Universal must have realized the potential this franchise had and quickly snapped up the rights from MGM after the first movie came out. Writer Don Mancini also must have figured out that his creation of a foul-mouthed killer doll was too good for just one film. The Chucky series would seriously evolve and change over the years but even in this first sequel things are already looking quite different, even if it suffers from Deja Vu a little bit.
Now that the cat is out of the bag and we know that Chucky really is alive and it isn't just Andy's imagination, our killer doll gets much more screen time and his wicked personality has more time to develop. The animatronics have improved and a lot of Chucky's character comes through in his wild facial expressions.
Director John Lafia shoots the film with a bright, playroom color pallet with most of the location footage done in Los Angeles with only a few key shots done in Chicago (as if the Windy City was ever this sunny). Despite the autumn setting it does feel like a rather Xmas-y film. He's also fully aware of how silly the killer doll concept is and seizes the opportunity for some of the self-aware sarcastic humor seen in the later films.
Graeme Revell usually does the most generic horror scores, especially in recent years, but surprisingly he gives Child's Play 2 the best score of the series with a full orchestra at his disposal, he doesn't hold back on the action cues and even delivers a couple of pretty good themes. So much better than the rotten score to the first film and probably one of the best horror scores of the 90s, or even of all time. It really is that good, and elevates this sequel to a higher level than most snobby critics would consider it deserves.
There isn't much of a story to Child's Play 2 however. It's just the same as the first, with Chucky going after Andy, who is now staying with a foster family, once more. The body count is higher and there are some good kills, but I wish that the running time wasn't so anorexic and that it held back on the "lurking in the dark" scenes.
The slick quality and silly nature of Child's Play 2 is probably what prompted Universal to stick with the franchise for good and 23 years later the Chucky films are still coming out. To think that if MGM held on to the rights, we may never have had them.
Now that the cat is out of the bag and we know that Chucky really is alive and it isn't just Andy's imagination, our killer doll gets much more screen time and his wicked personality has more time to develop. The animatronics have improved and a lot of Chucky's character comes through in his wild facial expressions.
Director John Lafia shoots the film with a bright, playroom color pallet with most of the location footage done in Los Angeles with only a few key shots done in Chicago (as if the Windy City was ever this sunny). Despite the autumn setting it does feel like a rather Xmas-y film. He's also fully aware of how silly the killer doll concept is and seizes the opportunity for some of the self-aware sarcastic humor seen in the later films.
Graeme Revell usually does the most generic horror scores, especially in recent years, but surprisingly he gives Child's Play 2 the best score of the series with a full orchestra at his disposal, he doesn't hold back on the action cues and even delivers a couple of pretty good themes. So much better than the rotten score to the first film and probably one of the best horror scores of the 90s, or even of all time. It really is that good, and elevates this sequel to a higher level than most snobby critics would consider it deserves.
There isn't much of a story to Child's Play 2 however. It's just the same as the first, with Chucky going after Andy, who is now staying with a foster family, once more. The body count is higher and there are some good kills, but I wish that the running time wasn't so anorexic and that it held back on the "lurking in the dark" scenes.
The slick quality and silly nature of Child's Play 2 is probably what prompted Universal to stick with the franchise for good and 23 years later the Chucky films are still coming out. To think that if MGM held on to the rights, we may never have had them.