It's advisable to keep an open mind when considering a movie that's promoted by ejaculation-related paraphernalia such as oversized nerf sperm and posters that read: "Fear the Second Coming."
"Seed of Chucky," directed by Don Mancini and staring Jennifer Tilly, tickles the funny bones. The not-quite-horrible horror movie stays true to the "Chucky" series delivering plenty of laughs, a great deal of cringes and almost no screams.
Tilly ("Liar, Liar") plays, believe it or not, an actress named Jennifer Tilly. It was a demanding role of course, playing a bad actress, but she managed flawlessly. The slapstick comedy accentuated her many "talents" well.
The movie is as entertaining as can be expected; crude comedy is balanced with spoofs from movies like "Forest Gump" and "The Shining." Fans of other Chucky movies will doubtlessly expel numerous fits of laughter.
Obviously, as the title suggests, the majority of the film is based around the son of Chucky, his ill-equipped heir/sometimes son with an English accent. Separated from his parents by the Atlantic Ocean, Chucky Jr. never developed his killer instinct and as a result when reunited with his plastic parents, hilarity ensues.
The evil doll cast features Chucky himself, Chucky's evil bride Tiffany, and their gentle child Glen. The movie finds the trio in Hollywood and while they are there, Chucky makes a mess of things, at one point running a Britney Spears look-alike off the road while driving a Hummer.
The special effects in this movie do not disappoint, sulfuric acid melts human flesh, people are burned alive, messy fountains of blood spray from victims and wet brain-like organs pulsate and quiver to make sure the audience stays entertained, or at least thoroughly disgusted.
The animatronics in the facial expressions of the dolls were particularly well done. However, the hands still lack any real movement, knives balance seemingly by magic in the severely undersized and immovable dolls' hands. Still, in a world becoming dominated by computer-animated villains, its nice to see some diversity.
The movie starts out with a surprisingly sophisticated duality, a movie within a movie type setting. Chucky and his wife, at first only animated robotically, are later brought back to life through the use of voodoo magic. This makes the whole concept of killer dolls more plausible in the long run.
Actors and stage people are seen running about, and in this way the audience seems to be placed in the land of reality, before entering the dream world where walking, talking dolls run rampant. The audience, by seeing the cameras and other stage equipment, is in effect taken out of the "film world" mentality and placed into the "real world."
After Chucky and his Bride are brought back, a great deal of humorous dialogue amongst the dolly trio takes place between the frequent slaughters. For example, at one point, Glen the kind-hearted dolly asks his parents why they kill people and Chucky reassures him that it's really only a hobby.
The family then becomes divided over the ambiguous gender of their child Glen, as well as whether or not to murder people anymore. However, the novelty of a couple of psycho doll parents trying to be good parents soon wears off and becomes tedious.
The monotony of it all is only broken up at the end when the master plan comes to fruition and the final showdown occurs. Which, while rather funny, probably isn't worth heading out to the theaters on a cold winter night to see.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
