Child's Play 2 (1990)

1990
Directed by John Lafia
Starring Alex Vincent, Jenny Agutter, Gerrit Graham, Christine Elise and Brad Dourif

When the original Child's Play was released, I don't think that ANY of the wizards of smart could have predicted exactly how successful it would be.  By horror movie standards, it was an absolute blockbuster, with both the character of Chucky and the concept proving quite formidable with the public at large.  Thus, while the original flick had a budget that was marginally higher than a #7 value meal, it didn't take long for Universal to order up some sequels.  It ALSO didn't take long for writer Don Mancini to crank out what I consider to be the best movie in the entire series.

Moreso than any of the other films in the franchise, this flick really is all about yin and yang.  It's got its serious moments, sure, but it also brings in the humor that the later entries would crank up to the nth and sometimes annoying degree.  The balancing act that Mancini scripted out here, however, is pretty close to ideal.  Once again, it was a big hit with the public, making its budget back in the opening weekend alone and making those very same aforementioned later sequels possible.  With that, let's get to it.

I'll be the first person to admit that most horror movies that bring back characters from earlier installments are asking for trouble.  The Nightmare on Elm Street series managed to pull it off with Kristen Parker and Alice Johnson, but others...not so much.  Andy Barclay, the little kid whose body Chucky was trying to possess in the first film, is back here as your star character.  He's still played by Alex Vincent, and the kid still does an admirable enough acting job.  This time around, he's in foster care, his mother having been taken away from him due to her lack of deductive reasoning skills in not going against her kid's story that the doll that killed babysitters, teachers and other assorted characters was alive.  Quick word of advice to all mothers who find themselves in this situation: lie.  You'll be doing yourself a favor.

Before the end of the first act, we meet Andy's new foster parents, played by Gerrit Graham and Jenny Agutter (she of many tasty nude scenes back in the day - Google it, kids).  Also present in his new home is Kyle (Christine Elise of 90210 relative fame), requisite "bad girl" teenage character who serves as your veritable final girl in this entry.  The character isn't exactly a classic, but Elise does anything but phone it in, managing to make the semi-big-sisterly bond that she forms with Andy semi-believable.  Three hyphens in one sentence.  I'm really starting to suck.

ANYWAY...the fine folks at the Good Guys toy company have taken a big hit due to all the bad publicity that Andy's possessed doll story gave them.  In a plot that screams "great idea" to anyone who happened to be in this board room, they decide to reconstruct the burnt-up doll to prove that the story was untrue, and it isn't long until Chucky is back, once again voiced by Brad Dourif and headed for Andy's home in an effort to claim his soul.  A few words on the C-man in this flick: my review of the first film had a long bitching paragraph about just how cheesy the doll looked whenever it was moving around in that film, but that problem has been more than rectified here.  He might be shown a lot in close-up, but the animatronics had come along nicely by this point.  Combined with what is nothing short of a HUGE by time period and horror movie standards $13 million budget and we've got a pretty cool Chucky. 

The "rule" of the series, as it goes, is that Chucky has to claim the soul of whoever was the first to learn his true identity, meaning that Andy is still his prime target.  The parents have bought Andy a brand-new Chucky doll in the process, but the REAL Chucky (confused yet) promptly buries it when he reaches their household and swaps himself out.  What follows is a second act consisting of some pretty damn suspenseful stuff as Andy barely averts certain disaster and having no penis in doll form for the remainder of his life, combined with a couple of classic death scenes.  My favorite is the bit involving Andy's teacher and the ruler, although it IS a little unclear just how Chucky manages to get around everyone's neighborhoods so easily.  Maybe the dude is just really, really good at speed-walking.

As the film goes on, eventually we get down to Andy and Kyle.  As opposed to the first film, this one has done a much better job making its climactic scenes seem like a big deal.  The budget doesn't disappoint, either, giving us a finale in the Good Guys toy factory itself that drives firmly into silly territory at times but manages to stay suspenseful.  That, and it might have one of the longest "NOOOOOOOO"-s in cinematic history at the moment Chucky realizes that it's too late to escape his doll form.

No closing words for this flick are needed.  Everything spelled out above should make it pretty clear what to expect from Child's Play 2, and it's a pretty damn fun time in front of the TV.  If you're up for a taste of the ol' Chucky series before it went full-on spoof, look no further.

*** 1/2 out of ****.  Recommended, brutha.