Dir. Don Mancini (2004)
Chucky and Tiffany are resurrected by their child and discover that a Hollywood movie about their story is in production.
One of my favorite things about pop culture is when fandoms all of a sudden realize that the things that they love don't follow the same political ideologies that they do. Marvel fans claim the X-Men have suddenly gone woke, despite the fact that the entire series was founded as an anti-racist indictment of 50's and 60's America. The Star Wars Universe turns out to have a problem with fascists, a surprise to thousands of fans who grew up watching Luke Skywalker and his friends fight against Space Nazis. Seed of Chucky, with its introduction of an LGBT+ character into the Chuckyverse, had the same effect on some horror fans, despite taking place in a series that was already critical of consumerism, toxic masculinity, corporate cronyism, gender inequality, homophobia... Yes, folks, some people really are that stupid.
Chucky (Brad Dourif) and Tiffany's (Jennifer Tilly) nonbinary child Glen/Glenda (Billy Boyd) has no idea of who he is or where he came from, and he is trying to find his family and his place in the world after growing up under the care of a ventriloquist who has used his consciousness to grow his act. After he sees animatronics of his parents during an interview promoting the movie being made about their lives in Hollywood, he escapes from his owner and travels across the world to try to find his parents. He eventually raises them from the dead, throwing the new family into a bizarre situation as the murderous Chucky and Tiffany are forced to deal with their newfound androgynous, peace-loving child.
Mancini's first turn in the director's chair is an interesting meta horror film that brings Chucky into the "real world," taking place mostly in Hollywood around the filming of another Child's Play film. Jennifer Tilly appears in a dual role, as both Chucky's killer bride and as herself. While it's hard to ever overlook Dourif in a Child's Play film, she has a hilarious tongue-in-cheek role in this film that is never afraid to poke fun at herself as an actress trying desperately to stay relevant. You've really got to hand it to her, this was an incredibly brave role and she handles it astoundingly well. Cameos by John Waters and Redman further insert the film into parody territory, as Seed of Chucky is a comedy film with some horror elements rather than the other way around.
Seed of Chucky is irreverent, weird, and fun as hell, a ridiculous real-world film that features Chucky murdering Britney Spears and an artificial insemination of Jennifer Tilly with puppet sperm. Where Bride of Chucky was a comedic (and at times heartwarming) sendup of James Whale's The Bride of Frankenstein, Seed is Mancini's answer to Wes Craven's New Nightmare with a twist. Rather than taking place in a world in which the films exist, Seed takes place where Chucky and Tiffany are actually killer dolls, a story that has fascinated the world to the extent that Hollywood wants to make movies about it. That in itself is kind of disturbing, as you'd like to think that Hollywood wouldn't make a film about real life events like this, but... we all know better, don't we?
Seed of Chucky is almost all farce and self-reflection. It's not a great film on its own, and it likely will turn off more serious horror fans because of its bizarre subject matter (especially for the time). For my money, though, any movie that guts Redman and melts John Waters' face is alright by me. Regardless of the absurdity, however, it really does tackle some important issues. We're still fighting for gender equality and acceptance today, but it's awful hard to argue that you can't figure out someone's pronouns when notable psychopathic serial killer Chucky can do it. Chucky's own journey of acceptance mirrors Glen/Glenda's, and if a homicidal doll can accept himself and his genderfluid child, surely we can accept other people's identities.
Who this movie is for: Slasher fans, Horror comedy fans, Jennifer Tilly's Fan Club
Bottom line: Seed of Chucky is a wild, batshit crazy film that deals with everything from genderfluidity to skeezy film producers and even domestic violence (sort of). Everyone in the film is good, but Jennifer Tilly is outstanding in her weird-as-hell dual role. While it's difficult to recommend the film for even fans of the larger series, it's exactly the kind of insane film that often comes in one of the later sequels. The fifth entry in the series is far from the best, but it's still a damn fun ride. Plus, it's got something to say, a rarity for a slasher sequel.
