Addams Family Values is a 1993 Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated sequel to the 1991 comedy The Addams Family. The movie was written by Paul Rudnick and directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and many cast members from the original returned for the sequel, including Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christina Ricci. Compared to its predecessor, which retained something of the madcap approach of the 1960s sitcom, Values is played more for macabre laughs. As a result, the film was met with more critical praise, earning a 76% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as opposed to its predecessor's 58%.

Plot

The movie opens as Morticia gives birth to a baby boy, Pubert; the older children, Wednesday and Pugsley, immediately develop an extreme case of sibling rivalry and make numerous attempts to kill the baby. When Gomez and Morticia try to hire a nanny, the children frighten them all away. The last applicant, Debbie Jellinsky, seems to be made of sterner stuff; however, she's also a serial killer known as "The Black Widow," who's set her sights on Uncle Fester and the vast Addams fortune. When Wednesday becomes suspicious, Debbie persuades Gomez and Morticia to send the older children to Camp Chippewa, a summer camp for privileged children.

Debbie marries Fester, then promptly tries to kill him on their Hawaiian honeymoon; however, Fester is an Addams (& hence practically indestructible as he is practically indulged to death and suffering) and he mistakes her murderous actions for ordinary affection. At her wits' end, Debbie denies him sex until he promises never to see his family again; in anguish, he agrees. The newlyweds couple then move to a garish McMansion in the suburbs.