My Review of Child's Play 2 (1990)

 

Written by Don Mancini

Directed by John Lafia

Chucky: "Did you miss me, Andy? I sure missed you. I told you we were gonna be friends til the end. And now it's time to play."

Following the surprise success of the first movie, there really wasn't time wasted in getting a sequel off the ground. Two years has passed and the factory behind the Good Guy Dolls are trying to rebuild the brand's tattered image. However a certain someone might make that impossible.

Yes, Chucky (Brad Dourif) managed to survive being horribly burned to death in the previous movie as the CEO of the company foolish had Chucky restored and some conveniently timed lightning revived him. It's not long before Chucky decided to go on a new killing spree to get to his intended target.

With two years having passed, an unfortunate Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) has found his mother being institutionalised and Andy himself being sent to a foster home, run by Phil (Gerrit Graham) and Joanne (Jenny Agutter) Simpson. They're not horrible people as such but it's clear that neither are particularly equipped to deal with Andy at all.

It's also not long before Andy and Chucky are actually reunited and the latter tried yet again to take over the former's body. While Phil and Joanne aren't helpful, Andy at least had one ally in his corner. That being of course, fellow foster kid, Kyle (Christine Elise).

Kyle's the big sister that Andy didn't really ask for but throughout the movie he definitely needed. She's something of an emotionally distant character, not wanting to embrace either Phil or Joanne and like everyone else at first, she didny believe Andy's story about Chucky/Tommy. Then when the bodies really began to pile up, Kyle realised that Andy wasn't lying after all.

The final showdown in the factory between Chucky, Andy and Kyle definitely had its moments. Chucky realised to his horror he could longer possess Andy and for a second movie in a row, he got subjected to a rather justified but painful death. As for Andy and Kyle, at least they had each other.

- Originally both Karen Barclay and Mike Norris were supposed to appear in the opening scene before the idea was scrapped in favour of a new direction.

- Parts of the movie's novelisation delved into Chucky's family backstory a bit more than what we got here.

- This was the movie that gave us Chucky's iconic laugh for the first time.

- Chronology: 1990 Chicago, two years after the first movie. An early draft had it set during the Christmas season.

Child's Play 2 really maintained the bar of the first movie. Throwing Andy into a new environment, introducing Kyle and highlighting Chucky's desperation to live all worked in this movie's favour. It's a great sequel to the series.

Rating: 8 out of 10