Child's Play 2 (1990)

Since his mum has been committed, Andy Barclay finds himself being placed with a foster family Phil and Joanne Simpson. To get an idea of what had happened with their doll; Play Pal toys decide to rebuild Chucky to prove there's nothing wrong with it. Although a freak electrical current kills one of their employees and revives the doll. Knowing that he has to get out this body, Chucky goes about trying to locate Andy, so he can transfer his soul into his body.

The lovable, foul-mouthed good guy doll is back at it again in this far from surprising sequel spawned by the original's success. Old habits die young in this basically unnecessary no frills retread of the original film. Actually, the horrifying thing is that I don't mind this effort. It's still my favourite sequel of the series, just ahead of "Bride of Chucky". Directing his debut feature with plenty of verve and focus happens to be John Lafia (co-writer of the screenplay for Child's Play), who ups the ante in mostly every department. There's more hectically nervy mayhem, spur of the moment thrills and rather a mean spirited vibe worked in. Chucky's one sadistic little monster here and it seems to exploit its premise for the sheer of it. Popping up are many amusing moments that are plain rib tickling and a few unexpected splashes of suspense. The nastily inspired and glaring death scenes are well thought out. Time breezes by because of tight pacing and crisp editing. The silliness of the concept is simply taken to the extreme with constant use of smarting one-liners and devilish puns. The tongue is heavily planted in cheek within its jest-like tone.

Written again by original creator Don Mancini. The straightforward script nicely rounds off what had happened to the major players of the first film and how Chucky was resurrected. After that it goes for a basic stalk and slash formula with more blood and violence to cover up systematic gimmick. Instead of the icy cold Chicago downtown setting this time Mancini decides to go suburbia on this foray. While, it's cliché bound and everything about this one looks plastic. It's commendably made production with a glossily bright tinge to the set designs (like the surreal-like toy factory). The slick photography by Stefan Czapsky is lithely orchestrated and Graham Revell's ominous sounding music score hits all the right chords. Kevin Yagher's animatronics creation of Chucky has advanced a little more with refined detail and zeal developments. The face and body movements seem a bit more flexible.

Who gave this doll life was the ultra-cool and memorably wicked vocal performance of Brad Dourif as Chucky. It became Dourif's definite trademark role. Alex Vincent returns and isn't particularly that convincing in a stiff performance as Andy. Gladly it doesn't do any damage, but only enhances the traumatic angle they are going for. Having the same person playing the role added some continuity though. Adding a professional touch to this b-grade fluff were the likes of the always elegantly classy Jenny Agutter and ripely formal Gerrit Graham were likable as the foster parents Joanne and Phil Simpson. Christine Elise is fittingly strong as the delinquent teen Kyle. Also there are minor, but decent performances by Grace Zabriskie, Beth Grant and Greg Germann.

The novelty isn't a complete waste, but if you take the unbelievably illogical premise and the unpleasant nature with a grain of salt. There's sure entertainment amongst this nonsense that doesn't pretend to be anything else.