Two stars

Director Lars Klevberg

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, Mark Hamill

Rating MA15+

Running time 90 minutes

Verdict Kindergarten scarefest

A KID with a hearing impairment, a too young single mum, a “fresh start” in an unfriendly new town … can’t you just feel the malevolent forces gathering?

In this case, evil takes the form of a doll with artificial intelligence.

Employing technology that basically already exists, Buddi scans his owner’s online history to build a profile of the ideal friend.

He can also connect to the family’s music, lights and home entertainment system — a handy plot device.

Despite pulling double shifts at the local Zed Mart, Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza) is too broke to buy her son Andy (Gabriel Bateman) a proper birthday present.

So when a customer returns a malfunctioning doll, she blackmails the store’s manager into letting her take it home rather than returning the toy to the manufacturer, where it will likely be discarded.

We’ve already been alerted to this particular doll’s violent potential — a disgruntled employee in a Vietnamese sweatshop has disabled every one of its safety overrides.

Buddi, who immediately renames himself Chucky in a nod to the original, 1988 film, which spawned six sequels, is a much cruder piece of technology than, say I, Robot’s Sonny, or 2001: A Space Odyssey’s HAL.

If Chucky (Mark Hamill) weren’t a machine, one might be tempted to describe him as pure id.

What makes him so dangerous is his extreme lack of disinhibition. He’s not so much wicked as amoral, not to mention jealous, possessive, and way too eager to please.

He’s like a toddler on steroids. His temper tantrums are fatal. It’s an interesting, if underdeveloped, premise.

When a tearful Andy wishes that his mother’s dead-loss of a boyfriend would disappear, Chucky obliges — with the help of a ladder, some Christmas lights, and a garden mulcher (the doll has learnt his problem-solving skills from The Chainsaw Texas Massacre 2).

Complicating matters still further is a creepy caretaker who rescues a temporarily disabled Chucky from the garbage, enhancing his capabilities with a few new modifications.

There is one positive aspect to Andy’s toxic relationship with Chucky; the human friends he makes as he tries vainly to extricate himself from an impossible situation.

A couple of the neighbourhood kids prove themselves to be staunch, resourceful allies. And Brian Tyree Henry’s community-minded detective is also handy in a tight spot.

The problem with this technologically enhanced reboot is that it’s being driven by outdated software. Even the climactic final sequence feels underpowered.

Bateman rises above his material as a gutsy kid with hitherto unsuspected resources (his deafness is almost incidental to the plot, except that it marks him out as a misfit).

A basic, no-frills, novelty toy slasher fest.

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