Sorry Jack, Chucky's back in the first sequel, coming only two years later. Young Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) has now been placed in foster care after the previous incident leaving his mother institutionalized. All seems to be going well for Andy whose foster parents seem loving and caring but the red haired devil has come back and with a new paint job. He then begins his hunt for Andy once again. 'Child's Play 2' was the first film in the series I saw and it wasn't exactly a nice memory. Obviously being too young to watch it at the time, it naturally scarred me for life. All kidding aside, it was a truly scary experience and one of the earliest I can remember so it's only natural that I would continue to go back to this one again and again for many years.
It's hardly anything worth getting scared over now, but 'Child's Play 2' is still a very entertaining sequel and as far as second chapters go for horror flicks, it's up there with the best. Brad Dourif returns as the killer Chucky and as always no matter how good your story or other characters are Dourif will always keep this franchise afloat and much like 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' it simply isn't 'Child's Play' without him. His Chucky is funny and malicious and it's his personality and silly one liners that make the fans love him so much. Despite a small gap between the two films, 'Child's Play 2' shows a considerably stronger visual style and a much larger budget. Even with the opening scene, in which we see the burnt and disfigured Chucky doll from the first film being reassembled like some modern Frankenstein monster has a colorful toy box like color pattern which is retained throughout the film and that epic opening score by Graeme Revell is one of my favorite horror scores of all time. It's certainly a better musical piece than a killer doll film deserves.
Alex Vincent returns as Andy and here he does a much better job. He has aged a little and you can see he's gotten a lot better at delivery and his expressions. It's a shame he hasn't been in much since but thankfully we'll be seeing him return in the upcoming 'Cult of Chucky' very soon. His co-stars are also great here, with no one really going overboard and staying relatively grounded. I particularly liked Jenny Agutter's role as the foster mother and Christine Elise as Kyle remains one of the best characters in the franchise and hopefully she'll make her return. The Chucky Doll effects are also ramped up from the previous entry, with the animatronics showing advanced emotions and very scary expressions. It's probably my favorite looking Chucky in the whole series because he looks the most realistic here. Chucky himself is also a lot more vicious this time around leading to some memorable kills and hands down the best climax in the entire 'Child's Play' series.
'Child's Play 2' does tend to show some of the series' future flaws albeit in smaller doses here. Chucky's one-liners can get a little silly sometimes and the film will rely on jump scares and drops the suspense of the original entirely. And while the film goes at a much brisker pace than the original, it still tends to lag in the middle which is never good for a film that's roughly only 80 minutes. It's really that epic opening credits along with the epic climax in the toy factory that makes 'Child's Play 2' so memorable and rewatchable. It has a lot of the flaws you'll find in the usual 80's and 90's slashers, but really if you're watching 'Child's Play 2' you are likely already far down the rabbit hole and care little. It's not the best sequel, but it's definitely my personal favorite.
( A )
(( Listen to the opening theme I mentioned and let me know what you think))
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