Child's Play 2 (1990)

Director:

John Lafia

Writers (WGA):

Don Mancini (characters)
Don Mancini (written by)

Release Date:

9 November 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Look out Jack! Chucky's back!

Plot:

Chuckie's back as the doll possessed by the soul of a serial killer, butchering all who stand in his way of possessing the body of a boy.

Plot Keywords:

Chucky | Doll | Sequel | Toy Factory | Toy

Cast

Alex Vincent	...	Andy Barclay
Jenny Agutter	...	Joanne Simpson
Gerrit Graham	...	Phil Simpson
Christine Elise	...	Kyle
Brad Dourif	...	Chucky (voice)
Grace Zabriskie	...	Grace Poole
Peter Haskell	...	Sullivan
Beth Grant	...	Miss Kettlewell
Greg Germann	...	Mattson
Raymond Singer	...	Social Worker
Charles Meshack	...	Van Driver (as Charles C. Meshack)
Stuart Mabray	...	Homicide Investigator
Matt Roe	...	Policeman in Car
Herbie Braha	...	Liquor Store Clerk (as Herb Braha)
Don Pugsley	...	Technician
Ed Krieger	...	Technician
Vince Melocchi	...	Technician
Edan Gross	...	Tommy Doll (voice)
Adam Ryen	...	Rick Spires
Adam Wylie	...	Sammy
Bill Stevenson	...	Adam

Directed by
John Lafia

Writing credits (WGA)
Don Mancini		(characters)
Don Mancini		(written by)

Produced by
Robert Latham Brown	....	executive producer
David Kirschner	....	producer
Laura Moskowitz	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Graeme Revell

Cinematography by
Stefan Czapsky

Film Editing by
Edward Warschilka

Casting by
Karen Rea

Production Design by
Ivo Cristante

Art Direction by
Don Maskovich		(as Donald Maskovich)

Set Decoration by
Debra Combs

Costume Design by
Pamela Skaist

Makeup Department
Mecki Heussen	....	mechanical technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Deborah K. Larsen	....	key makeup artist (as Deborah Larsen)
Frank Charles Lutkus III	....	mechanical technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
David Arthur Nelson	....	mechanical technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Ron Pipes II	....	studio technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Sean Rodgers	....	studio technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Anton Rupprecht	....	mechanical technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Erik Schaper	....	studio technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
David Stinnett	....	studio technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Mike Trcic	....	studio technician: Kevin Yagher Productions
Scott Williams	....	key hair stylist
Mark C. Yagher	....	studio manager: Kevin Yagher Productions

Production Management
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	production supervisor
Tom Udell	....	unit production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fernando Castroman	....	dga trainee
Jeffrey M. Ellis	....	second assistant director
Heidi Gutman	....	second second assistant director
Wendy Ikeguchi	....	second assistant director
Robert J. Koster	....	first assistant director
Bruce Moriarty	....	first assistant director: additional photography
John Romeyn	....	first assistant director: second unit
Dennis M. White	....	first assistant director (as Dennis Mason White)
Kevin Yagher	....	second unit director

Art Department
Russell R. Anderson	....	set dresser
Christopher Casey	....	set dresser
Kirk Corwin	....	property master
Richard Bryan Douglas	....	construction foreman
Paul Ford	....	leadman
Patricia Garrity	....	set dresser
Christopher Gilman	....	props
Steve A. Hagberg	....	construction coordinator
John Harrington	....	assistant property master
Thomas D. Krausz	....	scenic artist
Randlett King Lawrence	....	propmaker foreman
John Lieberman	....	set dresser
Gregory Lynch Jr.	....	carpenter
Caryn Marcus	....	set dresser
David Mitchell	....	set dresser
David J. Negron	....	production illustrator
Rocky Paolone	....	paint foreman
Jim Stubblefield	....	assistant property master (as D. James Stubblefield)
Lyndell Wolff	....	carpenter

Sound Department
Wayne Artman	....	re-recording mixer
James Ashwill	....	foley mixer
Kevin Bartnof	....	foley artist
Patrick Bietz	....	sound editor
Tom E. Dahl	....	sound re-recording mixer
Victor DiMattia	....	looping
Frank Jones	....	sound re-recording mixer
Chris Langlais	....	cable person
Mary Jo Lang	....	foley recordist
Kelly L. Manger	....	assistant sound editor
William L. Manger	....	sound editor
Colin C. Mouat	....	sound editor
Lettie Odney	....	adr editor
Charleen Richards	....	adr mixer
Joseph T. Sabella	....	foley artist
Mary Ruth Smith	....	sound editor
Steve Sollars	....	boom operator
Greg Stacy	....	sound editor
John Stacy	....	supervising sound editor
Don Summer	....	sound mixer
Susumu Tokunow	....	sound mixer: additional photography
Bill Weinman	....	assistant sound editor
Denise Whiting	....	adr editor

Special Effects by
Robin L. D'Arcy	....	general manager: Image Engineering
Marilyn Dozer-Chaney	....	costumer: Chucky
Jason Newton	....	effects runner: Image Engineering
Jason Newton	....	special mechanical effects
Mike Reedy	....	special effects crew
Kate Steinberg	....	project coordinator: Image Engineering,

Visual Effects by
Bob Ahmanson	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Cosmas Paul Bolger Jr.	....	optical camera: Apogee Productions
Stephen Bowles	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Mike Chambers	....	effects coordinator: Apogee Productions
Peter Chesney	....	mechanical effects coordinator: Image Engineering
Kyle Collingsworth	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Dick Cross	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Lenny Dalrymple	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Curtis Decker	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Roger Dorney	....	optical supervisor: Apogee Productions
Roderic 'Mick' Duff	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Bruce D. Hayes	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Joe Heffernan	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Emmet Kane	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Ron Macinnes	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Michael Douglas Middleton	....	visual effects still photographer: Apogee
Harry Moreau	....	animation supervisor: Apogee Productions
David Penikas	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
Marek Sekowski	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
James Seltenreich	....	optical camera assistant: Apogee Productions
J.D. Streett	....	on-set effects: Image Engineering
John Swallow	....	effects producer: Apogee Productions
Joseph Yanuzzi	....	editorial supervisor: Apogee Productions

Stunts
Bob Brown	....	stunts (as Robert F. Brown)
Jim Chesney	....	stunts
Laurie Creach	....	stunts (as Lauri Creach)
Dane Farwell	....	stunts
Glory Fioramonti	....	stunts
Ed Gale	....	stunts
Sandi Gross	....	stunts
Al Jones	....	stunts
Brett A. Jones	....	stunts (as Brett Jones)
Wayne King	....	stunts
William T. Lane	....	stunts
Paula Marie Moody	....	stunts
Larry Nicholas	....	stunts
J.P. Romano	....	stunts
John Sherrod	....	stunts
Jan Michael Shultz	....	stunts
Dick Warlock	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Jack Anderson	....	camera operator: Apogee Productions, inc
Jack Anderson	....	director of photography: second unit
John Armstrong	....	generator operator
Steve Arras	....	lamp operator
Brian Bernstein	....	assistant camera
Tony Blaszczyk	....	lamp operator
Philippe Carr-Forster	....	camera operator (as Phillip Carr-Forster)
John F. Cassidy	....	key grip
Andre Costa	....	grip
Kenny Davis	....	dolly grip
Glen Deitell	....	second assistant camera
Dennis DiCristina	....	assistant lighting technician (as Dennis de Christiana)
James Fred Donelson	....	video assistant: additional photography
Elizabeth Dougherty	....	first assistant camera: second unit
Kevin 'Rambo' Fitzgerald	....	grip
Mary Gonzales	....	second assistant camera
Tony Hibbard	....	set lighting technician
Steve Holgate	....	second assistant camera: additional photography
Kent Hughes	....	first assistant camera: additional photography
Brent L. Jones	....	chief lighting technician: second unit
Dan Kneece	....	Steadicam operator
Dan Kneece	....	camera operator (as Daniel Kneece)
Dan Kneece	....	camera operator: "a" camera
Jon Kranhouse	....	director of photography: second unit
Bob Leitelt	....	grip
Dennis J. Lootens	....	rigging gaffer
Timothy 'Guido' Magaraci	....	assistant lighting technician
Timothy 'Guido' Magaraci	....	best boy
Jeff Mart	....	Steadicam operator
Michael Douglas Middleton	....	still photographer: Apogee Productions, inc
Kevin Murphy	....	chief lighting technician
Kevin Murphy	....	gaffer
Randall Ott	....	lamp operator
Max Pomerleau	....	director of photography: second unit
Joe-Joe Presson	....	grip
Ronald J. Pure Jr.	....	electrician (as Pure Joe)
Timothy Glenn Riley	....	grip
David Sanchez	....	film loader
Michael Shugrue	....	video assistant operator
Wayne Stroud	....	grip
Joseph F. Valentine	....	Steadicam operator
Zoran Veselic	....	first assistant camera
Paul Villandry	....	electrician (as Paul Vee)
Paul Villandry	....	lamp operator
James B. Walsh	....	best boy grip
James C. Walsh	....	second grip
Scott Warner	....	video assistant operator
Luke Wynne	....	still photographer
Tom Jensen	....	additional second assistant camera: second unit (uncredited)

Casting Department
Eden Brandy	....	extras casting
Doreen Lane	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Hayley Marcus	....	key costumer
Linda L. Meltzer	....	key costumer

Editorial Department
Joyce Arrastia	....	apprentice editor
Steve Johnson	....	colorist
Kevin Nolting	....	first assistant editor
William Pine	....	color timer
Paul C. Warschilka	....	first assistant editor: film

Music Department
Dick Bernstein	....	music editor
Bruce Botnick	....	scoring mixer
Bruce Fowler	....	additional orchestrator
Celest Ray	....	music clearance
Shirley Walker	....	conductor
Shirley Walker	....	orchestrator

Transportation Department
Jim Chesney	....	transportation coordinator
Charles Renfroe	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Suzi Alter	....	script supervisor: additional photography
Anna Baltimore	....	first aid
Barbara Bass	....	teacher
Jackie Baugh	....	production accountant
Beverly Burton	....	craft service
Kevin Carlson	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Christopher Devine	....	assistant location manager
Mary Lou Devlin	....	production coordinator: second unit
Judi Dolan	....	projection equipment
Buddy Enright	....	location manager
Charles R. Eulo Jr.	....	production assistant
Alyson Evans	....	assistant: Mr. Lafia
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Sandey Grinn	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Barbara Harris	....	adr loop group
Mecki Heussen	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Sandra Holden	....	production assistant
Hal Houston	....	production assistant
Stacy Ivers	....	unit publicist
David Kirschner	....	creator: Chucky doll
Joshua Krippner	....	photo double: Andy
Tatiana Kropp	....	production assistant
Llona Litt	....	craft service
Frank Charles Lutkus III	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Gladys Kaye McCall	....	assistant accountant
Maura Minsky	....	assistant: Mr. Kirschner
David Arthur Nelson	....	puppeteer: Chucky (as David Nelson)
Courtney Pakiz	....	photo double: Christine Elise
Ron Pipes	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Margrit Polak	....	dialogue coach
Marianne Ray	....	script supervisor: second unit
Jeff Renlie	....	production assistant: second unit
Anton Rupprecht	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Elizabeth A. Sasseen	....	assistant production coordinator
Judith Saunders	....	script supervisor
Dave Schulz	....	robot consultant
Shannon Shea	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Van Snowden	....	puppeteer: "Chucky"
John Stanley	....	producer: New China
J.T. Thayer	....	production assistant
Noel Tomlinson	....	production assistant: additional photography
Mike Trcic	....	puppeteer: Chucky
Vox Populi	....	writer and performer: New China
Terence Ward	....	photographic backgrounds
Taylor L. White	....	production assistant
N. Brock Winkless IV	....	puppeteer: Chuck
Kevin Yagher	....	engineer: Chucky doll
Sean Michael Beyer	....	photo double (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• MCA/Universal Pictures (1990) (USA) (theatrical)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (1991) (France) (theatrical)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1991) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1996) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (1999) (USA) (DVD)
• Argentina Video Home (????) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Indies Home Entertainment (2008) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Studios Home Video

Special Effects

• Apogee Productions (optical & vista vision plates)
• Image Engineering (mechanical effects)
• Kevin Yagher Productions (chucky effects)

Other Companies

• Bald Eagle Sound Inc.  sound editing
• Burbank Studios  re-recording
• Cenex Casting  extras casting
• Cinema Research  opticals
• DeLuxe Laboratories  color by
• Donah Bassett and Associates  negative cutting
• Hansard  process compositing
• Inter Video  24 frame video services
• International Catering  catering
• Otto Nemenz International  camera equipment provided by
• Pacific Studios Inc.  photographic backgrounds
• Taj  foley by

Also Known As:

Child's Play 2: Chucky's Back (USA) (alternative title)
Brinquedo Assassino 2 (Brazil) [pt]
Child Play 2 (Japan: English title) [en]
Chuckie, o Boneco Diabólico 2 (Portugal) [pt]
Chucky 2 - Die Mörderpuppe ist zurück (West Germany) [de]
Chucky, la poupée de sang (France) [fr]
Chucky: El muñeco diabólico 2 (Argentina) [es]
Den onda dockan 2 (Sweden) [sv]
Grzeczny chlopiec (Poland) [pl]
I koukla tou satana no 2 (Greece) [el]
Jeu d'enfant II (Canada: French title) [fr]
La bambola assassina 2 (Italy) [it]
Muñeco diabólico 2 (Spain) [es]
Powrót laleczki Chucky (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Singapore:M18 | Finland:K-15 (re-rated) | Spain:18 | New Zealand:R16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | UK:15 | USA:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

All of Brad Dourif's voice-over work for Chucky was recorded in advance so they could match up Chucky's mouth with the words. Because of this, Dourif rarely appeared on set. Instead, recordings of his voice would be played back for Alex Vincent to go by.

Goofs:

Continuity: As the children evacuate the building due to the fire alarm, a girl covers the same steps between shots.

Quotes:

Chucky: I promise I won't kill anyone else.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Joe Bob's Drive-In Theater: (1994-01-29)" (1994)

Not much more than a continuation, but still a worthy sequel.

I think I liked Child's Play 2 more than most people, given the reviews that I've read and the movie's low voter rating on the IMDb. A cute kid's doll is once again the unlikely home of Charles Lee Ray, notorious serial killer, again feeding off of the surrealism created by seeing a kid's doll screw it's face into expressions of the purest rage and spouting all manner of profanities. By now, Ray is becoming more and more desperate to get out of the body of the doll, because as we were informed in the first film, if he spends too much time in that body he'll gradually become more and more human until one day he'll be stuck in it forever. Needless to say, Ray's a lot more interested in starting life over as a 6-year-old (and who wouldn't?) rather than spending the rest of his life as a plastic doll.

Although, given that he becomes more human the longer he is in that body, how human will he eventually become? Will he ever reach full human-hood? My guess is that he'll gradually approach being a real human being in a sort of half life, where he gets closer and closer and closer but never actually gets there, kind of like computer generated actors. There is currently much talk about how close computers can ever get to animating convincingly real people into the movies, and the leading theory seems to be something akin to my theory of Chucky turning human. He'll always get closer but he'll never get all the way there.

At any rate, Andy's mother has landed in a mental institution and Andy has been taken in by a foster family with appropriate mental vacuity to be a horror movie surrogate family. When Andy becomes frightened and runs through the house, his foster father grabs him and says, 'Rule #1, no running in the house!' OK, 'dad,' but not even when I open a closet and find myself confronted by the doll that landed my mom in the nuthouse and almost cost me my life and my very soul? My God, man, what the hell is this guy doing with a Good Guys doll in the house in the first place? It's difficult enough trying to figure out why it's even there WITHOUT having to watch this mental giant grab Andy by the arm and ask him what on earth is the matter.

There are some funny moments in the film, such as when Chucky smashes the head of the innocent Good Guys doll, buries it, and takes its place in the house, and my favorite, when Chucky is later addressed by a doting adult, Chucky responds by saying in his cute doll voice, 'Hi! I'm….Tommy!'

The stockholders in the Play Pal corporation are distressed over the suffering that the company has endured due to the negative publicity of the events of the first movie provide the premise for the movie's rather impressive finale. In order to generate a more positive image for the company and the doll, they have decided to reintroduce it into the market. The original Chucky doll was collected by the company and examined by toy-makers, who decided that there really was nothing truly wrong with it, it was not really a demon-possessed toy, so they decided to melt it down and remake it. Why they didn't just throw it away I'm not really sure, but who cares. Waste not, want not, I guess.

At any rate, Chucky comes back in a fresh plastic body (too bad he can't be transferred to a human as easily as he can be transferred from one doll body to another), and once again resumes his quest for Andy's soul. I've heard complaints about why Chucky had to go after Andy and couldn't just find a bum on the street or something, but you'll remember in the first movie, the conditions of his plastic entrapment stated that he could only transfer into the body of the first person that he revealed his identity to once he was inside the Chucky doll.

Jarrett Friend, writing for HorrorWatch, made the above suggestion having forgotten that little stipulation, but also smartly suggested that the plot should have involved a huge number of Chucky dolls, since the original doll was melted down and whose plastic conceivably should have infected much more dolls than just the one that we saw in this movie. This would have made the movie much more interesting and added another level of originality; my guess is they just didn't have the budget for something that big.

Nevertheless, even though the first sequel in the Child's play series comes dangerously close to falling into that sophomore sequel chasm of falling flat because of obviously feeding off the success of its predecessor without having much of anything to add to the story, Child's Play 2 escapes into the world of moderately acceptable horror sequels, kind of like Psycho II, which had no hope of matching its predecessor but at least was able to justify its own existence.

I think it's easy to be put off by the conclusion of Child's Play 2, but I was pretty impressed with the toy factory setting, if only because it created such a great atmosphere for Chucky to make his hunt and Andy and his foster sister Kyle to try vainly to escape. There was some pretty clever stuff in the final act of the film, not including, however, the scene where Kyle and Andy run around completely lost, making the factory seem like a maze by editing together a lot of clips of them clearly running around the same corner half a dozen times or so. A bit trite, but nothing compared to my biggest gripe of the film, which is the final scene, one of the goofier things that I've seen on an otherwise at least moderately competent horror movie.

Odd for a movie to try so hard to live up to its expectations and then belittle itself with something like what I'll just call the air hose scene. I do, however, think that the movie was successful and good enough to deserve a better DVD than it got. I can't stand it when the only extra features on the DVD for a successful film are nothing but some foreign audio tracks and cast and crew history that is nothing more than a brief biography and a list of film credits. What do you think the IMDb is for?