Seed of Chucky (2004)

Seed of Chucky (2004)

3/10

Starring

Jennifer Tilly

Billy Boyd

Brad Dourif

Redman

Directed by Don Mancini

Seed of Chucky is more comedy than horror, and more silly than necessary. Looking back after watching the whole franchise in reverse, it seems things went downhill long before the movies that followed.

The LGBT-themed result of Chucky and Tiffany’s relationship is confusing, but the comedy tied to it isn’t. The movie is so focused on being absurd and different that it forgets to scare you. While the comedy might keep you watching until the end, everything else falls flat.

This movie is the fifth installment in the Child’s Play franchise, following Bride of Chucky. The previous film ended with Tiffany giving birth to a doll-like child. Somehow, that child—named Glen—ended up in the U.K. with a British accent. He’s used as a ventriloquist’s dummy in a circus-like act and locked in a cage after performances. One day, while watching TV, he sees Chucky and Tiffany dolls and assumes they must be his parents. This is dumb writing from Don Mancini, who has been behind the franchise since the beginning and makes his directorial debut here.

Why is it dumb? Well, if Glen had seen another doll couple on TV, would he have assumed they were his parents too? He solves this “puzzle” because Chucky, like him, has the same “Made in Japan” stamp—something that could be on any doll made in Japan.

The reason Chucky and Tiffany are on TV is that a movie is being made about them, as the dolls are suspected of various murders. Glen escapes his cage and somehow finds his way to the storage facility where Chucky and Tiffany are kept. How he figures this out is never explained. He also has a necklace with the ancient inscription used to transfer souls, which his parents used in earlier films. He reads the inscription and brings Chucky and Tiffany’s souls back into the dolls.

Chucky and Tiffany wake up to meet Glen, and they start a weird family dynamic. Tiffany tries to change and be a good mother, while Chucky is happy with the way things are. The movie revolves around the complexity of their relationship, Tiffany’s attempt to start a family by taking over Jennifer Tilly’s body, and more absurd twists.

The movie was made in a more modern era of filmmaking, which would have done more justice to the first film if it had been released at that time. However, the plot is full of holes and too silly to be taken seriously. The CGI isn’t spectacular, and aside from the dolls and Jennifer Tilly, it feels like no one else in the movie took it seriously.

I’m glad Don Mancini has been removed from the franchise reboot. This was not a spectacular movie, I’ll tell you that.