A Review by Phil Calabro
2004, Rogue Pictures, Dir. Don Mancini - Starring Jennifer Tilly, Hannah Spearitt, Redman, John Waters, Jason Flemyng, Steve Lawton, Stephanie Chambers, Simon James Morgan, Keith-Lee Castle, Rebecca Santos, also starring the voice talents of Brad Dourif, Jennifer Tilly, and Billy Boyd
I'll proudly admit that I am a big Chucky fan - the character, despite how silly it seems to be, is hilarious and incredibly catchy. As the years have gone by, so has his placement from the horror to the comedy genre changed as well. After the box office success of 1998's 'Bride of Chucky', Don Mancini had written a script up for its sequel immediately - but it was turned down by Universal nonetheless. Years passed and several ditched scripts through, the team finally got a greenlight from Universal's independent horror faction, Rogue Pictures (a subsidary of Focus Features). Mancini has wisely kept the humorous aspects of this devilish doll, but it comes across a bit too cheap too often. Although Jennifer Tilly gives a hilarious performance as herself, the film is occasionally funny and hardly scary. Its evil little grin has toned down a bit, and its result is just mediocre.
Unbeknownst to Chucky (Dourif) and wife Tiffany (Tilly), they had a child before they were put to use as animatronics. The child (Boyd), whose gender is entirely unknown, goes to Hollywood - where Chucky and Tiffany are playing themselves in a movie about their myth - in hopes of finding his parents, which he quickly does. But the two parents are divided between the child, especially in identifying its gender - Chucky wants a boy, so he calls it Glen, but Tiffany calls it Glenda in hopes of being a girl. The young doll is also torn apart by his parents deadly ways - and so Tiffany decides to stop killing in order to raise a good child. In the meantime, the deadly twosome decide to find bodies for themselves while in Hollywood, so Tiffany chooses her idol Jennifer Tilly, who is a down-and-out washed up actress desperate for a role. Her agent Joan (Spearitt) finds her a role in rapper Redman's biblical epic as the Virgin Mary. Desperate for the role, Tilly tries to sleep with the rapper to protect it. So the deadly dolls use the couple as their surrogate bodies to transfer their souls into - as well as impregnate Tilly for a body for their new child Glen/Glenda. Confused? I can relate.
Everyone will get a big kick out of Jennifer Tilly, who is remarkably hilarious as the B-list movie star who just can't find a job anymore. Instead of treating this film like an honest horror film, she knows the entire thing is a joke - which is the beauty of her performace. Letting the jokes fly about her weight, her fame, and her reputation, Tilly has a great time letting the audience get a kick out of watching her infamy and misfortune. Redman is....Redman. I can't say too much there. The good thing is know is that he's also fully aware of his bad acting skills, and uses it to his advantage when it comes to several scenes. Watching him read passages from the Gospels cracked me up. Hannah Spearitt is cute and very good looking, but doesn't accomplish much more there. She's just a setup for another gruesome kill of Chucky's. Even John Waters gave me a good kick - his greasy B-listian aura is a good symbol of the entire movie. Of course, I don't know what I would have done without the voice talent of Brad Dourif, who has voiced Chucky for 22 years now. His maniacal and blazingly sarcastic voice makes you feel so comfortable around the doll, as if he was your good old fashioned cynical neighbor across the street. Also props to Billy Boyd, fresh from the Lord of the Rings flicks, who gave a funny little performance as Glen/Glenda, the centric lovechild who has an incredibly boyish voice.
Where'd the genuine horror go? Instead of actually having some suspense, every scene with potential is dulled down with its sense of humor. Understandably, you can have humor in a horror film, but it's almost like Mancini keeps diluting the substance too much. 'Bride of Chucky' worked well because it had a great sense of humor as well as a boatload of gore, but this film seems too skimpy with the blood. You'll have your cheap cuts and slices for novelty here and there, but in the end, you're bound to feel a bit gypped. Without the excessive amount of kills, the Chucky movies are worth absolutely nothing. Another problem with the film is its ending. It spends over 30 minutes just trying to make its point, but then it keeps dragging on and on, and finally cops out at the end with a terribly incoherent finish. It left me a bit confused, and it may leave you as well.
'Seed of Chucky' isn't a gigantic disappointment, but I wish I had a gotten more of the prime material that made all of its predeccesors enjoyable to watch. You'll get your 'sneakin-round-the-corner' camera angles and a bit of blood, but you'll feel a bit cheated at the end. The best way to watch this movie is to ignore its saga, but as an aged comedy that knows it's bad. That way, we'll all enjoy it.
