There’s nothing original in the world of horror. Everything is a mish-mash of existing tropes and subgenres, every new concept is a twist on several things that came before. However, some examples are closer to homage than a rip-off. Blumhouse’sM3GANis like an update of the classic 1988 horror filmChild’s Play, but the similarities bring the antagonists into a competition.
Blumhouse has a gift for finding a spin on existing material. From gory parodies likeHappy Death DayandFreakytoclever deconstructions likeSinister, the studio clearly understands the genre. Chucky never really went away, but the most iconic killer doll in the world hasn’t had a good rival in a long time.
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Thekiller doll is very commonin horror movies.Annabelle,The Boy,Pin, Dolls, Puppet Master, and many more examples ruled the screen in the past and still appear today. Generally, they come in two flavors. The boring ones sit perfectly still on shelves as scary things happen around them, usually taunting the characters and the audience with the possibility that they might not even be alive. The more interesting ones pick up sharp objects and kill anyone they can get their tiny hands on. Charles “Chucky” Lee Ray is the longtime champion of the latter category, but M3gan has arrived in an attempt to seize the throne. They have a lot in common, but the differences demonstrate the ways in whichhorror cinema has changedover the last few decades.
The first big obvious difference between Chuckyand M3gan is theirorigin story. M3gan is an artificially intelligent machine in the shape of a child. She’s four feet of steel and software who exists to serve the whims of her 9-year-old master. She becomes cruel and violent over time as she absorbs more of the internet and takes more aggressive action in the defense of her kid. The idea of a machine with a prime directive deciding murder is the best way to follow its programming is extremely common.
Chucky’s origin story is much more absurd.Serial killer Charles Lee Rayis mortally wounded in a standoff with the police. Luckily, he happens to know how to perform actual voodoo magic. He uses that skill to transfer his immortal soul into the body of a popular doll, which later ends up in the hands of a poor child. Chucky initially seeks to get his body back, but he gradually decides that immortality in a tiny plastic body suits him just fine. It’s surprising that the new franchise, which is ostensibly aiming for high camp, has a far more grounded backstory.
Partially as a result of their differing backstories, their personalities are very different. Both dolls are cruel, sarcastic, and constantly speaking in one-liners. It’s fair to say that Chucky took some inspiration fromRobert Englund’s Freddy Krueger. He’s a serial killer with a personality, and people love his sardonic sense of humor. M3gan makes jokes too. She’s sassy, and that seems to be the main thing people like about her. While Chucky talks like a mean-spirited roast comedian, M3gan is more comparable to a reality TV contestant. Weirdly, both characters share the implicit belief that they’re better than everyone else. M3gan seems to see herself as the next stage of evolution from the moment she’s switched on. Chucky sees everyone he isn’t directly related to as meat to be slaughtered. Both characters are expected to blend in whenever they’re not killing. For Chucky, that requires repeating a handful of quotes, but M3gan is forced to act like an educational toy for most of her screen time. The elements they share are important to the plot, but their personality is a mirror of each film’s tone.
There’s no comparison when it comes to horror.M3GANisn’t scary at all. TheChild’s Playmovies gradually become comical, but the first one has some genuine horror moments. This is the general trajectory of horror franchises. With every new entry, whatever made them scary fades from view. M3gan didn’t need to gradually become unthreatening. She started there. In a way, M3gan is the inverse of Chucky. She trades in every aspect of fear for more humor. Ostensibly, M3gan would be the more difficult to evade of the two, but she simply isn’t threatening. The only moves the film has to show her off are jump scares and quick cutaways.The PG-13 rating ispart of the problem. It’s inches away from a parody ofChild’s Play. The 2019 reboot of the franchise beatM3GANto the punch on everything but the jokes, and that’s what makes the comparison so interesting.
The initial goal of Chucky was to create a scary doll that’s fun to watch. He was intended to be revolting in word, thought, and deed. People came to like him over the years as sequels turned him into a “funny evil” character, rather than an insufferable tiny monster. M3gan started with the idea of being a “horror icon” in the samemodel as the Babadook. Their personalities are almost opposites because the filmmakers behindM3GANwant their doll to be a meme first and a horror villain second. Natural growth into iconography is over. Anyone who wants a new slasher to take off has to start with the most marketable version of the character. It’s a grim march into modern franchise filmmaking, but people sure seem to like it when M3gan dances.
