Wednesday, January 31, 2024

My Review of Seed Of Chucky (2004)

 


Written And Directed by Don Mancini

Tiffany (to Glen): "Who are your mother and father?"
Chucky: "Judging by that face, my guess they're hiding."

In the previous movie, we were introduced to Tiffany Valentine (Jennifer Tilly) and she was fantastic. She also completely changed the game for Chucky (Brad Dourif) as a character but Don Mancini also felt that as well as Chucky having a wife, he also needed a child. 

This was where Glen/Glenda (Billy Boyd) came into things. At some point they had become separated from their parents and ended up in captivity, being horribly mistreated and wetting their parents. Meanwhile Chucky and Tiffany had ended up in Hollywood and that's when Glen/Glenda made the decision to reunited with their parents.

A Hollywood setting isn't a first in a successful horror franchise but there's fun to be had with Chucky and Tiffany "killing" a fake Santa Claus (Jason Flemyng) before killimg a props guy between takes. Then there was the star of the upcoming slasher itself - Jennifer Tilly playing Jennifer Tilly. Yup, let's get meta here.

Jennifer Tilly clearly does have a lot of fun in this franchise and can easily send her up here. While there are pointed jokes about her career, previous hits (of course Bound was mentioned) and her sexpot reputation, none of this came across as mean spirited. You could argue the jokes were more at the people who don't take her seriously as an actor.

Anyways Redman (playing himself) was reluctant to cast Jennifer as the Virgin Mary and when the latter ended up the victim of a voodoo pregnancy, he was quick to ditch her. Then Tiffany killed him and that was the result of an amusing subplot where both her and Chucky tried to give up killing to be better parents for Glen/Glenda.

It's a hilarious subplot because not only did both fail (Chucky never tried to give up) but Glen/Glenda naturally turned out to be as murderous as their parents. Just ask poor assistant Joan (Hannah Spearitt) who got fired, quite literally. Or even Peters (John Waters), another victim of Glen/Glenda's. The family that slays together stays together.

Except once you've got Chucky and Tiffany turning on each other and their child getting a little axe happy. Ultimately Tiffany got the happy ending of possessing Jennifer Tilly's body and having both Glen and Glenda as human children while Chucky promised to come back yet again.

- I felt a bit sorry for Stan (Steve Lawton), Jennifer's lovestruck chauffeur. He didn't get the girl and also died during a voodoo ritual gone wrong.
- Chucky mentioned Tiffany's sister and the fact he killed her mother. He also killed Britney Spears halfway through the movie.
- Standout music: Blondie's One Way Or Another.
- Chronology: Six years since the events of the previous movie.

Seed Of Chucky might feel more like a TV/streaming horror movie than theatrical (which was the fate of the next two installments) but again, I love that this franchise doesn't take itself seriously and can just have fun. This was a lot of fun. Glen/Glenda's another great addition to this franchise.

Rating: 7 out of 10

No comments: