Seed of Chucky

Franchise fatigue sets in big-time with this sequel to ‘Bride of Chucky’. This unsuccessful stab at the postmodern playfulness of ‘Wes Craven’s New Nightmare’ sees actress Jennifer Tilly (playing herself) assailed by her star-struck, doll-sized alter ego, Tiffany, and homicidal boyfriend Chucky. The pint-sized psycho pair are now parents, but their confused, androgynous son, Glen/Glenda, needs to sharpen up his killer instinct. Scriptwriter turned writer-director Don Mancini piles on the in-jokes: Chucky uses horror fanzine Fangoria as a wank mag, while cult filmmaker John Waters relishes a cameo as a sleazy paparazzo. More fun, however, are the scenes in which the voluptuous, helium-voiced Tilly gamely sends up her raunchy screen image. For all its bloody decapitations and disembowellings, Mancini’s heartless movie feels like a random assemblage of body parts. And despite his best efforts, Scottish actor Billy Boyd (Pippin in ‘The Lord of the Rings’) cannot breathe life into Glen/Glenda, a wimpy and uninteresting Dickensian waif.