One-Shot Wednesday

This #OneShotWed comes from the 1988 horror movie Child's Play. In the film, a single mother named Karen (Catherine Hicks) gives her son a doll named Chucky, only to discover it's possessed by the soul of a serial killer. Yikes!

The medium shot above—of a now-charred and beheaded Chucky—takes place toward the end of Child’s Play. In this scene, the doll has cornered Karen and her son, Andy, in the hallway of their apartment. In the process, Karen shoots off Chucky’s head and several of his limbs.

In addition to a dozen puppeteers, Chucky moved with the help of actor Ed Gale. Gale is a little person who donned Chucky’s costume and wig for various scenes, including the one above in which Karen sets the doll on fire. This practical effect—i.e., a special effect performed on set using no digital enhancement—required Gale to be set ablaze.

In the actor’s own words,

“They set one arm on fire first, then my chest, then both arms. You wear an oxygen mask. I did the scene in segments. First I was on fire in the fireplace, cut. Kicking the gate open, cut. Walk out on fire, cut. Each was only about 45 seconds, which is a little less than a lifetime when you’re on fire.” (“Your Friend 'Til the End: An Oral History of Child's Play,” Mental Floss)

For more, listen to Gale discuss his time playing Chucky.

Sadly, Gale made news more recently (2023) when he admitted “to engaging in sexually explicit online conversations with a boy he thought was 14 with the aim of having a physical encounter.”