This 1991 horror movie is notorious for its links to the 1993 murder of three year old Jamie Bulger, in Liverpool, England. The 10 year old killers (who have recently been released amid much controversy) supposedly saw the film, and imitated a scene where a victim is splashed with blue paint. There was a lot of mention of the links between the film and the crime in the UK press at the time, and a moral panic ensued. The case against the film, though never really proven, led to new legislation, The Amendment to the Video Recordings Act, contained in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (1994)

The Child's Play sequence of movies follows the exploits of evil doll Chucky, in his various reincarnations. The original Chucky was supposedly inhabited by the spirit of multiple murderer Charles Lee Ray, as the result of a deathbed voodoo incantation that went slightly wrong (you with me so far?) and he spends the rest of the movies trying to transplant his soul into a more suitable, human form. The series has provided an excuse for lots of doll jokes, lots of violent murders made to seem funny because they are being committed by a doll, and some lunatic toystore scenes. Entries 1 & 4 are very funny - 2 & 3 simply aren't very good. But can Child's Play 3 be blamed for an utterly horrific murder? Despite the lack of direct evidence, the UK media certainly seemed to think so.

The Movie

• http://www.chucky-online.com/
• Washington Post review
• Austin Chronicle Review
• Official Site

The Murder Case

• A Chronology - An account of the case from The Guardian newspaper
• Profile of Venables, again from The Guardian
• Justice For Jamie

The Moral Panic

• http://website.lineone.net/~darkangel5/moral.htm
• Essaybank
• The Newson Report - explanations from cultsock
• The Newson Report - full text reprinted at Melonfarmers