Child's Play 2 is a 1990 American supernatural slasher film and the 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.
Video Child's Play 2
Plot
Two years after Chucky was destroyed by the Barclays and detective Mike Norris, the killer "Good Guy" 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 ring 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-Guy" doll, and destroys him with Joanne's ornament. Chucky then buries the doll in the garden and takes his place as "Tommy". Phil punishes the children believing one of them broke the ornament. After Andy spends the rest of the day with Kyle, Chucky waits for nightfall and ties up Andy 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.
The following 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. Chucky attacks Kyle and orders her to take him to the center to find Andy. There, during a false fire alarm, Chucky kills Grace and orders Andy to take him to the PlayPals "Good-Guy" factory for the transfer.
Kyle follows Chucky and Andy to the factory. After knocking Andy unconscious once again, Chucky attempts the ritual to transfer his soul into Andy, but it fails midway since he spent too much time within the doll's body. Enraged, Chucky decides to kill both Andy and Kyle instead. He then loses one of his hands, which he replaces with his knife, but still goes after the two. Chucky murders a factory worker. Kyle and Andy then have him stitch, burn in the machine and pour molten plastic over him before inserting an air hose in his mouth, which causes his head to explode and finally defeating him. Andy and Kyle leave the factory for "home", with Andy asking where "home" is and Kyle responding that, in truth, she doesn't know.
The last scene features a piece of Chucky in a vat of molten plastic. The plastic is then molded into a new head and then it grins evilly, which was not shown in theaters.
Maps Child's Play 2
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.
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. It grossed an additional $7.2 million internationally.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 40% based on 15 reviews. 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." Variety wrote, "Child's Play 2 is another case of rehashing the few novel elements of an original to the point of utter numbness." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.
Home video releases
Child's Play 2 was first released on VHS 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 Chucky Collection (alongside Child's Play 3 and Bride of Chucky), released on October 7, 2003.
- Chucky - The Killer DVD Collection (alongside Child's Play 3, Bride and Seed of Chucky), released on September 19, 2006.
- Chucky: The Complete Collection (alongside Child's Play 1 and 3, Bride, Seed and Curse of Chucky), released on October 8, 2013.
- 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
External links
- Child's Play 2 on IMDb
- Child's Play 2 at AllMovie
- Child's Play 2 at Rotten Tomatoes
- Child's Play 2 at Box Office Mojo
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments