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Charles "Chowder" is the deuteragonist of the 2006 film, Monster House. He is a 13-year-old boy and DJ's best friend, He is also having a habit of acting slightly strange, immature and also rather cowardly. He’s voiced and mo-capped by Sam Lerner.

Role in the Film:[]

Chowder is first seen wearing a rubber monster mask and almost getting hit by DJ's parents' car when they leave town for the weekend for a dentist's convention. Chowder paid $28 on a basketball and loses his basketball on Horace's lawn. Chowder wants DJ to recover it, but DJ told him that it doesn't exist anymore. He tries to recover it but is caught by Nebbercracker, who rages at him before apparently suffering a heart attack and being taken away in an ambulance and Chowder heads back home when Zee pulls into DJ's driveway. That night, DJ enlists Chowder's help to investigate the house. Later, DJ and Chowder spy on the house but Chowder refuses to believe the house is possessed. He crawls up to the house, and on his way, he finds a beer bottle and chugs it. (left by the drunk Bones). Chowder emerges from the ground and imitates Nebbercracker on the porch, then rings the doorbell then house wakes up and is disturbed when it finds Chowder and DJ on its property. The windows (the eyes) light up, the door (the mouth) opens and sharp boards break out of the top and bottom (the teeth) and inside the house the floorboards break open (the throat) leading to the basement (the stomach) the carpet rises from the stairs (the tongue is the carpet) and the stairs appear to lead to the brain (unknown object). The carpet comes out to get Chowder, and later DJ, but they escape.

In The next morning, Jenny Bennett is on the street selling Halloween chocolates. DJ and Chowder see her going to Nebbercracker house, and they rush out to warn her, managing to catch her before she is eaten by the house. Jenny decides to call for the police, but when police officers Landers and Lester arrive, they do not believe their story, as the house does not react to the kids' teasing while the cops are there. The trio seek advice from Reginald "Skull" Skulinski, a strange video game addict working in a pizza parlor who is claimed to be an expert on the supernatural. They learn that the house is a "domus mactabilis" (Latin for "deadly home"); a monstrous being created when a human soul merges with a structure. They assume the house is inhabited by Nebbercracker's soul. The only way to kill the house is to destroy its heart, its source of life. They conclude that the heart must be the fireplace, as DJ realizes that the chimney has been smoking since Nebbercracker died.

Chowder provides a dummy filled with medicine that should cause the house to sleep long enough for them to douse the furnace. The plan almost succeeds, but Officers Landers and Lester arrive and thwart it. Landers discovers the cold medicine inside the dummy, which Chowder took from his father's pharmacy, and arrests them. The cops place the trio in the police car while they examine the house. The house eats Landers, Lister, and the car itself. DJ, Chowder, and Jenny escape the car but are trapped in the house. When the house falls asleep, and they begin exploring. They fall into the basement and find an enormous collection of toys accumulated from Nebbercracker lawn, as well as a locked cage that DJ opens with a key he found on the lawn. They find the body of Constance, Nebbercracker wife, encased in cement. The house realizes they are inside and begins attacking them. DJ, Chowder, and Jenny force the house to vomit them outside by grabbing onto the chandelier in the foyer (the uvula). The trio are surprised when Nebbercracker arrives home alive, but with his arm in a sling, revealing that the house is possessed by Constance.

The house breaks free from its foundation, with trees to support it (the arms), and chases the group to a nearby construction site. During the film’s climax, as the house tries to eat Nebbercracker, Chowder fights the house off with an excavator, causing it to fall into a pit. DJ is given the dynamite, and he and Jenny climb to the top of a crane while Chowder distracts what was once Nebbercracker house. DJ throws the dynamite into the chimney, blowing it up. The trio see Nebbercracker dancing with Constance's spirit before she fades away. Nebbercracker thanks DJ, Chowder, and Jenny for freeing him and Constance after 45 years of being trapped.

Later, the children in their Halloween costumes are lined up at the remains of Nebbercracker house, where DJ, Chowder, and Jenny help him return all of the toys to their owners, including Eliza's tricycle. Jenny's parents pick her up and DJ and Chowder decide to go out trick-or-treating, which they had previously thought they were too old for.

Video Games:

Chowder is one of the 3 main playable characters in the video game, along with DJ and Jenny.

At the start of the game, Jenny and Chowder are separated from DJ, with Jenny getting stuck in the attic, while Chowder finds himself in the greenhouse and after exiting the greenhouse and finding a spare light bulb for his water gun, he fights living chairs and wall lamps before arriving in the kitchen and after defeating numerous floor crawlers, he is attacked by a giant pipe; he narrowly escapes from the pipe by jumping down a dumbwaiter shaft. 

A little later, Chowder wakes up in the depths of the house and fights a living TV and enters a flooded room. He climbs up to a platform where he moves a crate to a nearby pipe with a valve and turns it to drain out the water. Chowder then fights off many monsters consisting of gas tanks, floor crawlers, and lamps, as well as a large killer pipe. Then traverses a few more corridors and rooms, ultimately encountering two huge pipes. While DJ meets up with Jenny in the basement, Chowder makes his way through a maze of toys in another part of the basement. At the end of the maze, Chowder finds his lost basketball before having to deal with the two massive pipes again. Chowder enters a circus-themed area where he plays games to find the missing eye and nose of the clown on a merry-go-around to move forward and reunites with DJ and Jenny. 

After discovering the remains of Constance and a failed attempt to destroy the furnace, the house's heart, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny are separated again by three giant pipes. They end up having to fight their way through the house, dealing with more enemies as they traverse the corridors. After escaping from the house, due to Jenny pulling on the uvula, they are chased by the house to a construction site, where Chowder fights the house, as the final boss, with a backhoe. After defeating the house by blowing it up with a dynamite, Chowder and Jenny congratulate DJ from the ground as he hangs on a crane.

Unlike in the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions of the game, DJ, Chowder, and Jenny don't get separated and are together throughout the game in the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions, with the player being able to switch between them as they explore each room and fight off possessed furniture and The game culminates in them trying to deal with the furnace, which Jenny is initially too scared to do, but overcomes her fear with encouragement from DJ and Chowder (in the GameBoy Advance version). While in the Nintendo DS version, they end up having to deal with the house directly, with the lawn serving as a battle arena.

names In other languages:[]

Language Name Voice actor(s)
French Charles "Chamallow" Wilson Pierre Casanova
German Ketchup Johannes Walenta
Italian Timballo Jacopo Bonanni
Japanese チ ャ ウ ダ ー (Chi ~ya u da ̄) Shun Miyazato
Polish Serdel Franciszek Boberek
Portuguese Bocão Thiago Farias
Spanish Sopa de pescado Luis Fernando Orozco

Quotes:[]

Film[]

  • "Cheer up. It's almost Halloween. In one day and three hours, it's candy time. Okay? Check it out. I got a new ball."
  • "Oh, speaking of which, have you decided: Skullzor or Crypt Keeper?"
  • "Three seconds on the clock. I'm playing basketball. It's time for an in-your-face disgrace!"
  • "My nose is in my brain!"
  • "Where's my ball?"
  • "Wait, wait. Uh, DJ, um... You're a grownup now. You go get it."
  • "*sniffles* I payed $28 for that ball. I raked 10 yards and asked my mom for a dollar 26 times. I never worked that hard in my life."
  • "When it's an accident, they call it manslaughter."
  • "My Dad's at the pharmacy and my Mom's at the movies with her personal trainer."
  • "Heat-seeker!"
  • "No way. They leave the keys in here, you dare me?"
  • "You're really crazy right now, you notice that? I think you're just freaking out because you killed the guy today."
  • "Life goes on... for you. Try and relax and be cool like me."
  • "Fine. You want my help? I got three words for you: Trick...or...treat."
  • "The haunting is subtle."
  • "This is why nobody will sit next to us at lunch. I'll go Ding Dong Ditch the house and you'll see. No ghost!"
  • "Oh, no! A bottle!"
  • "Hey, DJ, who am I? Get off my lawn!"
  • "I looked back!"
  • "8:00 am. No detectable movement."
  • "Oh, nothing. Just something in the house across the street JUST TRIED TO EAT US!"
  • "Detectable movement!"
  • "Well, dad, why don't you kiss my hairy butt?! Hey, DJ, you got any beer? Well, hello there."
  • "Charles to the ladies."
  • "*gasps* DJ? You pee in bottles?!"
  • "Fine. Let's get technical, okay? I started hating it through the telescope."
  • "Wait, wait, wait. Come on, guys. I think we're overreacting. I mean, think about it. Only a total moron would walk up to Old Man Nebbercracker's house."
  • "Well, you can't call dibs on a girl."
  • "Hey, my ball."
  • "It's gonna be a blood bath."
  • "Ow! That's tender!"
  • "Yeah, I know. I hate the government. Dude, we're screwed."
  • "Me and DJ, he's the smartest guy on Earth."
  • "Hey, Jenny, Jenny, hold on. Hold up. Skull is in the game zone right now. And you don't wanna mess with him when he's in the game zone."
  • "Who knows? He once played for four days straight... on one quarter, a gallon of chocolate milk and an adult diaper."
  • "Yes, um, are you nuts?! I don't wanna steal drugs from my father, I don't wanna go inside a monster, and I don't wanna die!"
  • "Hey, but I wanted that one."
  • "Alright little vacuum clear dummy, I'm gonna move you into position. Don't be scared, that's not how I trained you, I love you vacuum cleaner dummy."
  • "I'm too young to die!"
  • "Jenny, I've always loved you!"
  • "We're dead. You killed us, and now we're dead."
  • "Maybe we should examine our other options?"
  • "Whoa, explosives! That's so cool!"
  • "Oh. So it's a girl house."
  • "Whoa, look at all these toys."
  • "Yeah, we gotta find a way out of here!"
  • "Maybe he just felt guilty for something, DJ can we please get out of here?"
  • "Hey, I know that sound."
  • "My ball! Oh, where are you going, come here."
  • ”Ah! Killer slinkies!”
  • "That's it, another great idea DJ, brilliant!"
  • "Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah? Do you wanna hear my big idea?"
  • "I'm going home to make a PRETZEL SANDWICH! See ya!"
  • "I risked my life for you! I stole drugs for you and, I could have died in there!"
  • "At least it's an ambulance."
  • "It's a Ghost! Be gone. Fie!"
  • "The house is ALIVE!"
  • "Yeah, get your grubby branches off the old man!"
  • "You think you could just mess with my friends?!"
  • "Mommy!"
  • "Hello there puny mortals, it is I Chowder, your god."
  • "Hey! Hey, guys! Look who just won! It's me, The Screwer!"
  • "You can't do that! It's not fair!"
  • "You ain't nothing, you're a shack, you're an out house!"
  • "Guys, anytime now."
  • "Sorry!"
  • "Tricycle."
  • "She grabbed my butt."
  • "All right! Thanks!"
  • "Oh, yeah. He'll be fine. He'll go on vacation, get some color. And maybe he'll meet someone new. This time, maybe a nice beach house."
  • "You know, you were right. We're definitely too old for trick-or-treating."
  • "Candy time?"
  • "We're back! Yes!"
  • “Oh, my God, oh, my God. I think I’m having a stroke.”

Video Game[]

  • "Now I know how taco meat feels."
  • "I didn't do it."
  • "Jenny!"
  • "Everything's cool! EVERYTHING'S COOL!"
  • "Oh, my head feels like I just took a math class!"
  • "Where am I?"
  • "What's going on? WHAT'S GOING ON?"
  • "Alright, if that's how it's gonna be, LET'S ROCK!"
  • "Never underestimate the chubby sidekick!"
  • "Cool, I solved it!"
  • "You guys act so surprised that I made it."
  • "Maybe we should just try to go back the way we came."
  • "I thought he ate her!"
  • "And what does she do to the people who run around inside her?"
  • "For such a small house, it sure is easy to get separated, WHOA!"
  • "The house! THE HOUSE!"
  • "Hey house, I'M GONNA RENOVATE YOU!"
  • "Boo-ya! Excellent, it worked!"
  • "THE HOUSE! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!"

Gallery:[]

Trivia:[]

  • Chowder is one of 4 characters in the film who their last name is never revealed, the other three beings Zee, Bones, and Eliza.
  • In the early concept art shown on the DVD, Chowder accidentally wandered off from DJ and Jenny in the house.
  • It is commonly thought that Chowder's parents are having problems in their marriage, as it is mentioned in the beginning part of the film that Chowder's parents are away, his father being at the pharmacy, and more specifically that his mother is at the town's theatre with her personal trainer. This may or may not be a vague reference to an affair.
  • In the early draft of the movie, Chowder’s dialogue line “DJ you piss in bottles?!” Had to be changed into “DJ you pee In bottles?!” In the final version of the movie because in order to keep the PG age rating.
  • In the German dub version of the movie, Chowder is called ketchup.


Characters
Children: DJ Chowder Jenny Eliza
Adults: Mr. Walters Elena Walters Zee Bones Skull Horace Constance Officer Landers Officer Lister
Animals: Kevin
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