25 years ago: Child's Play and Predator sequels released, Chucky can't cut it

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      Twenty-five years ago this month the sequels to the horror hits Child's Play and Predator were released in Vancouver theatres.

      So I went and saw them.

      I thought Child's Play 2 was a major letdown after the "hilarious hellraiser" that was the 1988 original, while you may be shocked to hear that I liked Predator 2 more than the '87 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle.

      Musta been the Busey.

      Child's Play 2 review, originally published in the Georgia Straight, November 15, 1990.

      The original Child’s Play was one of the surprise horror hits of 1988, a low-budget sleeper that justifiably went on to gross more than $40 million. Though it took about 30 minutes to get rolling—as long as was needed for the film’s demon doll Chucky to come to life—it turned into a sharply directed (by Tom Holland) rollercoaster ride of genuine thrills and chuckles—an ideal mix of fear and fun. Its sequel, however, takes about an hour-and-a-half to approach that same fever pitch—and then fizzles out after one jolt-you-in-your-seat scare and a few half-baked laughs.

      Rip-off!

      Child’s Play 2 starts with the reconstruction of the first film’s Chucky doll by toy-factory execs bent on dispelling the negative publicity caused by the possessed toy’s rampage in the original. A serial killer by the name of Charles Lee Ray (perennial sickie Brad Dourif) had used voodoo to transfer his soul into the body of a popular Good Guys doll, and then went after its six-year-old owner Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent) in the hopes of occupying a human host.

      Chucky was decapitated and burnt to a crisp at the end of Child’s Play, but since Child’s Play 2 producer David Kirschner wanted to make some bucks on a sequel, the soul of Charles Lee Ray lives on. As soon as Chucky is back in one piece, he sets off after little Alex again, knocking off step-parents and schoolteachers alike if they get in his way.

      Or even if they don’t.

      Much was made in the horror press about the more technologically advanced, realistic doll effects in Child’s Play 2, and indeed Chucky designer Kevin Yagher has made the little bugger’s maniacal movements and facial expressions seem more human. But creepy doll flicks (like Dead of Night, Magic, and Dolls) prove scarier when the plastic villain resembles an actual doll—itself a frighteningly inhuman version of a real person. Too much effort went towards giving Chucky life in this film, while other things like the writing, acting, and direction were left for dead.


      Predator 2 review, originally published in the Georgia Straight, November 22, 1990.

      Horror movies spawn more sequels than any other film genre, and for the most part the sequels pale in comparison to the original. There are exceptions, though. James Cameron’s Aliens took a healthy shot at renewing the terror of Ridley Scott’s Alien; film buffs such as fear auteur Clive Barker point back to 1935’s The Bride of Frankenstein as the first successful sequel. But rarely does a sequel outdo its predecessor in every way.

      Predator 2 is one of that rare breed.

      The original Predator starred Arnold Schwarzenegger as a soldier in Central America who comes up against an alien hunter with a taste for human quarry. The best thing about John (Die Hard) McTiernan’s 1988 jungle actioner was definitely not the thespian talents of Arnie, nor those of his non-actor co-stars Carl Weathers and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. It was the super make-up and special-effects of the titular creature–things like its heat-sensitive field of vision and the cool way it camouflaged itself before coming in for the kill.

      All the great FX of the first film have become even better for Predator 2, and in place of Schwarzie’s one-note macho presence we’ve got stars who can actually act, namely Danny Glover and Gary Busey. And the supporting cast of actor/musician Ruben Blades, Maria Conchita Alonso, Robert Davi, and genre fave Bill Paxton (Aliens, Near Dark) delivers as well.

      Under the direction of Aussie Stephen Hopkins–who helmed A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 and filmed all the action sequences as second-unit director on Russell Mulcahy’s Highlander–the pieces come together for a horror/sci-fi gem that will please most action-oriented fans.

      Like the first Predator, Predator 2 takes place in a jungle of sorts–the urban jungle of 1997 L.A., where drug gangs rule the grimy streets and lethal shoot-outs with the cops are common. Glover plays Detective-Lieutenant Mike Harrigan, an effective but volatile crime-stopper who comes up against Federal Agent Peter Keyes (Busey) while on the trail of voodoo-practicing Jamaican pushers.

      It seems that a lot of these dreadlocked baddies have been found skinned and gutted and hanging from ceilings like slaughtered deer–courtesy of the Predator and his arsenal of built-in weapons.

      When a number of Harrigan’s fellow officers end up the same way, his personal vendetta leads him on a collision course with both the Predator (played by seven-feet-two-inch Kevin Peter Hall) and Keyes, who’s been tracking the creature for years and is obsessed with taking it alive. The ensuing maelstrom of gory violence teeters on the brink of overkill, but Glover’s steady performance is the beacon that keeps Predator 2 from sinking.

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