Slasher movie icons aren’t exactly known for how sympathetic they are. I mean, how bad can you feel for a homicidal maniac, let alone one who seems to take pleasure in ending innocent lives as much as Child’s Play‘s Chucky? Well, that’s exactly what Director Lars Klevberg’s Child’s Play remake accomplishes.
Speaking with Collider, Klevberg was asked about the new Chucky’s motivations. The director responded by comparing his film to classic Greek literature:
“When I read the script, one of the first things I recognized was that Chucky was a great character in terms of that he changed. He had his motivations, and it came through his interaction with humans. His way of becoming sympathetic – that was something I really wanted to look into. I viewed the story as a Greek tragedy [for] Chucky… So Chucky having different emotions in this film was important to me.”
Klevberg went on to talk about the inherent empathetic spin on Chucky that his film presents:
“…[Chucky’s] motivation is understandable from his point of view but also to us. We can understand why he’s behaving like that. If you understand the antagonist and his motivations, then you can identify with him. That’s why Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein is one of my key inspirations…”
It will be interesting to see if Klevberg’s film delivers on his comments. It sounds like something that would be much easier to accomplish with the original Chucky seeing is how that version is actually a human, or at least the spirit of one. Although we’ve seen films in that past successfully make us feel for cybernetic beings, so we’ll see. It would definitely be something new for the Child’s Play franchise. But is feeling sorry for and understanding towards Chucky something we should even want?
What do you think about Klevberg’s comments on his new Child’s Play film? Do they get you any more excited to see the film? Jump down to the comments below and let me know your thoughts!
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