Child's Play 2

Child's Play 2
Theatrical release poster
Directed by John Lafia
Produced by David Kirschner
Written by Don Mancini
Based on Characters
by Don Mancini
Starring
Music by Graeme Revell
Cinematography Stefan Czapsky
Edited by Edward Warschilka
Production
company
Living Doll Productions[1]
Distributed by Universal Pictures[1]
Release date
  • November 9, 1990 (1990-11-09)
Running time
 84 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $13 million[2]
Box office $35.8 million[2][3]

Child's Play 2 is a 1990 American slasher film and the direct sequel to Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia, one of the co-writers in the first film. It is the second film in the Child's Play franchise and set two years after the first film; the plot follows Charles Lee Ray (better known as Chucky) continuing his pursuit for Andy Barclay, who was placed in foster care, and transferring his soul into him after being resurrected. The film stars Alex Vincent, who returns as Andy Barclay; Gerrit Graham and Jenny Agutter as Andy's foster parents; Christine Elise as Kyle; and Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky. It is the debut appearance of Adam Wylie. In noteworthy contrast to the original, Child's Play 2 is the first in the series to incorporate a more campy, comedic approach.

Child's Play 2 was released on November 9, 1990, exactly two years after the first film was released. The film took in an estimated $10.8 million in 1,996 screens and grossed an estimated $28.5 million in the United States. It holds a 40% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 15 reviews. It was followed by Child's Play 3, Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky.

Plot

Two years after Chucky was destroyed by the Barclays and detective Mike Norris, the killer "Good Guys" doll Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) is rebuilt from scratch by the PlayPals company to prove there is no fault with the dolls. As a result of Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) blaming Chucky for the murders committed, the company has suffered. One of the men working on Chucky is killed by electrocution. As a result, the CEO of the company, Mr. Sullivan (Peter Haskell), orders his assistant Mattson (Greg Germann) to cover the accident and get rid of Chucky.

Meanwhile, Andy is now in foster care, due to his mother being in a mental hospital for supporting his story about Chucky. Andy is adopted by Phil (Gerrit Graham) and Joanne Simpson (Jenny Agutter). In his new home, Andy meets his new foster sister Kyle (Christine Elise).

After work, Mattson goes to a corner store and while he leaves his car, Chucky uses the car phone to call Grace Poole (Grace Zabriskie), the manager of Andy's foster center. He claims to be a relative of Andy's in order to get his new address. He then hijacks the car and orders Mattson to drive outside the Simpson household at gunpoint. Chucky then kills him by suffocating him with a plastic bag. In the house, Chucky accidentally activates "Tommy", another "Good Guys" doll, and destroys him with Joanne's ornament. Chucky then buries the doll in the garden and takes his place as "Tommy". Phil punishes Andy and Kyle, believing one of them broke the ornament. After Andy spends the rest of the day with Kyle, he is attacked by Chucky, who ties him up and gags him with socks in order to possess him, but the ritual is stopped by Kyle. After Andy claimed Chucky tied him up, Phil throws Chucky in the basement. Chucky, left alone, comes back to life and discovers a major nosebleed of his, meaning he’s going human again. Therefore, he realizes that if he doesn’t get in Andy’s body in time, he will remain as a doll.

The next day, Chucky hitches a ride on the bus to Andy's new school. Andy's teacher Miss Kettlewell (Beth Grant) discovers an obscenity Chucky wrote on his worksheet. Believing Andy was responsible, she forces Andy to stay in the classroom as punishment and locks Chucky in the closet. Andy manages to escape, and Chucky beats Miss Kettlewell to death with a yardstick. After Andy insisted Chucky got him in trouble, Phil considers taking him back to the foster center.

Later that night, Andy tries to kill Chucky with an electric knife in the basement, but Chucky attacks him. Phil goes to investigate the commotion but Chucky trips and neck-snaps him, killing him. Joanne, convinced that Andy murdered Phil, sends him back to the foster center. Kyle discovers the buried doll in the garden and realizes Andy was telling the truth all along and rushes in to warn Joanne only to find her dead. Kyle also discovers Joanne’s throat slit corpse at the desk. Chucky suddenly bursts from the bed behind Kyle, attacks her and forces her to drive him to the center to find Andy. There, during a false fire alarm, Chucky stabs Grace in the chest, killing her, and orders Andy to take him to the PlayPals "Good Guys" factory for the transfer.

Kyle follows Chucky and Andy to the factory. As Andy wanders around the halls with Chucky, Chucky knocks him unconscious with the butt of his knife handle and attempts the ritual to transfer his soul into Andy. However, Chucky is able to finish the chant but Chucky’s nose instead bleeds again. Andy is still the same and Chucky is still in his doll form, appearing to be that the curse had failed since he spent too much time within the doll's body and is now trapped inside the doll’s form. Enraged, Chucky blames Andy and starts going after both Andy and Kyle. Andy and Kyle crawl their way up the conveyor. Chucky gets on to attack them but Andy and Kyle flee, Kyle closes the gate, slamming it shut on Chucky’s hand stuck. Chucky rips off his own hand free and sticks a knife in it as replacement. Chucky murders a factory worker by pushing him in a machine for the eyes for the dolls and it functions onto his eyes, causing his eyeballs to fatally go into his sockets. Kyle and Andy then put him into a machine and activate an emergency assembly, and the machine starts mutilating him, causing various arms and legs to go into his torso. Unfortunately Chucky escapes by cutting off his own mixed waist. Kyle is hit by the worker's corpse swinging on a crane, knocking her unconscious. Chucky then starts crawling over to Andy and lunges at him, but his knife gets stuck in a radiator, and Andy then pours molten plastic all over him. Andy then saves Kyle by pulling her off of a conveyor belt, and shows her Chucky's melted body. Kyle thinks that the doll is dead, but Chucky jolts up and struggles with her, until she shoves a helium tube in his mouth, resulting in his head fatally exploding. After Kyle and Andy escape the factory, Kyle tells them they're going home. Andy asks where that is, to which Kyle says she doesn't know.

Cast

Production

United Artists released the original Child's Play in 1988 and greenlit the second film. The sequel was in pre-production when an UA executive told producer David Kirschner that the film was put on hold as the studio was about to be acquired by the Australian group Qintex, which decided it was not in their best interest to make horror films. After offers with Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, The Price Company, Carolco (who during this time had a distribution deal with Columbia's sister studio, TriStar Pictures), New Line Cinema (now a label of Warner Bros.), and Disney's Touchstone Pictures label to buy the film were rejected, Kirschner produced it independently with Universal Pictures distributing.[4]

Novelization

A tie-in novelization to the film was later written by Matthew J. Costello. The author added in some of his own plot scenes exclusive to the novel, such as going deeper into Andy Barclay and Chucky's past. Chucky is characterized to have an absent father and his abusive mother being a dwarf. Chucky got teased a lot because of this and later strangled his mother to death. Also, Chucky was put in special classes when he was younger.

Reception

Box office

Its opening weekend earned an estimated $10,718,520 on 1,996 screens in the US. The film grossed an estimated $28,501,605 in the US and was #1 at the box office.[5] It grossed an additional $7.2 million internationally.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 40% based on 15 reviews.[6] Evan Dickson of Bloody Disgusting, in describing how it surpasses the origin film, wrote, "Child's Play 2 manages to strip away all artifice and still manage to be an effective slasher."[7] Variety wrote, "Child's Play 2 is another case of rehashing the few novel elements of an original to the point of utter numbness."[8] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[9]

Home video releases

Child's Play 2 was first released on VHS in North America on April 11, 1991.[10] The film was later released on DVD in 1999 and bundled with the fourth film Bride of Chucky. It was released in multiple collections, such as:

  • The Chucky Collection (alongside Child's Play 3 and Bride of Chucky), released on October 7, 2003.[11]
  • Chucky - The Killer DVD Collection (alongside Child's Play 3, Bride and Seed of Chucky), released on September 19, 2006.[12]
  • Chucky: The Complete Collection (alongside Child's Play 1 and 3, Bride, Seed and Curse of Chucky), released on October 8, 2013.[13]
  • Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection (alongside Child's Play 1 and 3, Bride, Seed, Curse and Cult of Chucky), released on October 3, 2017.

Sequels

The film was followed by Child's Play 3 in 1991, Bride of Chucky in 1998, Seed of Chucky in 2004, Curse of Chucky in 2013 and Cult of Chucky in 2017.

References

  1. 1 2 "Child's Play 2 (1990)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved January 27, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Child's Play 2 (1990)". The Numbers. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  3. ↑ "Child's Play 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  4. ↑ Cieply, Michael (1989-08-21). "New UA Team Won't Touch 'Child's Play II'". Los Angeles Times.
  5. ↑ Broeske, Pat H. (1990-11-12). "Child's Play Sequel No. 1 at Box Office : Films: Kevin Costner's 'Dances With Wolves' debuts with the highest per-screen average of the year". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
  6. ↑ "Child's Play 2". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  7. ↑ Dickson, Evan (2013-09-24). "Is 'Child's Play 2' Better Than 'Child's Play'?!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  8. ↑ "Review: 'Child's Play 2'". Variety. 1990. Retrieved 2016-03-03.
  9. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  10. ↑ "HOME VIDEO; New Video Releases". The New York Times. 1991-04-18. Retrieved 2015-07-07.
  11. ↑ Goldman, Eric (2006-09-08). "Double Dip Digest: Child's Play". IGN. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  12. ↑ Jane, Ian (2006-09-21). "Chucky: The Killer DVD Collection". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
  13. ↑ Zupan, Michael (2013-10-11). "Chucky: The Complete Collection (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2016-01-17.
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