Seed of Chucky

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While I have to admit that I somewhat admire what they were trying to do here, I have to say that this is where the series finally reached "overkill", and not really in the good slasher-movie-fan kind of way. 'Bride' leaves us hanging in the same way 'Alien vs Predator' did; with a glimpse of a new hell spawn of an offspring. 'Seed' carries things on six years later, where we see "Shitface" (eventually Glen/Glenda, played by Billy Boyd) living a life of embarrassment and abuse as a ventriloquists dummy. There's no origin here, it just opens like this.

Soon enough, he sees Chucky (Brad Douriff) and Tiffany (Jennifer Tilly) on TV, promoting a new meta movie about the mysterious killings taking place over the years, ironically with Jennifer Tilly playing the lead role. At this point, Chuck and Tiff are restored, lifeless dolls, only brought to life with Hollywood animatronics. Instantly, the kid manages to put together that they are his parents. He manages to run away from the ventriloquist, and travels to Hollywood to find his parents, and he even accidentally brings them back to life by using the amulet Chucky supposedly left him. It feels like there's a lot missing from the opening, but nevertheless, Chucky and Tiffany come back, realise they have a son or daughter, and they tend to fight over which - Glen of Glenda?

Meanwhile, Jennifer Tilly is starting to lose out on her promising career, even bringing up her Oscar nomination that the entire world probably forgot about from back in '95 for 'Bullets Over Broadway'. So she does the logical thing by auditioning for Redman (also playing himself) for the role of the Virgin Mary. Long story short, the pair become the new human targets for Chucky and Tiffany to transfer their souls into. And, needing someone to transfer the kid into, there's some unfortunate artificial insemination gags that go on here, with Tilly as the surrogate. So yeah, things definitely get weird here for a movie about a possessed killer doll, his bride and son, all of whom were made in Japan.

Now, there are two things in movies like this that I truly admire. For one, the lead celebrity (Tilly) is able to laugh at herself, and is clearly having fun with the role. Secondly, I'm a sucker for fourth wall gags. But with those mentioned, this is a film that delivers these things with a hand as heavy as an Acme anvil. Tilly can definitely poke fun at herself, but if this was written for her, I can't help but feel that a lot of it was very intentional on almost punishing her in some weird way. The voice, the weight (oh please), the personality, it's all seemingly bullied here. If she's cool with it, then God bless her. If she improvised it, even better. But a lot of it feels very low-blow to me. Meanwhile, Redman is basically playing a player here, and somehow I don't think he could possibly have a problem with that.

The film also tries to drive an almost back handed message home to its audience with the context of "be yourself", using both Glen/Glenda and Chucky as examples (his is the "back handed" part of this). It really does ultimately end up being the strangest entry into the series, in my opinion. It plays as much more of a comedy/fantasy with hints of slasher horror than a straight up comedy/horror like last time. I'll give them credit for trying out something new, and taking the idea of making Chucky a horror/comedy icon a bit further. However, this really does just get ridiculous, and you can't help but find it pretty mean-spirited, even for a slasher flick. This has to be the weakest, silliest entry into the franchise - it's not bad for a chuckle, but all of the scare is just gone now.

Body Counts: Chucky - 6, Tiffany - 3
Totals: Chucky - 29, Tiffany - 7

2/5

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