Horror Movie Review: Child’s Play 2 (1990)

Set two years after the events of the first film the Play Pals doll company is in a spot of bother. Andy Barclay’s claim about the homicidal Good Guy doll has hit their business really hard & desperate to prove there is nothing wrong with their toys they have rebuilt Chucky.

Andy is now in foster care after his mother was institutionalised for backing up his story about the events in the first film. The boy is adopted by Phil & Joanne who already have a charge, a teenage girl called Kyle.

Andy is still struggling to get over what occurred with Chucky but with no-one willing to believe him he is just seen as an imaginative/naughty child.

A rebuilt Chucky though is soon on the hunt for the boy again wanting to finish what he started. Chucky’s aim is to transfer his soul (that of Charles Lee Ray – serial killer) into Andy before he becomes permanently stuck in the body of the doll.

He finds out where Andy is by calling the head of the adoption agency & pretending to be the boy’s uncle. I had to laugh at this bit…how bad is this adoption agency? “You say you’re the boy’s uncle? Sure stranger who I’ve never met or have any proof of relationship to Andy, here is his new address”.

It’s not long before Chucky is tormenting Andy again while killing everyone that gets in his way!

Child’s Play 2 is a lot of fun if a bit un-inspired effectively repeating the same story from the first film but without most of the shocks or tension. The star is of course Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) who is delightfully cute at times & homicidal at others. The expressions on his face when he is in a rage are brilliant & it makes him a more terrifying prospect considering he is just a small doll.

The film has enough violence & gore with most of it meted out on Chucky at the end. I enjoyed seeing him suffer pain & injures akin to a human being with the scene where he rips his own hand off quite nasty looking. He takes some serious punishment in the final part of the movie.

Here it is clear to see why the franchise would eventually push Chucky front & centre. The rest of the cast are perfectly fine with several big name actors flexing their acting muscles here but their stories are secondary to what is going on between Andy & Chucky.

It’s a decent sequel that doesn’t live up to or even get close surpassing the original. Treading water that is far too familiar, its big name cast are under-used so Chucky can often butcher them off-screen. A fun ending helps lift the movie & Brad Dourif as the voice of the doll is incredible.