O Filho de Chucky

Towards the climax of "Seed of Chucky", Chucky himself manages to subvert the ENTIRE concept of the ENTIRE series so far, and thus most films of its kind, by using simple reasoning. I have been dying to hear that from a "slasher villain" for, well...since the birth of slasher villains.

What a great time this movie is! "Bride of Chucky" reinvented what had become a dull, unscary franchaise as black comedy. "Seed" takes that ball and runs with it. Don Mancini, who created Chucky many years ago, finally gets a chance to direct and I think this film will get him jobs outside the series. He not only makes the fifth take on Chucky feel fresh- a major accomplishment in itself for any series that has gone on this long- but shows a flair for satirizing movie clichés (a certain object flies upwards towards the camera at one point and it's a gas considering how overused that shot has been in action movies of recent years)and has a strong visual sense- check out the floor of Jennifer Tilly's foyer for an unexpected laugh. And I've got to hand it to Ms.Tilly- the girl's a trooper for sure,letting herself be the butt of jokes, both cruel and crazy. This is balanced by a great scene- a lot of directors would have left it for the DVD- where she reveals that she's not the one note Hollywood caricature she's been built up to be. Add that to a gender confusion subplot, and a piss take on twelve step programs, and you've got something a hell of a lot smarter than most horror films. Hell, than most comedies.

Speaking of Hollywood, the refreshing thing for a movie that takes place there? It isn't married to tired in jokes- save for one great one for B-Movie fans- the name of Chucky and Tiffany's child- which I will leave you to discover for yourself.

"Seed" has the over the top humour of the best obnoxious comedies ("American Pie" comes to mind, but better examples probably escape me), and a surprisingly graphic amount of gore- this thing doesn't skimp on the blood. For the latter reason, no way will it cross over to a mainstream audience. It is what it is and is the most entertaining version of what it is, I think, possible.

What it all comes down to is, if you're on this page, reading reviews, you're probably a partial convert to a movie like "Seed of Chucky", and if you're wondering if you'll like it, I have to tell you, this movie doesn't skimp. It's got all the slasher movie essentials like gore and nudity, married to a crude, black, very funny sense of humour, and even some semblance of humanity.

What I'm saying is, you'll like it.

For some odd reason I liked Bride of Chucky (my guess is I was 15 at the time and thus really cheaply thrilled) but just an ounce of gained intelligence was all I needed to be turned off by the newest addition. As easily predicted, it follows Chucky's son (or daughter, but who cares?) (Billy Boyd) to England where he is a sideshow attraction. Later as he's watching TV (because even living dolls just can't resist a little telly) he sees replicas of his parents. soon he's in Hollywood resurrecting Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiff without even knowing it. Then they kill a bunch of people, the end. Jennifer Tilly is in this one as well but this time as herself, as well as Tiffany's voice (if your going to use the same person for two parts could you pick someone with a less distinctive voice? this is the first of a wide array of faults mainly with the script. knowing it lacked in the horror department Marcini attempted make it part-comedy but the jokes proved worse than the watered down plot which was the biggest iceberg of this box-office Titanic.

Picking up a couple years after the last outing ; Chucky and Tiffany are now ordinary dolls being used in a Hollywood slasher called 'Chucky goes Psycho' inspired on the urban legends of these killer dolls. While, in Britain their innocently sweet son is part of an ventriloquist act. When not performing he spends most of the time having bad nightmares and trying to figure out who are his parents. When watching TV he comes across Chucky and Tiffany and he immediately realises they're his parents and so he heads to Hollywood to find them. Using the amulet he brings them back to life and to their surprise they discover they have a son/or maybe daughter. So the three set a plan to take over the body of a b-grade star Jennifer Tilly and director Redman, but Tiffany wants to give up on violence and hopes Glen/Glenda and Chucky will join her. Although, Chucky wants Glen/Glenda to come on a killing spree with him.

Being a fan of the series I've enjoyed every single one, so I was expecting the same for this particular spin. I remember when I saw it at the cinema, I was somewhat disappointed that it went more for comedy angle and I didn't think too much of it after Ronny Yu's vastly better and refreshing twist on the franchise with 'Bride of Chucky'. It was good to see that the original creator and writer for all five films Don Mancini decided to take the director's helm, but on this occasion it just didn't work out. I just managed to catch the film on cable and I was hoping maybe since now I know it's aiming for the funny bone that'll will totally get into it. Well, it didn't entirely go to plan. Yeah, it's mildly humorous at times, but I thought it tries too hard to make you laugh with an instant gag after another and they do become rather repetitive with its heavy handed parody on the materialistic glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Yeah, we get the point, but no, they continue the self-knowing attitude and in-jokes that makes you think that maybe the whole film is a big joke. Well, the film within a film set-up gives them ammunition to mock their own franchise, references to family values to fighting temptations and there's some homage's to other horror flicks too. The cheeky script is very much tongue-in-cheek with a full blooded unpleasantness to it's humorously, stabbing irony and extremely twisted violence. The outlandish violence is simply spiteful with blood and gore running freely… it's definitely one nasty habit the family share, but they do provide some innovative kills. Forget about tension and scares because it's far from frightening and this ain't your usual stalk and slash vehicle. Actually, you say it's a vehicle for Jennifer Tilly to strut around by playing (or poking fun at) herself. She gives a knockout performance by carrying the film and she raises most of the laughs. Surprisingly John Waters is quite good too as a snooping paparazzi. When ever those two were on the screen they chewed up the scenery, especially Tilly. It was the Jennifer Tilly's show, alright! She also did the voice again for the Tiffany doll and Brad Dourif returns to voice Chucky. This outing Chucky feels like a lesser figure with most of the attention on Tilly and their child Glen/Glenda who's voiced by Billy Boyd. The identity crises joke about their child was funny at first and intro is pretty hilarious, but it started to wore thin after a while when it was straining for laughs.

The film is highly glossed up and it looks great with done-up treatment all round with the puppets' appearances more striking then ever. The soundtrack is rather boisterous, but fits into the overall mood of the film. I've got to hand to Mancini for the originality and for the film's unpredictable energy and surprises, but despite that there are times when spots do seem to drag (even for such a shorting running time) and the plot comes across as a bunch of muddled ideas that don't always entirely gel. The film is not great, but it's far from awful.

'Seed of Chucky' seems like it wants to make joke out of everything with a lot of things totally missing the point and the film after awhile just lost its way for me. Simply, pure mockery that likes to continuously wink at you.

Like the Nightmare On Elm Street series before it, the Child's Play films have taken on a very humorous turn. What started out as a very straight forward horror film has over the past four sequels turned into a comedy with gore in it. That's not to say that Seed Of Chucky is a bad film by any means. It's actually really funny. While many compared New Nightmare to the Player for its blending of reality and fantasy, this film actually does it as well but manages to stick more to the satiric humour of The Player. There are Hollywood jokes galore and references to past films. Chucky's Ode to The Shining is pure hilarity and even Jennifer Tilly herself isn't safe as she manages to send up her own image more than even the rest of the cast around her. While Seed of Chucky is enjoyable for what it is, I can only hope that they decide to return the series to its terror roots if another is to be made.

Having been on a roll watching and reviewing gradually over time films belonging in horror film franchises, the Chucky/'Child's Play' films were the most recent to get this treatment. Part of my want to see them was my fascination to see if killer doll Chucky deserved his horror icon status. My conclusion seeing the films is that he does deserve it and a hugely entertaining and creepy character, that is quite a bit better than the films.

The Chucky/'Child's Play' films are a mixed bag. The best of the series is still the first film followed quite closely by 'Bride of Chucky', enjoyed both immensely while acknowledging their imperfections. Did sort of like the second too while being mixed to indifferent on the third (which gets a lot of dislike but for me it wasn't that bad). 'Seed of Chucky' is a step or two down from 'Bride of Chucky' and my feelings are the same as those for 'Child's Play 3', thinking it was not that bad but didn't do an awful lot for me at the end of the day. Whether it's the worst of the series is debatable, have heard from friends that the films that followed are worse, having said that it is not hard to see why it is one of the lower rated films of the series here and why many dislike it. This is disappointing as this did have potential to be one of the best Chucky/'Child's Play' films if it was as good as 'Bride of Chucky', considering that Chucky and Tiffany return and there is again emphasis on comedy.

Lets start with the good things. 'Seed of Chucky' looks great. It is filmed with a lot of atmosphere, has a suitably eerie look and the special effects are nothing short of terrific. The music score is one of the best of the series, its hauntingly ominous sounds not easy to forget in the long run. Tiffany steals the show here pretty much, being both amusing and creepy, and Jennifer Tilly does have a ball playing her, wisely not taking it too seriously. Brad Dourif is still deliciously malevolent as Chucky, though he should have had more to do.

While not near as fresh or witty as the humour in 'Bride of Chucky', there are some darkly funny parts and lines. The parodies and in-jokes need familiarity in order to get them, being familiar with a vast majority of them this was not a problem for me, but some do work. The memorable being a quite hilarious cameo from John Waters. Another scene stealer was Glen/Glenda, hilariously played by Billy Boyd.

'Seed of Chucky' however has a number of serious problems. The story is both daft and lacking oomph, also suffering from trying to cram in too much and struggling to balance it all and properly exploring it. Meaning it all feels muddled and over-stuffed with the Glen/Glenda being particularly over-complicated. With the funny moments, there are moments but it's not consistent. Other parts feel very limp and stale.

Found that the supporting cast on the most part were very bland, with one of the biggest faults of the film being the utterly wretched performance from Redman, out of place and annoying. 'Seed of Chucky' is severely lacking in the horror elements, where there is pretty much no atmosphere or mood. It is more reliant on gore rather than suspense or creepiness, and it is a big problem as it is overused to the point of abuse and too much of it is rather gratuitously tasteless. The kills are neither creative, palm-sweating or nail-biting, instead being predictable, sometimes silly and the overuse and gratuity of the gore hampers them. Don Mancini's directorial ineperience is all over.

Altogether, a lot of serious faults here but there are things that prevent it from being a complete waste of time. 5/10 Bethany Cox