Child's Play 2 (1990)

Review:

Before launching into this review, I must make two confessions of bias: The first R rated movie I ever saw was Child’s Play 3 and thus there is a certain nostalgic room in my heart for the series. Secondly, there is a bigger but hidden room in my heart where I house my unabashed love of Slasher Films. I can’t tell you what it is about those movies that bring such a smile to my face. No wait. Yes I can. They’re so humorously nihilistic – but usually not in disturbing ways, more often than not they’re just ridiculous nihilism. And so, I’ve seen a lot of them. I can tell you the best installments of all the great slasher series. Here's my comprehensive list of the best ones in each series:

Friday the 13^th – the best in the series are 2, 4, 6 and Freddy vs. Jason.

Nightmare on Elm St. – 1, 2, 3, New Nightmare, and Freddy vs. Jason

Halloween – 1, 2, 4, 5

Saw – 1, 3

Scream – 1

Texas Chainsaw Massacre – 1

Child’s Play – 1, 2

Now, here’s my formal acknowledgement that as far as art and the cinema go, these films are by no means high art. They are entertainments that unwittingly convey the message that even good people get killed horrendously for no reason sometimes (you see, its nihilism!) and the villain usually gets away (you see, nihilism!) and this assures yet another profit-turning, creatively bankrupt sequel in the near future (nihilism!).

Now, on to Child’s Play 2. We all fear dolls. Let’s face it. They are creepy, creepy toys. Perhaps one of the reasons Barbie has remained so popular for so long is that of the doll kingdom, she is the least creepy. Regardless, there is a long filmic history of evil dolls coming to life, starting as far back as 1945’s “Dead of Night” and continuing in television with “The Twilight Zone” and somewhere along the way Chucky was invented and launched the “Child’s Play” franchise.

Let us review the first film quickly. A serial killer named Charles Lee Ray (Brad Dourif) in an act of desperation, puts his soul into a doll. Thus Chucky the evil doll (also voiced by Dourif) is born. He finds his way into the hands of young Andy Barclay and decides he wants to deposit his soul into the child before he is permanently trapped in the doll’s body. Mayhem ensues.

Alex Vincent returns as young Andy Barclay in “Childsplay 2.” And he still can find no one to believe that his doll is a murderous psychopath. Since the events of the first film he has been taken away from his mother while she undergoes a psychic evaluation and he now lives with well-meaning foster parents.

Meanwhile the original Chucky doll, complete with Charles Lee Ray’s soul, is reconstructed by The Good Guy Company to make sure the doll is not in fact evil. Well, guess what? He is evil and still intent on finding a way to get into Andy Barclay’s soul. And voila – mayhem ensues.

This is by no means a great film – it is a marginally good film at best. But it is pure fun. One scene in particular, where Chucky murders Andy’s cold-as-ice teacher looks like its done by a virtuoso. Its one of the more memorable deaths in the series. And those poor, poor foster parents…What did they ever do but take in a troubled boy into their house? Ah, but there’s that slight nihilism I enjoy so much in these films. Not even being a good person exempts you from the wrath of evil.

The film is directed by John Laffia with some grace, given the material. The screenplay was written by Don Mancini, who invented Chucky for our viewing pleasure.

At the end of the day, you should probably be watching some foreign film instead of “Child’s Play 2.” But I know sometimes at the end of my day, I don’t want to think too much, and this movie is great for that.

Rating:

On a scale of one to Casablanca, this film is “Il Deserto Rosso” (1964).

Rationalization:

Many would kill me for making this rating, but in my mind “Child’s Play 2” and Antonioni’s “Il Deserto Rosso” are mirror images of each other. “Child’s Play 2” is a crappy film that you might want to check out for some laughs. “Il Deserto Rosso” is probably a masterpiece but it just sucks and you shouldn’t check it out.

But now you’re probably going to want to see “Il Deserto Rosso” out of curiosity. You can thank me later.