Key Movies Of My Life: Seed of Chucky (2004)

There were key movies in my life that helped to make me who I am today. Movies that I have loved from the moment the opening credit rolled and still love now. This blog series is about those, My guilty pleasures, my favorites, my escapes. Some were very popular, others not so much. Some of these will have some real life take-aways, others are just for fun. Today we discuss the next entry in the classic Child’s Play franchise….Seed of Chucky.

Today’s Key Movie:

So, remember at the end of Bride of Chucky when Tiffany gave birth….because sure the gestation period of evil dolls is like twenty four hours or something. Anyhow, this is the continuation of that horrific moment. However…the child of Chucky and Tiffany isn’t the murderous killer his parents were….in fact…he’s actually kinda nice. So, when he learns that a film is being made about his parents…he sets out to bring them back so he can learn more about the murderous miniature duo. Starring Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Billy Boyd and Redman this is the Seed of Chucky.

Why this movie?

This is a bit of a change for me as I never got past Bride of Chucky and Seed of Chucky just seemed like a longshot so I skipped out. I love the Child’s Play franchise and, until I started writing these reviews I didn’t realize just how much I actually enjoyed them. My original plan was to end with Bride of Chucky and move on but…well…I just couldn’t leave you hanging. So… without further adieu this is my review of Seed of Chucky, the Fifth entry into the Child’s Play franchise.

After a VERY disturbing visual of the birth of Gentle Glen, we watch as the latest murderer stalks a family in their home…only to find that it’s his nightmares. It’s been six years since the death of Tiffany and Chucky, in that time their child has become the ventriloquists doll of a terrible man who abuses him for fame. Glen (who is called Shitface at the time) dreams of finding his parents and soon learns that someone is making a movie about the two evil dolls who spawned him. So, he wants to meet them, of course.

From that point we are treated with a rather strange journey following the the British sounding Glen (played by Billy Boyd) on his adventure in LA to find his parents only to inadvertently bring the souls of Charles Lee Ray and Tiffany Valentine back into their new ‘improved’ bodies. After that…well…its your typical killing spree with a bit of a twist….but is it really any good?

You like it, but is it really a ‘good’ movie?

It seems that writer director Don Mancini took a nod from another slasher film Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which also brought it’s lead slasher into the ‘real’ world. In fact, in addition to playing Tiffany, Jennifer Tilly plays a version of herself hoping to find her next break by sleeping with Redman so she can play the Virgin Mary (yeah…I know.) It’s very tongue in cheek humor that somehow works despite itself. Then…well…things just go off the rails.

We are treated with a strange plot with Chucky and Tiffany trying to impregnate Jennifer so that they can have a child for their androgynous baby known as Glen (or Glenda)…another reference to a classic horror/scifi film. Filled with strange self references, unsavory and really really bizarre plot points, I am not really sure where Don Mancini thought he was going with this franchise but he manages to create something…errr… unique in the process. While the last one fully embraced it’s insanity while staying on the horror side of horror comedy, Seed of Chucky crosses the line into dark Comedy while almost serving as a statement on addiction, personal acceptance, sexual identity, the seedy nature of Hollywood and of fame in general.

Overall, I don’t know that I can say it is a good film, or even a good Chucky film, as it is more of a satire of itself than anything. If taken in that vein it is a really well produced satire along the lines of Robocop or even Starship Troopers. I honestly don’t think Mancini intended to make a serious sequel to the Child’s Play franchise instead just wanted to have fun with his characters. If that was the intention, then it actually works wonderfully and for that it’s actually quite a fun, if not bizarre and trippy film. Plus, everyone in the film seem to really have a great time in their roles, playing their parts as truthful to their intention as possible and somehow never slipping into absurdity even though the script sometimes demands it.

If you like the original Child’s Play Trilogy of films, skip this one and Bride of Chucky….if you just like a fun campy horror comedy, you really can’t go wrong with Seed of Chucky. It’s nuts and terrible but so bad its actually kinda good.

OK, where do I get this movie?

As with the rest of the film, this is still very much available on home video and VOD. I can’t say it’s worth owning unless this is the kind of nightmare you love but it is worth watching at least once. Give it a go, it’s fun.

This fanchise if far from over though…as next week we check out the next installment in the Child’s Play Franchise….The Curse of Chucky. What happens in the first direct to video installment of the Chucky Saga? Does he get grandkids? Maybe they go the route of Jason X and he goes into space? Well…we will have to find out together, next week.

Until then…

Late To The Game 11/5/2020

If you would like to read more reviews please check out the rest of the Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday.

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