Film Reviews

Seed of Chucky

• Rating:
• Director: Don Mancini.
• Starring: Jennifer Tilly, Brad Dourif, Billy Boyd, John Waters.
• Details: US / 87 mins (18s).

When Hollywood cashes in on the legend of demon-doll Chucky with Chucky Goes Psycho, offspring Glen (Boyd) heads west in order to bring his parents (Dourif and Tilly) back from the dead. This particular resurrection, of course, wouldn't be complete without some blood, gore and murderous mayhem, all of which comes as something of a surprise to the mild-mannered Glen. The fifth in the Child's Play franchise, all of which have been masterminded by Don Mancini, Seed of Chucky does pretty much what it says on the tin in bringing the demon dolls back for another gleeful splatterfest and aiming to provoke shrieks and giggles in equal measure. As it happens, there's plenty of giggles, but few of them are intentional - the joy of watching knife-wielding dolls has long since been replaced by something far more sickly cynical, which is the repeated and unjustified slaughter of a cash-cow. Of course, we're not supposed to take Chucky and his brood seriously, and the idea is to laugh along at ourselves for watching as much as at the events on screen, but even the presence of kitsch supremo John Waters can't get this one out of first gear.

Review by Declan Burke