What actually happens
A soul transfer in a toy store
Police detective Mike Norris chases the serial killer Charles Lee Ray, nicknamed the Lakeshore Strangler, through Chicago and into a toy store. Ray's accomplice Eddie Caputo runs off with Norris's partner Jack Santos behind him. Norris shoots Ray, and Ray, dying, invokes Damballa and uses a voodoo spell to shift his soul into a Good Guy doll. Lightning hits the store and it explodes, and Norris finds Ray's body next to the doll. Elsewhere, the widow Karen Barclay can't afford a Good Guy for her six-year-old son Andy's birthday. Her friend Maggie tells her a peddler outside her work has one, so Karen buys it and hands it over. Andy loves it, and the doll introduces itself as Chucky.
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The babysitter and the hammer
That night Karen covers another employee's shift, and Maggie babysits Andy. Chucky comes to life and hits Maggie with a hammer, and she falls out of a window to her death. This is the scene that sets the tone, and it happens early, in the first evening Andy has the doll. Karen comes home to a crime scene with Norris running it as lead detective. Norris suspects Andy may have had something to do with it, while Andy says Chucky might have. Andy also tells Karen that the doll gave its real name as Charles Lee Ray, which does nothing for Norris's opinion of the household.
A field trip nobody approved
The next day Chucky talks Andy into skipping school and riding a train into a rough part of town. There Chucky slips into an abandoned house where Caputo is hiding and kills him in a gas explosion, as payback for being abandoned. The police find Andy and treat him as a suspect again, and Karen is told the hospital wants Andy in its psychiatric ward for observation. Karen takes Chucky home and finds the doll has been moving and talking without batteries. She threatens to throw him in the fire, so Chucky comes violently alive and attacks her before escaping. Karen goes to Norris, and he doesn't believe a word.
Voodoo office hours
Karen finds the peddler and asks questions. He tries to assault her, Norris stops him, and the peddler admits he took the doll from the wrecked toy store. Chucky then attacks Norris, who shoots him, and the wound bleeds and hurts, which finally gets Norris's attention. Chucky goes to his old voodoo teacher John Bishop, known as Dr. Death, for answers. John says that a soul left in the doll for long enough makes the doll steadily more human. He refuses to help, so Chucky tortures him with a voodoo doll until he talks. To leave the doll, Chucky has to move into the first human he told his real name to, which is Andy. Karen and Norris arrive as Chucky leaves, and they find John dying. His last advice is to destroy the doll's heart.
The doll goes to the hospital
Chucky shows up at the hospital and uses an electroshock machine to kill Andy's doctor. Andy gets away and runs home, where Chucky knocks him out and gets ready to possess him. Karen and Norris arrive in time. Chucky wounds Norris, but Karen and Andy get the upper hand and set the doll on fire. A burned Chucky attacks again, and Karen shoots his head and several limbs off, which looks like the end. Jack shows up and refuses to believe any of it, until Chucky's body bursts out of a heat vent and goes after him. Norris shoots the body through the heart, and that finishes it.
The ending, explained
Karen shoots Chucky's head and limbs off after she and Andy set the doll on fire, and it looks like the end. Jack turns up and won't believe the story until Chucky's body comes crashing out of a heat vent and goes for him. Norris then shoots the body through the heart, which was the weak spot John described, and Chucky is finished. The three of them head off to get the injured Norris treated, while a traumatized Andy looks back at what is left of the doll. Karen, Andy and Norris all make it out.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Child's Play scary?
Somewhat. Child's Play is a 4.5 out of 10 with low dread: a slasher built on a talking doll, with jump scares and some graphic moments, and not much that lingers after the credits.
How does Child's Play end?
Karen shoots Chucky's head and limbs off, his body attacks again through a heat vent, and Norris shoots it through the heart. Karen, Andy and Norris survive, and Norris is wounded.
Does the dog die in Child's Play?
No dog dies in Child's Play. No other animal dies either.
Is there a post-credits scene in Child's Play?
No. Child's Play has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Why does Chucky want Andy in Child's Play?
Chucky is the serial killer Charles Lee Ray, whose soul moved into the doll. The longer he stays in it the more human it becomes, and he can only leave it by moving into the first human he told his real name to, which is Andy.
