Television Crossover Universe

CHILD’S PLAY (FILM) Release Date: November 9, 1988 (Contemporary Setting) Series: Child’s Play The Story: Using voodoo, serial killer Charles Lee Ray transfers his body into a “Good Guy” doll before his execution. The toy is bought for a young child, and “Chucky” continues his murder spree as a living doll. Notes: This is the first of the series, followed by Child’s Play 2. A later sequel, Bride of Chucky, will have minor cameos of the claws of Freddy Krueger, the masks of Michael Myers and Jason Vorhees, and the chainsaw of Leatherface. Those crosses with A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre bring Child’s Play into the Horror Universe. This film was remade in 1993 as Zapatlela. This film has been referenced as fiction, paid homage to, and spoofed numerous times in other films and on television. CHILD’S PLAY 2 (FILM) Release Date: November 9, 1990 (Contemporary Setting; Two years after Child’s Play) Series: Child’s...

Every Thursday I will be posting a chronology of excerpts from the Horror Crossover Encyclopedia that relates to television or film. PROWLER # 2 - 4 “PROWLER: THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT” (ECLIPSE COMICS) Release Date: 1987 (Setting is 1930) Series: Prowler Horror Crosses: White Zombie The Story: The Prowler takes on the villainous Murder Legendre. Notes: Murder Legendre is the starring villain of the 1932 Universal horror film White Zombie. Murder Legendre was brought in via Jeff Rovin’s novel Return of the Wolf Man, and so now the Prowler is brought in. The Prowler is a retro 1930s vigilante, and Murder Legendre will be a featured recurring foe of the hero within his series. WHITE ZOMBIE (FILM) Release Date; July 28, 1932 (Contemporary Setting) Series: White Zombie The Story: In Haiti, a plantation owner wants another man’s fiance to marry him, and so enlists the assistance of voodoo master Murder Legendre, who turns the girl into a zombie. Notes: Many writers seem...