboot” of the Child Play, the initial response was unsurprisingly, unenthused. People’s skepticism of a new franchise was only bolstered by the lack of support from the original writer Don Mancini. I will say that I was like one of the detractors last year who decried the new IT movie. “Why does this movie need to be remade??” I languished and bemoaned. But when I went to go and re-watch the original, I understood. As a child it was terrifying, but as an adult it was really showing it’s age. The movie was due a new coat of paint and some sprucing up. When I eventually did see the new IT movie, I was instantly impressed, the new movie adds more dimension to the already great original movie. Enjoying the new movie, didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the first movie.

Like many early reactionary responses to movies that haven’t even come out yet, the negative response seems unjustified. I can’t speak for the film’s director, Lars Klevberg, who seems to only have done a few short films in the past but or the writer who’s only major credit is the upcoming Kung Fury 2, but the producer is Seth Grahame-Smith, who made the IT movie and stars Aubrey Plaza and Bryan Tyree Henry. Full disclosure, I will watch anything with Bryan Tyree Henry in it because he is incredible and has yet to pick a project that doesn’t work for me. The work of the director and writer don’t exactly make me very excited for the project but to be honest, has anyone been excited for a Child’s Play movie? The current franchise is on it’s 8th installment and the sequels are god-awful. Every movie that has come after Bride of Chucky (1998), has been forgettable and a rehash of what was done before it. The reboot gives a new life to an otherwise floundering franchise. The original premise of a violence criminal using voodoo to reincarnate himself into a doll, just doesn’t make sense in contemporary times (as much sense as a killer doll come to life could), and the new premise of a doll that is high tech and malfunctions to kill it’s owner is a modern and fresh take.

With the new images being released, the design of the new Chucky (what was originally called the Good Guy Doll) is now an anime faced Buddi, with round cheeks, blue eyes and those iconic overalls, instantly recognizable as the homicidal killer. It feels more menacing to have a smooth faced, smiling, cute doll staring back at you then the scar mangled face of the current franchise. We know chopped up Chucky is going to try to cut us, but what will Buddi do? Who will believe that such a cute doll is capable of murder?

I am waiting for the new movie, slated to be released on June 21, 2019. I’m not going to hold on to some sort of one-sided loyalty to a franchise that is older than I am for the sake of childhood nostalgia. The new movie should be given a chance, and if it’s garbage, it can go on the pile of used, broken, burnt Chucky dolls that you know is somewhere in a studio storage closet, waiting, patiently, for their chance to rise again.

Check out bestbuddi.com for a peak into the new movie.