After the wild ride in the previous film, Bride of Chucky, we are now in for something even more wacky. The child of Chucky and Tiffany has been captured and help captive by a mean ventriloquist called Psychs, who has named the doll “Shitface“. Nice. This doll, however, could definitely be considered a true Good Guy as it’s got a peaceful and kind nature. As if this wasn’t already weird enough, the story continues with how the doll finds out that Chucky and Tiffany are its parents, then manages to escape from Stromboli, er, I mean Psychs, and tracks down the dolls from a prop room in Hollywood. Yeah, because this movie also goes all semi-meta and Chucky movies are a thing here. Voodoo is once again used to resurrect Chucky, and also Tiffany this time. While Chucky is horrified to find out he’s got a child, Tiffany is all over the moon. Then they have to name their child…which becomes somewhat of a problem when Tiffany notices that their child are without genitals (like most normal dolls are). So…is it a boy or a girl..? Not even their child seems to know the answer to that question, the poor thing, who is now stuck in a struggle between mom and dad where Chucky names their child Glen, while Tiffany names it Glenda. And if you didn’t get the reference, it’s to Ed Wood’s cross-dressing cult film Glen or Glenda (1953).
Anyway, Chucky and Tiffany quickly start a new killing spree while Glen/Glenda is confused and just wants them to stop so they can all live as a happy doll family. Aw. And while Tiffany does have an inkling of parental responsibility inside her plastic body, that’s not so much the case with Chucky. And all the stuff that happens from here on is…weird.
Seed of Chucky is the fifth film in the Chucky/Child’s Play franchise, and a direct sequel to the fourth film, Bride of Chucky. And ohh boy…did they decide to go batshit with this one. While Bride had a good balance between the black comedy and the horror elements, always fun, energetic and slightly goofy, this one takes it all several steps further.
It is once again written by Don Mancini, and he’s also directing this time in his directorial debut. And this was the last film from the original continuity to be released in the theaters. Don Mancini, who is gay, wanted to explore some LGBT themes for this film and was in fact inspired by Ed Wood’s Glen or Glenda when writing the script including a doll suffering from gender dysphoria. Universal Pictures didn’t want any of this though, and rejected the script with the simple note “This is too gay“. Alright, well fuck them then. The project was later approved by Focus Features and released through Rogue Pictures. It was shot almost entirely in Romania in Castel Studios to keep the costs down, and this time the animatronic and makeup effects were made by Tony Gardner who also had a small cameo in the film.
I’m going to be honest: I get why many Chucky lovers hate this film. Everything has been changed from what was originally a possessed slasher doll into a comedic self-parody. Then again, at this point it was absolutely no surprise. While Bride started it, then Seed definitely took it and ran the entire mile with it. The entire movie is a joke, but it’s supposed to be. I mean, the previous film ended with a crazy doll-birth scene. No need for any clairvoyance to foresee that this would get even weirder and even more over-the-top. It could easily have become a bit too much, but I found the “family issues“ between the dolls somewhat amusing and slightly charming actually. The chemistry between Chucky and Tiffany, now having become parents, is sweet in a kind of messed up way. And the duo killing both while working together and while going solo adds for a lot of fun death scenes and scenarios.
Personally, while I enjoyed Bride of Chucky more, I actually liked Seed of Chucky more than I expected to. It’s cheesy, filled with gore and sick jokes, the kill scenes are as fun as ever, and it’s even got frickin’ John Waters, the “Pope of Trash“ himself. This movie knows exactly what it is. It’s fun and silly, just don’t expect it to be anything else and you just might have a good time. And it kinda has a happy ending too…kinda.
Writer and director: Don Mancini
Country & year: USA, 2004
Actors: Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Billy Boyd, Redman, Hannah Spearritt, John Waters, Keith-Lee Castle, Steve West, Tony Gardner, Jason Flemyng, Nicholas Rowe
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387575/
