Child's Play 2


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 of the first film. It is the second installment in the Child's Play franchise and set two years after the first film; the plot follows Charles Lee Ray 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.
Child's Play 2 was released on November 9, 1990, exactly two years after the first film was released. The film grossed $35.8 million worldwide. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 44% based on 16 reviews. It was followed by Child's Play 3.

Plot

Two years after the death of Chucky, the remains of the doll are recovered and reassembled by the Play Pals Corporation, the producer of the Good Guy dolls, to reassure its stockholders after the negative publicity from the murders. During the process a power surge occurs and one of the assembly line workers is killed by electrocution. Mr. Sullivan, the executive of the company, orders his assistant Mattson to cover up the accident and dispose of Chucky, unaware that the doll has been brought back to life by the accident.
Meanwhile, Andy, who is now eight years old, has been in foster care ever since the murders; his mother is in a mental institution, having been pronounced mentally unstable for supporting his story about Chucky. Andy goes to live with foster parents Phil and Joanne Simpson, who are also fostering Kyle, a cynical, street smart, teenage girl. Chucky soon discovers Andy's whereabouts by using Mattson's car phone to call Grace Poole, the manager of Andy's foster center, before hijacking his car at gunpoint and suffocating him with a plastic bag after he reaches the Simpson house. Chucky infiltrates the home by destroying another Good Guy doll called "Tommy" and replacing it with himself.
After Chucky destroys an heirloom that Joanne forbade the kids to touch, Phil punishes both Andy and Kyle for smashing it. Andy spends the rest of the day bonding with Kyle, initially believing Chucky to be an ordinary Good Guy doll. That night, Chucky ties Andy to his bed and reveals himself, but Kyle enters the room before he can complete the ritual to possess him. Kyle disbelieves Andy's assertions about Chucky while Phil and Joanne believe Kyle to be responsible and throw Chucky in the basement, where he realizes that he is becoming human after suffering a nosebleed.
The next day, Chucky secretly follows Andy to school. Andy's teacher, Miss Kettlewell, forces him to stay after school for detention after Chucky defaces his homework with vulgarity. Chucky beats Miss Kettlewell to death with a yardstick, but Andy manages to escape. Later, Andy tries to tell his foster parents about Chucky, but Phil refused to believe him and considers returning him to the foster center.
That night, Andy sneaks into the basement to destroy Chucky with an electric knife, but Chucky overpowers him. When Phil arrives to investigate the commotion, Chucky trips him, causing Phil to fall to his death. After finding Phil, Joanne immediately assumes Andy to be responsible and promptly sends him back to the foster center. Kyle discovers "Tommy" buried in the garden and realizes Andy was telling the truth. She rushes to warn Joanne, whom Chucky has already killed. Chucky ambushes Kyle and forces her to drive him to the foster center where Andy has been sent.
At the foster center, Chucky clears the building by pulling the fire alarm. He stabs Grace to death and forces Andy to take him to the Play Pals toy factory for the transfer. Kyle pursues them to the factory, where Chucky knocks Andy unconscious and completes the ritual. He suffers another nosebleed, realizing it's too late to transfer his soul into Andy and is now permanently trapped inside the doll, much to his despair. Enraged, he goes after both Andy and Kyle, intending to kill them. As Andy and Kyle search for an exit and Chucky chases them over the machinery, Kyle slams a gate shut on Chucky's hand, which Chucky tears off and replaces with a makeshift blade.
After Chucky murders a factory technician, Kyle and Andy knock the doll into some machinery that mutilates him by attaching numerous arms and legs to his torso. Chucky escapes from the machinery by cutting off his own mixed waist, but his knife-hand gets stuck in a radiator when he attempts to stab Andy, who pours molten plastic all over the evil doll. The half-melted Chucky suddenly attacks them again; in the struggle, Kyle shoves a high-pressure air hose into Chucky's mouth, blowing off his head. Andy and Kyle exit the factory unsure of where to go, and walk off together.

Cast

released the original Child's Play in 1988 and greenlit the second film. The sequel was in pre-production when a 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. Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, The Price Company, Carolco, New Line Cinema, Walt Disney Studios, and Universal Pictures expressed interest in picking up the film rights to the series and sequel, with Universal winning the rights bid, after Steven Spielberg assisted Kirschner in convincing Universal's Sid Sheinberg to accept it.

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

The film opened at number one in the US with an opening weekend gross of $10,718,520 from 1,996 screens in the US. The film grossed a total of $28,501,605 in the US and an additional $7.3 million internationally for a worldwide gross of $35.8 million.

Critical response

gives the film an approval rating of 44% based on 16 reviews. Evan Dickson of Bloody Disgusting, in describing how it surpasses the original film, wrote, "Child's Play 2 manages to strip away all artifice and still manage to be an effective slasher." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Variety wrote, "Child's Play 2 is another case of rehashing the few novel elements of an original to the point of utter numbness." Gene Siskel gave the film zero stars out of four, calling it "A vicious, ugly little thriller." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought the original was "a terrific one-of-a-kind thriller," but "Not so the sequel. It's an all-out horror film—handsomely produced but morbid and not in the least amusing to watch." Richard Harrington of The Washington Post called it "an inevitable sequel that's not as good as its progenitor, but better than most movies with the numbers 2 through 8 in their titles."

Home media

Child's Play 2 was first released on VHS by MCA/Universal Home Video in North America on April 11, 1991. 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 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.