Child's Play (1984) User Reviews (11)

Quirky thriller is "made for TV" horror done right!

[zombihntr · 8/10 · 23 April 2021]

British TV movie, made by Hammer Films for their second series "Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense", does a good job slowly building up the characters' fear without making it feel like things are moving at a snail's pace. Nearly all of its 70 minute run time is spent on the characters attempting various methods of escape and theorizing on who (or what) has trapped them and why.

Other occurrences soon indicate their predicament is even stranger than it appears, such as a mysterious slime oozing into one area of the house, characters suddenly losing feeling/use of a limb for no apparent reason, and total memory loss of major life events.

Always the pessimist, I fully expected the coda to all this to drop the ball. All I'll say is that it definitely does not. If you want to see something a little different and actually driven by its story (something increasingly rare) this is well worth checking out and a perfect example of how horror can best utilize the made-for-TV format.

Fair play!

[gmanmeacham · 8/10 · 12 September 2020]

I am just revisiting the whole of the hammer series and I have got to say this really is top notch! It grabs your attention straight away and is miles better than any of the Hollywood junk being churned out today.

Three characters in search of an exit

[Coventry · 7/10 · 30 June 2022]

"Child's Play" is indisputably the best installment of the overall - do I daresay it - disappointing "Hammer House of Mystery & Suspense" series. It's tense, claustrophobic, compelling, and uncanny. It's also original and unpredictable unless you are familiar with the early 60s hit series "The Twilight Zone" and one dazzling episode of the third season. Around 1/3 into this short film, I began wondering where I had seen the same set-up and storyline before. It was in the marvelous episode entitled "Five Characters in Search of an Exit". Here, it's three people, a married couple and their 7-year-old daughter, who are trapped inside their own house with a wall of seemingly indestructible concrete blocking every possible exit. While the temperature is increasing and the oxygen levels are decreasing, there's also a nasty type of goo sipping in via the chimney. If you haven't seen the aforementioned "Twilight Zone" episode, it's absolutely impossible to predict the outcome, and you are in for a genuine surprise-ending. Should you have seen it, "Child's Play" is still a very gripping tale, professionally directed by Hammer veteran Val Guest and featuring strong performances of Mary Crosby and Nicholas Clay.

The one which everyone remembers!

[analoguebubblebath · 9/10 · 16 October 2003]

First viewing: November 1984 / Second viewing: October 2003

Easily the most memorable of the whole `Hammer House Of Mystery And Suspense' series, `Child's Play' is like a stage play. Just three characters (kudos to the beautiful Mary `I shot JR' Crosby) – a nuclear family of sorts – who awake at 4:10AM one morning trapped in their own home. We learn very early on about the steel fortress and the mysterious symbol that constantly appears. A sense of impending doom and claustrophobia pervade throughout and the final scene is shocking in its execution. `A true story. Which has just been told before its time' reads the caption on the final reel. Almost perfect and nineteen years later I'm still amazed. 9/10

Brilliant

[dbdumonteil · 11 April 2004]

A made-for-TV movie that is simply better than 95% of fantasy and horror works we can see in movie theaters.The story progresses slowly but inexorably and fear never leaves the viewer.It might have had a big influence on "cube" and it might possibly be better,because it deals with every day life and features an ending you'll never guess!Close to the fifties great works such as "the incredible shrinking man" ,"child's play " is absolutely brilliant.

And at a time when "unexpected ends" often come at the most awkward moment,this ending will leave you on the edge of your seat.At once simple and terrifying.

Bizarre, creepy and thoroughly enjoyable !

[ajji-2 · 9/10 · 10 July 2000]

'Hammer House of Mystery' was one of my favorite TV series (British). And this episode stands out as one of the best, as well as the creepiest. see the entire series if u can, and DON'T miss this one. Actually, there is a pretty basic existential question at the heart of this film, but it is rarely handled with such precision or finesse.

Cheesy, inventive and bizarre,

[willywants · 6/10 · 5 January 2005]

Minor plot spoilers, beware. A family awakens to find themselves trapped in their own home, all windows and doors sealed by impenetrable walls. Now they are faced with a bitter sequence of paranormal events forces that have taken over their lives. A once peaceful family has become mere toy puppets for a race of alien children and victims of a twisted "child's play". "Child's play" is a cheesy, albeit inventive and enjoyable horror film. The story line is quite good and if you can see through the terrible acting and soap-opera level writing, you'll enjoy it. Not overly intelligent or thought-provoking but its worth watching for its bizarro out-there premise and cheesiness.

6/10.

What a clever, imaginative mystery.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 28 January 2020]

I may now have given the film Await further instructions such a positive review had I seen this first. All of the creation and imagination was actually done her first.

The idea is fantastic, a family wake up to discover they're walled in, that they're family home is seemingly encased in lead, no means of escape, and it's getting hotter.

We see a symbol on the television, on the tins of food, and even on the badge of the car, it's all very mysterious.

The ending comes as a massive surprise, transmitted in 1984, this is creepy, claustrophobic and incredibly imaginative, in a month of Sundays I wouldn't have seen that ending coming.

It's no wonder they went on to use the premise of the story in Await further instructions.

I've only seen a few episodes from the series, and this is the best of the lot. Loved it. 9/10

Beautiful

[gianmarcoronconi · 9/10 · 12 September 2022]

This episode along with the last one in the series are the two with the most The Twilight Zone vibe of the whole series. This episode opens with an amazing idea, it evolves very well and culminates in a non-trivial ending even if it can be guessed by more or less half of the episode. The whole episode is very entertaining and manages to be truly wonderful and with the right rhythms that give it the perfect atmosphere. Too bad, however, that there is the classic nuisance child who makes the episode slightly more difficult to bear. Even the final part is very beautiful even if it consists of a very classic didactic explanation that spoils the atmosphere a little.

Two dimensional characters

[palhud · 5/10 · 29 December 2022]

I've watched the entire anthology series and enjoyed it but to be honest I didn't rate this episode among the best the series had to offer. After a while I found Child's Play tiresome to watch as I felt their repeated attempts to break out of their home would continue to be in vain and this turned out to be true. The reality is this is what the entire episode consisted of, a families efforts in vain to get out of the house they were now trapped in. I still liked the ending, it explained why the family was in the predicament it was and whilst it relies on the viewers suspension of disbelief it was a good conclusion. Even so, the two dimensional characters meant that I wasn't precious about what happened to them. This isn't a criticism of the acting, the actors were portraying a family that didn't really exist and no doubt played their parts how they needed to. However, for me a good story involves being able to care about the characters involved and I found I just couldn't do that here.

Fabulous

[searchanddestroy-1 · 15 December 2013]

Since a couple of months, I watch the whole series. Useless to say that Hammer has always been a specialist of this kind of terror material. Pretty good stuff. Look for late 70's and 80's TV shows made by Hammer Productions. This episode, which I won't repeat the topic already told above, is very inspired by a Twilight Zoe episode which I don't remember the title, sorry. But I am deadly sure, positive at one hundred percent. This episode is although one of the best of the whole series. And also one of the latest Val Guest directing stuff.

Exciting at the most.

A worth watching tale. At any costs...