History Film / ChildsPlay1988

* {{Expy}}: Chucky's characterization is lifted straight from the murderous doll Talky Tina in the ''[[Series/TheTwilightZone1959 Twilight Zone]]'' episode [[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E126LivingDoll "Living Doll"]].

The first film of [[Film/ChildsPlay the franchise]] that started it all.

* ManOnFire: [[spoiler:Doll on fire anyway. Chucky is set on fire and screams and runs around in agony until he slowly dies. Except it ''doesn't'' kill him.]]

* A major plot point is that Chucky is turning more human/biological the more he is in the doll, which will result in him eventually being unable to transfer his soul out. His appearance changes over the movie to look more organic. This was scrapped in all the sequels, mainly because [[RealLifeWritesThePlot making multiple versions of the Chucky doll proved too costly.]] The later films still have the [[TimedMission time limit]] before he's unable to possess someone and is stuck in the doll, but his appearance doesn't change. Also, in the first movie the Voodoo Priest says [[spoiler: Chucky's heart is almost human, and is his weak spot. The characters eventually shoot him there and he dies instantly. For some reason no one even attempts to do this in any of the other movies.]]

* BittersweetEnding: At the end [[spoiler:Chucky is dead and Andy is saved, but nobody besides Mike, Jack, and the Barclays are going to believe a doll committed the murders, and it's implied that Andy will never be the same.]] The sequels make this [[spoiler:a straight up DownerEnding; neither of the cops choose to tell the truth about what happened, Karen's insistence that it was the doll gets her committed, and Andy is put into foster care. And to top it all off, Chucky was resurrected several more times and eventually gained a new human body anyways.]]
* BreakTheCutie: Andy, while sitting in juvy, panics when he sees Chucky coming for him and breaks down into TearsOfFear upon Dr. Ardmore fending off his pleas to let him out. Luckily, Andy isn't TooDumbToLive and uses a ploy out of his pillow and blankets to fool Chucky then steal the keys from him to make his escape.

* DisappearedDad: Andy's father is absent with very little clues to his fate, though it is mentioned at one point that his wife Karen is a widow. As Karen works a crappy retail job, the giant apartment she and Andy live in was almost certainly his, though we never learn the whys or hows in the final film (the apartment's contents offer a few clues, though). A deleted scene involving Andy showing Chucky a picture of his father reveals he was killed in a car crash.

** Perhaps most glaringly, the fact that the doll is possessed is concealed and used as a twist later in the film, first playing with the idea that Andy is the one possessed and killing people, but it turns Chucky is framing him. Obviously the other films can't do that... [[spoiler:but ''Curse'' manages to do it again in-story.]]

* IncompletelyTrained: Chucky was trained enough in the voodoo arts to conduct a soul transfer, but not so well trained that he understood the fine print. In novelizations of the sequel films this is further highlighted, with Chucky lamenting at points that maybe he was a ''bit'' hasty in [[spoiler:killing his old mentor before getting all the information he could get out of him.]]

* NostalgicMusicBox: The end credits theme combines this with an EtherealChoir in order to evoke loss of childhood innocence.

** As Charles Lee Ray, Chucky has a breakdown in the ''first few minutes'' of the film after being shot by Detective Norris and abandoned by Eddie Caputo. The shock and fear reduces the feared Lakeshore Strangler to InelegantBlubbering and hysterical threats. It's such a pathetic display that one is almost surprised when Ray goes on to carve out a fearsome presence for himself as Chucky.

** In this film, Ray being in the doll's body makes it start to become partially biological, to the point he can be killed by [[AttackOnTheHeart shooting him in the heart]]. In all the other films in the franchise, Chucky remains fully a doll that can [[PullingThemselvesTogether reattach all his parts]] and [[RasputinianDeath must be subject to massive amounts of damage and disfigurement to die]].

* YouWontFeelAThing: One of the mental institution's doctors says this to Andy as he's about to inject Andy with some sort of sedative through a sharp-looking syringe.

* BittersweetEnding: At the end [[spoiler:Chucky is dead and Andy is saved, but nobody besides Mike, Jack, and the Barclays are going to believe a doll committed the murders, and it's implied that Andy will never be the same.]]
** The sequels make this [[spoiler:a straight up DownerEnding; neither of the cops choose to tell the truth about what happened, Karen's insistence that it was the doll gets her committed, and Andy is put into foster care. And to top it all off, Chucky was resurrected several more times and eventually gained a new human body anyways.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:''Hi, I'm Chucky. Wanna play?'']]

->''You'll wish it was only make-believe.''

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Dr. Ardmore is a DrJerk and considered an [[spoiler:AssholeVictim when he's killed by Chucky]], but actions shown on screen are not as malicious as one expects from any doctor character in media bordering on this trope, just neglectful, hypocritical and slightly inconsiderate of Andy, while claiming he only want to help him, making his character ambiguous and sometimes viewed as a downplayed VillainyFreeVillain by some.

* CassandraTruth: [[spoiler:Sure the protagonists defeat Chucky in the end, but who's going to believe them about a killer doll? This reality sets up the events in subsequent movies.]]

** [[spoiler: Chucky kills Dr.Ardmore by putting an ECT helmet on him and shocking him until he dies. Why Ardmore doesn't just ''take the helmet off'' is a mystery, as it's not strapped on or anything.]]

--->'''Mrs. Barclay:''' [[spoiler:I said talk to me, dammit, or else I'm gonna throw you in the fire!]]
--->'''Chucky:''' [[spoiler:'''YOU STUPID BITCH, YOU FILTHY SLUT! I'LL TEACH YOU TO FUCK WITH ME!''']]
** In a similar vein, after Mrs. Barclay discovers that [[spoiler:Chucky has no batteries]]:

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CInaU8ebb8 theatrical trailer]] for the film spoils the fact that the doll is alive, most notably by cutting from Karen opening Chucky's battery compartment to her saying: "He came alive in my hand!"

The first film of the ''Film/ChildsPlay'' franchise.

* RogerRabbitEffect: During the opening scene, Charles gets struck by lightning strikes, which are clearly cartoonish. It helps that they were animated by Creator/RubySpears.

* RogerRabbitEffect: During the opening scene, Charles gets struck by lightning strikes, which are clearly cartoonish. It helps that they were animated at Creator/RubySpears.

** The first film is considerably more serious than the sequels, and there's even an AttemptedRape partway in. ''2'' and ''3'' would add more humor into the mix, whereas ''Bride'' and ''Seed'' (the latter especially) were straight-up {{Horror Comed|y}}ies. Curiously, the most recent two (Curse and Cult of Chucky) have got darker again and more in line with the first film in terms of tone).

** He completely looses it again in the climax after Andy sets him on fire and Karen shoots both his head and leg off. He's literally reduced to a headless and burned body, yet all he can still think off is to kill everyone in the apartment while yelling and roaring like a wounded and deranged animal.