Child's Play 2 (also known as Child's Play 2: Chucky's Back) is a 1990 American horror film, which the sequel to Child's Play, written by Don Mancini and directed by John Lafia (one of the original film's writers). It was released on November 9, 1990. Gerrit Graham and Jenny Agutter, star as Andy's foster parents. The films also stars Christine Elise. The original music score is composed by Graeme Revell. Although the first film was released by MGM/UA, Universal bought the rights of the franchise from MGM/UA in 1989.
Plot
Andy (Alex Vincent), now 8 years old, has been placed with a foster family.
In an attempt to save the reputation of the Good Guy dolls, Mattson (Greg Germann), an executive, has Chucky's body reconstructed. During the reconstruction process, one of the technicians is electrocuted. Mr. Sullivan (Peter Haskell), the company CEO, is disgusted that another death is linked to the Good Guy doll, and leaves the reconstructed doll in Mattson's care.
Now resurrected, Chucky learns through Andy's social worker that he is living with the Simpsons, an almost stereotypical family. He forces Mattson to take 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 doesn't realize the switch, and begins carrying Chucky around.
Chucky starts a ritual to transfer his soul into Andy's body, but is interrupted by Kyle (Christine Elise), a 17-year-old girl, who has also been adopted by the Simpsons. Philip "Phil" Simpson (Gerrit Graham) and Joanne Simpson (Jenny Agutter), walk in and disregard Andy's claims that the doll is alive. Phil Simpson throws Chucky into the basement to quell Andy's fears. Chucky waits until everyone is gone and realizes that his nose is bleeding, as he is slowly becoming more human.
The next day, Chucky follows Andy to school and frames him by writing obscene insults about Miss Kettlewell (Beth Grant), Andy's teacher, on his paper. Miss Kettlewell sees the profanity and confronts him, locking Andy in the classroom. Andy escapes through the window and runs home. When Miss Kettlewell returns, she is killed by Chucky.
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. Grief-stricken and disillusioned, Joanne angrily concludes that Andy played a part in Phil's death. Joanne calls the police, and Andy is taken by his social worker back to the orphanage.
Kyle accidentally finds the genuine Good Guy doll, Tommy "Thomas", buried in the garden, and realizes that Andy was telling the truth.
When Kyle enters the house, she finds that Joanne has already been killed, apparently having her throat slit and her body in a state of pallor mortis. Chucky reveals himself and forces Kyle to drive him to the orphanage to kill Andy.
At the orphanage, Chucky stabs the social worker to death and finds Andy, threatening him with his knife. Kyle watches them hop into the back of a newspaper truck, and she goes after them by car, 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 nose bleeds again (realizing what he remained in his doll body for too long, and thus the ritual is no longer effective), Chucky therefore becomes enraged. Kyle is reunited with Andy, and the two run through the factory, trying to escape Chucky. Kyle traps Chucky's hand under a bar cage, and in order to free himself, Chucky rips off his own hand and replaces it with the blade of his knife. Andy and Kyle try 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 subsequently killed by Chucky.
Andy and Kyle repeatedly attempt to kill Chucky numerous times. Each time it appears that Andy and Kyle have succeeded, but Chucky somehow survives. In the end, Kyle shoves an air hose into Chucky's mouth, causing Chucky's head to inflate until it explodes, effectively killing Chucky.
Soundtrack score
Graeme Revell composed the film's score, it was conducted by the late Shirley Walker.
- "Reborn"
- "Factory Accident"
- "Carjack"
- "Finding Andy"
- "Eat Dirt Tommy"
- "Reunion"
- "Miss Kettlewell"
- "In The Basement"
- "Bedroom Attack/Extra Limbs"
- "Goddamn Women Drivers"
- "Amazing Isn't It"
- "In Pursuit"
- "The Factory"
- "No More Mister Good Guy"
- "I'm Fucking Trapped In Here"
- "I Hate Kids"
- "Maze"
- "End Titles"
Main cast
- Alex Vincent as Andy Barclay: The main protagonist whose 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 towards 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 who is initially unsure of taking care of Andy. His death caused by Chucky convinces his wife Joanne that Andy is allegedly dangerous
- 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, she was killed by Chucky, who stabbed her with a basketball pump and beats her with a ruler to death
- 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.
Reception
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.
References
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