Child's Play 2
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| Child's Play 2: Chucky's Back | |
 Theatrical Release Poster |
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| Directed by | John Lafia |
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| Produced by | David Kirschner |
| Written by | Don Mancini (characters) Don Mancini (screenplay) |
| Starring | Alex Vincent Jenny Agutter Gerrit Graham Christine Elise Grace Zabriskie Peter Haskell Beth Grant Greg Germann and Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky |
| Music by | Graeme Revell |
| Cinematography | Stefan Czapsky |
| Editing by | Edward Warschilka |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | November 9, 1990 (USA) |
| Running time | 84 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $13,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $35,763,605 |
| Preceded by | Child's Play (1988) |
| Followed by | Child's Play 3: Look Who's Stalking (1991) |
Child's Play 2 (also known as Child's Play 2: Chucky's Back) is the 1990 sequel to the 1988 horror film Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia. It was released on November 9, 1990, exactly two years after the predecessor. The film uses more black comic elements in regards to the Chucky character than its predecessor, while the film itself was darker then the original film. Two veteran cult film actors, Gerrit Graham and Jenny Agutter, appear as Andy's foster parents in this film; a pre-Beverly Hills, 90210 Christine Elise portrays Kyle, Andy's cynical-but-loving elder stepsister. Greg Germann, who would be later best known for playing Richard Fish in Ally McBeal, makes an early appearance in this film. The original Bernard Herrmann-esque music score is composed by Graeme Revell, in one of his earliest projects. Although the first film was released by MGM/UA, Universal bought the rights of the franchise from MGM/UA in 1989.
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[edit] Plot Summary
Set two years after the events of the first film, Andy Barclay (played by Alex Vincent), now eight years old, has been placed with a foster family. Two main characters from the previous film are absent; it is explained through dialogue that Karen Barclay, Andy's mother, has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital undergoing psychiatric testing and Detective Mike Norris has been threatened with dismissal and withdrawn support of the "Chucky the Doll is alive" story.
In an attempt to save the reputation of the Good Guy Dolls, an executive named Mattson (played by Greg Germann), has the killer doll's body reconstructed. During the reconstruction process, one of the technicians is electrocuted. The company CEO, Mr. Sullivan (played by Peter Haskell), is disgusted that another death is linked to the Good Guy doll, and leaves the reconstructed doll in Mattson's care.
Chucky, now resurrected, learns through Andy's social worker that he is living with the Simpsons, an almost stereotypical family. He forces Mattson to drive him to the Simpson home before killing him. Chucky sneaks into the Simpson house and switches place with a harmless Good Guy doll that had been in the house. Andy does not realize the switch, and begins carrying Chucky around.
One night Andy awakes to find that Chucky has tied him to his bed. Chucky starts a ritual to transfer his soul into Andy's body, but is interrupted by Kyle (played by Christine Elise), a seventeen-year old girl who has also been adopted by the Simpsons. Andy's foster parents, Philip "Phil" Simpson (played by Gerrit Graham) and Joanne Simpson (played by Jenny Agutter), discover them. Andy tries to explain that the Good Guy doll is Chucky and alive, but they refuse to listen. Phil throws Chucky into the basement. Chucky waits until everyone is gone, and sits up. He realizes his nose is bleeding and that time is running out to possess Andy, as he is slowly becoming more human.
The next day, Chucky follows Andy to school and frames him by writing obscene insults about his teacher on his paper. Andy's teacher, Ms. Kettlewell (played by Beth Grant), sees the profanity and confronts him, locking Andy in the classroom and leaving to call the Simpsons. Andy escapes via the classroom window and runs home. When Ms. Kettlewell returns, Chucky kills Ms. Kettlewell by stabbing her with a basketball pump, then beating her with a ruler.
Back at the Simpson home, Andy sneaks into the basement with an electric knife, determined to kill Chucky. Phil hears the commotion and enters the basement, where he is tripped by Chucky on the stairs and falls to his death, apparently snapping his neck. Joanne rushes to the basement, and discovers her dead husband. Grief-stricken and disillusioned, she angrily concludes that Andy murdered Phil for trying to send him back to the orphanage. She calls the police, and Andy is taken by his social worker, Grace Poole (played by Grace Zabriskie), back to the orphanage.
Kyle accidentally finds the genuine Good Guy doll (Tommy) buried in the garden, and realizes that Andy was telling the truth. When she enters the house, she finds that Joanne has already been killed, apparently strangled and/or having her throat slit. Chucky reveals himself and forces Kyle to drive him to the orphanage to get Andy.
At the orphanage, Chucky stabs Grace to death and finds Andy, threatening him with a knife. Kyle watches them hop into the back of a Chicago Sun Times newspaper truck, and she pursues them in the Simpson station wagon, eventually forcing the truck off the road. Andy and Chucky get off the truck and head for the nearby Good Guy doll factory, with Kyle in pursuit.
Inside the factory, Chucky knocks Andy unconscious and completes the voodoo ritual. However, as Chucky's voodoo instructor warned in the previous film, Chucky has remained in his doll form too long and the ritual is no longer effective. This causes Chucky to fly into a rage. Kyle is reunited with Andy and the two run through the factory, trying to get away from Chucky. Kyle traps Chucky's hand under a bar cage, and in order to free himself, rips off his own hand and replaces it with the blade of his knife. Kyle and Andy attempt to escape by crawling along a conveyor belt, only to find the door at the end locked. The noise is heard by a lone technician on duty, and he is killed by Chucky, who gouges his eyes on the conveyor belt.
Kyle and Andy repeatedly attempt to kill Chucky, first by forcing him backward through a machine that attaches doll limbs, and then by pouring molten plastic all over him. Both times it appears that they succeed, but Chucky is still alive, albeit mangled and almost unrecognisable. In the end, Kyle shoves an air hose into Chucky's mouth, which causes Chucky's head to inflate until it explodes. This appears to be the last straw, finally stopping Chucky.
As a new day dawns, Andy and Kyle are seen walking out of the factory. In an alternate ending, it is revealed that half of Chucky's face landed in plastic material, resulting in a new doll head which smiles evily, setting the events for the third film.
[edit] Main cast
- Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay: The main protagonist who's family's reputation was ruined by Chucky
- Jenny Agutter as Joanne Simpson: A caring stereotypical housewife and foster mother. Near the climax of the film, she later became grief-stricken and disillusioned about Andy when Chucky killed her husband, Phil, and framed Andy for it
- Gerrit Graham as Philip "Phil" Simpson: A doubtful stereotypical working husband and foster father
- Christine Elise as Kyle: Andy's stereotypical teenage foster sister
- Brad Dourif as the voice of Chucky: The main antagonist who torments Andy by trying to place his soul into Andy's body and framing him for the murders throughout the series
- Grace Zabriskie as Grace Poole: Andy's social worker
- Greg Germann as Mattson, Good Guy dolls Executive: A nerdish Play Pals businessman
- Beth Grant as Miss Kettlewell: Andy's abusive two-faced schoolteacher, who's dressed in bright gaudy stereotypical teacher's clothing and uses a seemingly nice personality to hide her true unpleasant dark side
- Peter Haskell as Mr. Sullivan, Good Guy dolls CEO: The ambitious and arrogant head of Play Pals Toys
Catherine Hicks makes a cameo appearance as Karen Barclay in a picture.
[edit] Box office
The film was successful for a horror film, in its opening weekend—it took an estimated $10,718,520, with only 1,996 screens in the United States. The film grossed an estimated $28,501,605 in the US and was declared a hit and #1 at the box office, but the movie flopped overseas and only grossed $7.2 million.
The film received mixed to negative reviews, with a 38% 'Rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes [1]. Whilst negative criticism was directed towards some scenes and areas of the script which were considered unrealistic or 'corny', positive reception was again directed towards the acting, in particular Brad Dourif who was again praised for his voice-acting of Chucky. Alex Vincent was also praised for playing Andy. The film was rated "R" by the MPAA.
[edit] Trivia
- On the show Seinfeld, a VHS copy of the film is seen next to Jerry's stereo in numerous episodes.
[edit] External links
- Child's Play 2 at the Internet Movie Database
- Child's Play 2: Chucky's Back at Allmovie
- Child's Play 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
| Preceded by Jacob's Ladder |
Box office number-one films of 1990 (USA) November 11, 1990 |
Succeeded by Home Alone |
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