The Twisted Tale Of The Killers Who Were Inspired By Chucky

Created by Don Mancini in 1988, the horror franchise Child's Play follows the demented

deeds of possessed doll Chucky and has continued for over 30 years, becoming one of the strongest

and most versatile of slasher franchises. But playtime was almost over for Chucky when two separate and savage murders were linked

to the film series. These horrific occurrences altered the trajectory of the Child's Play series forever

Today, we're going to take a deep dive into how Child's Play inspired a series of real-life murders

In 1988, the writer of the original Child's Play, Don Mancini, was only 24 years old with one other film credit to his name

but he also had a script about a killer doll entitled Batteries Not Included

Upon finding out that Steven Spielberg was producing a film with the same title

The Mancini's script changed its name before filming, first to Bloody Buddy, but then finally to Child's Play

Taking inspiration from the Talking Tina episode of The Twilight Zone, Mancini's original script had some significant differences from the final version of Child's Play, seen by audiences

The doll dispatching the violence in the story was a supernatural manifestation of the main child character's id

The doll would strike out against people who the child, named Andy in the original draft, as well as the final version, perceived as threats

This would be changed when director Tom Holland took on the project and rewrote the script, resulting in the doll becoming the character of Chucky

Chucky was a good guy's brand doll that was possessed via voodoo incantation by the soul of a notorious serial killer named Charles Lee Ray

While Chucky has gone on to become the series' defining character, the inclusion of voodoo never sat well with the original writer Mancini

And in subsequent films, all penned by Mancini, the plot point becomes increasingly derided and mocked

But what Mancini did embrace, as did movie audiences in 1988, was the bent charisma and miniature menace of Chucky, brought to foul-mouthed life by actor Brad Dourif

Dourif would go on to voice the character in all seven installments of the franchise, with Chucky being voiced by Mark Hamill for the 2019 remake

With Dorff's unique combination of genuine unhinged malice coupled with his impressive comedic timing

Chucky quickly inherited the mantle of wisecracking but wrath-filled slasher from Freddy Krueger

The first film was a hit, and Mancini returned to pin its sequel two years later

With a new director on board, Mancini was now the burgeoning film franchise's main creative connective tissue

and he embraced his red-haired stepchild left over from the original film's rewritten script with open arms

Child's Play 2 again followed not only Chucky's story, but the original film's protagonist, young Andy

The child who Chucky continues to try to subdue in order to transfer his soul into the boy's preferably human body

With Andy and other child characters in peril throughout the original trilogy of Child Play films there an undeniable extra level of uneasiness in the horror films which plays off the dark humor also on display But there would be nothing funny about the real horror some would seek to connect to the franchise after the release of the third film

In England, two unrelated murders, the first occurring in December of 1992

and the second only three months later in February of 1993, were both associated with, according to some, attributed to the Child's Play films

The kidnapping, torture, and murder of Suzanne Capper in Manchester began a week before her demise on December 7th

16-year-old Suzanne Capper was described as a naive, impressionable young girl who thought of her eventual killers as her friends

Capper trusted them, getting to know the group while babysitting for one of them, a woman named Jean Powell

Capper became a mainstay at Powell's home, while Capper's own home life became uncertain with her parents separating

Capper was one of many figures flinting in and out of Powell's house, figures like Bernadette McNeely, a woman with three children who

along with her boyfriend Anthony Dudson, also lived with Powell as well as Powell's ex-husband

Glenn Powell, and frequent visitors Jeffrey Lee and Clifford Pook, all of whom would be convicted of Capper's murder after the events of the week beginning December 7, 1992

On that date, upon arriving at Powell's home, Suzanne Capper found all her supposed friends waiting to ambush her

The reasons for the kidnapping and subsequent torture and murder were baffling and petty

with various explanations ranging from Capper taking a coat that belonged to McNeely

to McNeely and Dudson contracting lice after sleeping in a bed that Capper had also used

Regardless, over the next five days, Suzanne was subjected to a series of violent and depraved acts

that escalated over the duration of her captivity. It began with Suzanne being held down while Glenn shaved her head, eyebrows, and pubic area

and then placed a plastic bag over her head so the entire house full of occupants

could take turns hitting Capper with belt buckles and large ornamental wooden spoons

Following the beating, Suzanne was next locked in a cupboard. Out of fear of Suzanne's screams disturbing Gene and Bernadette's children, who also lived in the home

the group moved Capper to Bernadette's abandoned home, just a few doors down, where the torture continued

Suzanne Capper's two front teeth were removed with pliers, and another was snapped in half, which left the nerve exposed

She was also injected with amphetamines and burned on the face and body with cigarettes

Even more inhumane punishment followed, accompanied perversely with the routine forcing of headphones on Capper

so that electric dance song, Hi, I'm Chucky, Wanna Play?, by 150 Volts

which featured dialogue samples from the film Child's Play, could be blared at full volume into the helpless girl's ears

McNeely would also often begin her torture of Capper by uttering the words, Chucky's coming to play

In the early morning hours of the 14th of December 1992, it finally ended Taken to a secluded spot Capper still alive was covered in petrol oil and set on fire Then she was left for dead Although she would eventually expire from her injuries including severe burns which covered 80 of her body

Susanna Capper lived long enough to name her attackers and give details of what she endured to the police

While Capper's killers were arrested and awaited trial, another thoughtless murder possibly associated with the Child's Play films

took place on February 12, 1993, when two-year-old James Bulger was taken, tortured, and then murdered

by two 10-year-old boys named John Venables and Robert Thompson. The abduction took place while the two-year-old's mother, Denise Bulger

was momentarily distracted at the butcher shop. The two boys quickly took their victim, dragged him into various locations, inflicting unthinkable hurt to the small child, including beating and stoning the boy, until he finally died

Venables and Thompson then took his body to a deserted railway track, leaving it there tied up to be found days later

The case of unparalleled viciousness towards a child by other children outraged the nation

Venables and Thompson were found guilty of murder. In June 2001, they were both paroled into society and given new identities

Unlike the more direct connection of the Capper case, the relation of the Child's Play films in this case is much more tenuous

It hinges on a scene from Child's Play 3, in which Chucky was killed after being splattered with paint and having its face beaten

A fate which was eerily similar to the paint-covered body of the Bulger boy

This would become a relevant discussion at the boys' murder trial, with the judgment of Mr. Justice Moreland stating that exposure to violent movies

may have influenced the behavior of the boys, as it had been revealed that Venables had been exposed to the horror film

which had been rented by his father a month before the murder. But the police did not agree

Albert Kirby, the director of the murder investigation, gave evidence that Venables was not living with his father at the time

and the chances of him having viewed the film while it was rented were unlikely

The official conclusion was made that there was no link, with psychiatric reports presented to the court further denying the association between the actions and the film, as it evidenced that the young Venables had an inversion to horror movies

And while the connection with Child's Play is more direct, though still not damning in regard to the murder of Capper, her murder trial coincided with Bulger's trial, and therefore did not receive as much media attention

resulting in the public's memory linking the film more with Bulger's tragedy

despite the expert opinion being that the films were not to blame. Series creator Don Mancini never thought his films were to blame either

but he realized that they would have to change if they were going to survive and thrive

Even before the ignominy of the murders there were signs that Child's Play was in need of an overhaul

with the fact that the third film had underperformed at the box office in the franchise weakest box office haul and adjusted million Mancini came to the conclusion that the limits of the protagonist character Andy had been

fully explored for the time being, as was the conceit that Chucky would continue to pursue

any other child in an attempt to resurrect himself. For true resurrection of the series

as a whole, as well as its villain, Mancini decided to let the series outgrow any childish

association it used to carry. Starting in 1998's Bride of Chucky, the series dropped not only the

notion of having a child protagonist, but even using the title Child's Play at all. Following

the success of Bride, Mancini followed it up with The Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, and The Cult

of Chucky. More than just a simple rebranding, the new Chucky offshoot series stood in contrast to

the earlier entries by being decidedly satirical and knowingly campy. In short, the horror series

with elements of dark comedy had become a series of dark comedies with elements of horror

Heralding the new direction, Bride of Chucky opened on October 16th, 1998, and became the

franchise's highest grossing entry, grossing $73 million. Mancini's newfound creative control, along with the inclusion of actress Jennifer Tilly as the voice of the titular Bride

turned Chucky into one of the few surviving slashers from the 80s to maintain their icy

grip on their audience decades after their first appearance. While most of the contemporaries failed to change with the times, or even worse, attempted

to shove their respective slasher icons into new, at the time, trends like found footage

horror, Chucky may be the most unlikely of his alumni to prosper, manage to stay relevant

and even increase his popularity by exploring a part of his mythos that has always been

there but never exploited to its fullest potential. Ironically, by embracing the absurdity of the film's central conceit

of a serial killer stuck in the body of a doll and no longer playing as a straight horror

the series now transformed into a much sillier story and has grown into something designed for a more adult audience

Maybe because adults have a much easier time separating their fantasies from reality

Or maybe Chucky's lasting reach has something to do with why we live in a time when many adults still play with their toys

Walk into a Spencer's gift shop And not only will you find loads of Chucky merchandise

but you'll find countless items aimed at adults featuring with other icons from their youth

And while many of these other characters have laid long dormant with the occasional rustle of an attempted reboot

Chucky has never left the audience's side. With Bride of Chucky and its sequels, there also came comic books

cameo television wrestling appearances, Saturday Night Live stints, a reboot, and a TV series

Perhaps creator Don Mancini's creative pivot following child's play association with real-life murders

wasn't to find a new audience that wasn't comprised of children as much as it was to keep the audience he had and have Chucky grow up right alongside with them

In this era of perpetual youth and near-terminal nostalgia, it seems Chucky has found a way to make sure playtime never ends