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Since 1988’s Child’s Play, Don Mancini has been the driving creative force behind the long-running franchise. After the first installment, which he co-wrote with the film’s director Tom Holland (Fright Night) and writer John Lafia (who’d go on to direct Child’s Play 2), Mancini continued to pen every screenplay. 

It wasn’t until Seed of Chucky that he made his directorial debut, which hit theaters on November 11, 2004. Unfortunately, it didn’t do well at the box office, making it the last Child’s Play movie to premiere in theaters. Some fans consider it the worst in the franchise, though others, especially the LGBTQ+ community, regard it as a campy cult classic. 

With the 20th anniversary approaching and in honor of the unceremonious cancellation of the Chucky series, let’s look back at this polarizing film that the studio considered “too gay, too funny…” and had “too much Jennifer Tilly” (as if there’s ever such a thing).

Most, if not all, horror franchises run into the same problem after a few sequels — the slashers stop being scary. To avoid that, Mancini subverted expectations by steering the Child’s Play films in a more comedic, self-referential direction, beginning with 1998’s Bride of Chucky directed by Ronny Yu (Freddy vs. Jason). There were still horror elements but it deviated from the story of Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent and Justin Whalin), the young protagonist central to Child’s Play 1–3. The film introduced Chucky’s (Brad Dourif) fabulously twisted ex-girlfriend, Tiffany Valentine, played to perfection by Jennifer Tilly.

After bribing and then killing a police officer to obtain Chucky’s remains, Tiffany stitches him together and recites the Damballa voodoo spell to resurrect her old lover. Tiffany spent a decade looking for Chucky, believing that he planned to marry her but he laughs in her face at the idea, so she locks him in a playpen, later taunting him with a bride doll. At this point, Chucky has come back from the dead four times; a measly cage doesn’t hold him for long. After killing her in a very cool Bride of Frankenstein-inspired death, Chucky traps Tiffany in the bride doll, which she gives a serious glow-up in a makeover montage. 

To transfer their souls into humans, the doll couple needs the Heart of Damballa amulet, inconveniently located 6 feet under in Hackensack, New Jersey, with Charles Lee Ray’s corpse. Tiffany pays her neighbor Jesse (Nick Stabile) to deliver the dolls, and he brings along his girlfriend Jade (Katherine Heigl). 

The two couples go on a wild road trip leaving several bodies in their wake. After witnessing Tiffany committing a gruesomely creative murder involving a waterbed, a mirror, and a Champagne bottle, Chucky finally puts a ring on it. But their violently rocky relationship hits a few speed bumps along the way, and by the end, they’re literally at each other’s throats in a cemetery. Tiffany tries to kill Chucky, but he stabs her instead, and then Jade shoots him to death. Before the credits roll, Tiffany briefly wakes up and gives birth to a slimy, sharp-toothed (kinda cute) baby doll. 

Seed of Chucky picks up six years later and we learn that the screeching infant was found by a British guy named Psychs (Keith-Lee Castle), a cruel ventriloquist who forces the ghoulish-looking doll (voiced by Billy Boyd) that he dubbed Shitface to be the dummy in his act. The orphaned doll has a kind and gentle heart but is plagued by murderous nightmares.

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, actor Jennifer Tilly (played by Jennifer Tilly) is on the set of Chucky Goes Psycho, a horror film based on the legend of the dolls inhabited by the souls of serial killers. The last time we saw Chucky and Tiffany, they were burnt to a crisp and riddled with bullets, but they’ve since had a makeover. Luckily, their offspring sees them on TV with the same Made in Japan markings, then flees England and runs away to Los Angeles to find their family. Better yet, they have the amulet to bring them back to life. 

While he’s mostly referred to as male, the character’s gender is ambiguous. Chucky wants a boy, Tiffany wants a girl, so their child is called Glen or Glenda (an homage to Ed Wood’s cult classic). Tiffany sets her sights on transferring her soul into Jennifer Tilly and Chucky’s into hip-hop superstar-turned-director Redman (playing himself). The plan is to impregnate Jennifer and whatever baby pops out is for Glen or Glenda. 

Considering their brief but nightmarish introduction in Bride, this “Dickensian waif” who wets his pants when he’s nervous was not what fans expected. Instead of a natural-born killer with their parents’ same lust for murder, Glen/Glenda is firmly against killing, at least a part of them. As they struggle with their gender identity, they also confront their killer instincts.

Seed haters couldn’t get on board with the meta-Hollywood aspect. Jennifer Tilly playing a version of herself while still voicing Tiffany, and later playing Tiffany in the body of Jennifer Tilly, is a lot to wrap your head around. She pokes fun at herself by playing a washed-up actor, annoyed with doing horror when she wants the juicy parts given to Julia Roberts. She’s determined to land the role of the Virgin Mary in Redman’s “Bible epic.”

Many often critique the multiple plot points, believing there are too many things going on when all that should be happening is Chucky killing people. Still, the film has some pretty cool kills. Glen/Glenda takes out sleazy paparazzo Pete Peters (John Waters) with acid and sets Jennifer’s assistant Joan (Hannah Spearritt) on fire, both accidents. Tiffany disembowels Redman after he fires Jennifer for being pregnant (though Mary would indeed be pregnant).

The comedy is very much of the time back when people thought it was cool to hate Britney Spears and celebs like Martha Stewart and Anna Nicole Smith were frequently referenced. But there’s still some humor that holds up. Glen/Glenda knowing nothing about himself other than the Made in Japan manufacturer mark and informing his personality is just hilarious.

Seed is also very much about acceptance. Tiffany tries to fight what she sees as an addiction to killing and knows that she wants to be a mother first (with some murderous tendencies). Jennifer gives birth to twins, allowing Glen/Glenda to split their identities in two. Even Chucky finds self-acceptance. Since the beginning, his main motivation has been to transfer his soul into a human body for good. But here, he realizes that he would rather embrace his serial killing nature in doll form, declaring “I am Chucky, the killer doll. And I dig it!”

Seed of Chucky is not for everyone, namely anyone looking for something truly terrifying. Mancini took a big swing making a full-on comedy that plays into the absurdity of killer dolls while touching on poignant topics like gender identity, addiction, and acceptance. For those who can accept that Seed of Chucky is a meta off-the-rails comedy, it’s a gory, good time. 

Seed of Chucky is available to rent on Prime Video and is streaming on Netflix through October 31, 2024.

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