'Child's Play' Remake Chucky Revealed In New Behind-The-Scenes Image

News surrounding the Child's Play remake hasn't exactly been received with welcomed arms by horror fans. Many feel a remake is unnecessary since the franchise is still going, and creator Don Mancini isn't happy about this at all. Perhaps in an attempt to assuage fan concerns, a new behind-the-scenes pic has been released, highlighting the film's practical effects being used to create the new Chucky. Horror fans love practical effects, and at the very least, this confirms there won't be a CGI Chucky running around.

I'm by no means anti-remake when it comes to the horror genre, but a Child's Play remake just feels wrong. Unlike most other horror franchises, Child's Play never really went away. It's continued all the way up to last year, with Cult of Chucky. But MGM owns the rights to the first film, and they're remaking it whether we like it or not. And now they've released a new behind-the-scenes image, along with some new details. First, here's the pic:

As you can see, that's very much a practical animatronic. That means at the very least, there will be a physical doll on screen, not some cartoony CGI creation. The doll is being created by Todd Masters and his FX studio MastersFX. Here are some details:

MastersFX has brought the new Chucky doll to life on screen like never before in a mixture of practical on-set puppet work and digital FX enhancements. Todd Masters, founder of MastersFX, and his team took six weeks to prepare and assemble seven practical animatronic puppets, each with interchangeable arms and heads that perform a variety of required actions on set. The FX team, led by ace puppeteer Keith Arbuthnot, along with Mike Fields, Jason Ward and Josh Raymond each controlled a different part of the doll.

First thing to notice here: this official press release explicitly refers to the doll as "Chucky." If you've been keeping track of this remake, you know that several pieces of marketing material have referred to the doll as a "Buddi Doll." At first, I assumed Buddi was the brand name, but after seeing the doll constantly referred to as "Buddi", I was beginning to worry they had changed the character's name. This strongly suggests that isn't the case, and that the killer doll is indeed still called Chucky. Right? Well...maybe not.

"Reconceiving a well-loved classic always feels like wading into tricky waters, however, Lars' fresh vision for this film turned what could have been a challenging process into a seamless and beautiful collaboration," Masters says in the release. "MGM and Orion's Child's Play is not a remake or retelling but a completely new style and concept and we believe that BUDDI fits with this vision perfectly."

God damn it, there it is again. "BUDDI." Which is it, Child's Play remake? Is it Chucky or Buddi? Make up your damn minds. In any case, Master's comment about the film not being a remake but a completely new concept is pretty much the boiler-plate description for every horror remake at this point, so I'm not putting too much stock into that at the moment.

In any case, I am glad that they're working with a physical, practical effect here. I just hope the rest of the movie turns out okay as well.

Child's Play opens on June 21, 2019.