The film that some British tabloid newspapers decided was to blame for the tragic murder of toddler James Bulger (It was claimed that two youths guilty of the crime, were influenced into carrying out the murder after seeing this movie), is a nastier-than-average and yet pretty routine horror tale. It has nothing to set it out from any other slasher films, and is by far the worst in this series of movies so far.
          Chucky, the nasty killer doll from the Child's Play movies, is certainly an effective idea, however. Playing on Freud's theory that all things scary come from childhood memories and objects, Chucky the doll, whilst only being about two foot in height, is a nasty piece of work. In this instalment, set around a decade after the last Child's Play film, Chucky has been re-animated (Surprise, surprise), and goes on yet another killing spree, this time with a new human being as the object of desire, of which he needs to transfer his soul into. The human in question is, in fact, a young black child who just happens to be attending the same military school as where Jack (The protagonist in the original movies) is now in attendance at. Expect lots and lots of bodies and blood as Jack attempts to keep the young child away from the evil clutches of Chucky. Oh, and there's also a love interest for Jack this time too.
          On the plus side of this film, Chucky is still as evil and nasty as ever, and remains perhaps the only killer within the slasher genre that represents pure evil, even though he's tiny and not human. What makes Chucky so evil is that we're never given a motive for his murders. Unlike, say, Freddy in the Elm Street films (Who murders for revenge), or the, Leprachaun in the Leprechaun films (Who murders for many bizarre reasons!), Chucky murders for no more than a laugh. For instance, in this movie, there's a particularly nasty scene where the little doll, for no reason in the World, decides to kill a garbage disposal man in a most horiffic way. As far as the gore and violence is concerned, Child's Play 3 is certainly a notch up from its two predecessors, and, as usual, the filmmakers seem to make us forget that if a killer such as Chucky really did exist, a quick kick would probably send him flying across to the other side of the room.
          It isn't a badly acted movie, either, and, as a whole, the performances are plassable. On the downside however, the movie isn't particularly well made, and it's clear from around fifteen minutes in that the story isn't going to develop any more than just a bunch of blood and gore. Plausibility is, of course, out of the window too - This instalment doesn't even give a proper explanation as to how Chucky comes back to life after the last movie. The closing scenes are also very blandly and badly handled - This time, the showdown takes place on a fairground, and is surprisingly boring and silly. The love intrest sub-plot is never developed either, leaving the audience with just another same old, same hold horror tale.
          Is it an irresponsible movie, and is it really to blame for the murder of a toddler? Unlikely, of course, but this, like the earlier Child's Play movies, isn't a film for children. All in all, Child's Play 3 is not a very good movie, but I there is worse.