Seed of Chucky

Seed of Chucky is a 2004 American black comedy slasher film, the fifth installment of the Child's Play series, and sequel to 1998's Bride of Chucky as well as the first film to be distributed by another company since Child's Play. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini, who created the series and has written all of the films (except the 2019 remake). With this entry, Mancini made his directorial debut. The film is set six years after Child's Play 3 and Bride of Chucky and follows a young doll named Glen, the son of Chucky and Tiffany, resurrecting his parents, causing chaos.

Seed of Chucky
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDon Mancini
Produced by
Written byDon Mancini
Based onCharacters
by Don Mancini
Starring
Music byPino Donaggio
CinematographyVernon Layton
Edited byChris Dickens
Production
company
La Sienega Productions
David Kirschner Productions[1]
Distributed byRogue Pictures
Release date
  • November 12, 2004 (2004-11-12)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[2]
Box office$24.8 million

The film, shot in Romania, continues the series' evolution from the pure horror genre of the first three films to a hybrid horror-comedy.[3][4] It was the last Child's Play film from the original continuity to be released in theaters, with all future installments to be released direct to DVD until the 2019 remake, fifteen years later. The film was followed by another sequel, Curse of Chucky, released on home video and Netflix in 2013.

Plot

Six years after the previous film, Glen, the benevolent son of Chucky and Tiffany, has a nightmare in which he murders a little girl's parents. In reality, he is living a life of embarrassment and abuse as a ventriloquist's dummy in England. After being forced to perform at the International Ventriloquists' Competition in Glastonbury, and then locked inside a cage, Glen sees a preview of Jennifer Tilly's new horror film Chucky Goes Psycho, based on the Kincaids' encounter with Chucky and Tiffany on television, including Chucky and Tiffany dolls rebuilt from their original remains, and realizes that he is their son.

Desperate to know his parents, Glen manages to escape his abusive owner and tracks the Chucky and Tiffany dolls to Hollywood. He finds himself in the prop room of Chucky Goes Psycho, which contains the Chucky and Tiffany dolls. Glen uses the Heart of Damballa, a voodoo amulet to bring them back to life. Chucky faints, but Tiffany is overjoyed and hugs her child. When a puppeteer starts taking Tiffany apart, she and Chucky decapitate him with a piano wire. Jennifer finds the beheaded body and calls the police. Chucky, Tiffany, and Glen ride home with her in a limousine.

Having witnessed his parents kill the puppeteer, Glen asks them why they murder others, as he feels violence is bad. Chucky replies that it helps them to relax. On the other hand, Tiffany, feeling parental responsibility, agrees with Glen and forces Chucky to agree to stop killing people for the sake of their son. Chucky promises to do so, but crosses his fingers behind his back in hopes of getting Tiffany to shut up.

Jennifer tries to get a role as the Virgin Mary in Redman's directorial debut, and after he tells her she is not right for the part, she invites him to her house. Chucky and Tiffany make plans to transfer their souls into Redman and Jennifer. As Jennifer and Redman start to make love, Tiffany knocks them out and uses a turkey baster to inseminate Jennifer with Chucky's semen.

Chucky takes Glen on a car ride. After driving Britney Spears' car off the road, killing her, they proceed to photographer Pete Peters' darkroom. Peters had taken pictures of Tilly kissing Redman and of Chucky masturbating. When Glen tries to warn Peters that Chucky is about to attack, Peters bump into a shelf, causing a jar of sulphuric acid to fall into his head, accidentally killing him. Chucky, overjoyed with pride, believes Glen did this on purpose and takes a picture to celebrate, much to the dismay of both Glen and Tiffany.

Jennifer awakens the following morning, realizes that she is pregnant, and claims Redman is responsible. When he denies this, Tiffany eviscerates him in anger. The next day, Jennifer wakes up only to find herself with a full pregnant belly, a consequence of the voodoo magic. Chucky attacks and captures Jennifer during a phone call. Her chauffeur, Stan, serving as Chucky's replacement body due to Redman's death, is also captured. Jennifer's assistant Joan tries to help her, but she is killed by Glen's murderous twin sister, Glenda, whose soul shares Glen's body. Tiffany discovers this and smacks Glenda to bring back Glen, who is horrified at what has happened.

After Jennifer gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Chucky has an epiphany: after years as an infamous killer doll, he finally accepts his circumstances. Disgusted, Tiffany rejects Chucky and decides to take Glen with her. Enraged, Chucky throws a knife at Jennifer to stop Tiffany transferring her soul into her body and leaving him, but Stan jumps in the way to save her and tells Jennifer he loves her before dying. The police arrive, forcing the dolls to flee. Jennifer is rushed to the hospital, but claims she wants to see her babies. Tiffany drugs Jennifer and begins to possess her, but Chucky breaks in and kills Tiffany with an axe. Before Tiffany dies, she tells Glen not to make the same mistakes she and Chucky have. Devastated, Glen snaps and challenges Chucky to a fight. Jennifer passes Chucky's axe to Glen, and Glen impales Chucky. Chucky assumes it's Glenda again, but Glen reveals it is actually him, finally able to kill in revenge for his mother's death. Chucky soon congratulates Glen, but he chops off his head. Realizing what he had done, Glen suffers an emotional breakdown as Jennifer comforts him.

Five years later, at a birthday party for Jennifer's children, a nanny quits her job because Jennifer's daughter Glenda scares her. Jennifer lets the nanny quit, only to beat her to death with the Tiffany doll. Jennifer's eyes glow green, revealing that Tiffany was successful in transferring her soul into Jennifer's body. Glen has one more birthday present to open. When he does so, Chucky's severed arm springs up to grab him, and his infamous laugh is heard as the screen fades to black. Glen's fate is unknown.

Cast

Puppeteers
  • Patrick Comerford as Chucky
  • Sue Dacre as Tiffany
  • Barnaby Harrison as Glen

Production

Production on a new film called Son of Chucky began on October 18, 1998, two days after the successful release of Bride of Chucky, whose director Ronny Yu was unable to return due to scheduling conflicts.[7] Don Mancini, who is homosexual and was interested in exploring LGBT-related themes in the next film, decided to write a screenplay inspired by the 1953 cult classic Glen or Glenda in which Chucky's son is an innocent person suffering from gender dysphoria. He also decided to continue the shift in the series towards comedy after noting that horror villains such as Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Krueger became less scary as they became more familiar with audiences.[8] Universal Pictures, which produced the previous three films and had expected a more conventional slasher film with the son being a murderous villain, rejected the script with the note "This is too gay." Production ultimately resumed when the project was approved by Focus Features after the successful release of Cabin Fever in 2003, and was ultimately released through Rogue Pictures.[9][10] Mancini claimed in a podcast that prior casting Redman, he had offered to cast Quentin Tarantino as himself but he declined.[11] Seed of Chucky was filmed almost entirely in Romania.[3] All of the animatronic and makeup effects were the handiwork of Effects Designer Tony Gardner and his company Alterian, Inc.[12]

Release and reception

Box office

Seed of Chucky opened at #4 with $8,774,520 on November 12–14, 2004. When the film closed on December 23, 2004, the domestic gross was $17,083,732 and $24,829,644 worldwide.[2]

In Australia, Seed of Chucky opened at #8 with $260,958 for the week of February 6–8, 2005 behind Million Dollar Baby (#2) and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (#6). In Australia, Seed of Chucky was distributed by United International Pictures.

In France, Seed of Chucky opened at #11 with $694,948 for the week of March 2–8, 2005. It opened behind Le Couperet (#2) and the remake of Assault of Precinct 13 (#4). In France, Seed of Chucky was distributed by SND Distribution.

In the United Kingdom, Seed of Chucky opened at #10 with $202,022 for the week of May 13–15, 2005. It opened behind Monster-in-Law (#2), The Jacket (#8), and A Good Woman (#9). In the United Kingdom, Seed of Chucky was distributed by Momentum Pictures.

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 34% approval rating based on 77 reviews, with a weighted average of 4.50/10. The critical consensus reads: "Give Seed of Chucky credit for embracing the increasing absurdity of the franchise — even if the end results really aren't all that funny or entertaining."[13] On Metacritic, it has an average score of 46, indicating mixed to average reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[14]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four stating, "Seed of Chucky is actually two movies, one wretched, the other funny."[15]

Awards
List of awards and nominations
Award Category Recipients Result
Fangoria Chainsaw Awards Best Actress Jennifer Tilly Nominated
Best Score Pino Donaggio Nominated
MTV Movie Awards Best Frightened Performance Jennifer Tilly Nominated
Sitges - Catalan International Film Festival Best Film Don Mancini Nominated
World Stunt Awards Best Fire Stunt Heather Phillips Nominated
Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman Heather Phillips Nominated

Sequels

The film was followed by Curse of Chucky in 2013 and Cult of Chucky in 2017.[16]

References
  1. Willis, John; Monush, Barry (April 1, 2006). Screen World: 2005 Film Annual. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-1-55783-667-0.
  2. Seed of Chucky at Box Office Mojo
  3. "Cult of Chucky a fine fit in popular slasher series". Winnipeg Free Press. October 7, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  4. Dunkley, Cathy (March 16, 2004). "Redman, Waters go to 'Seed'". Variety. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  5. Willis, J.; Monush, B. (2006). Screen World: 2005 Film Annual. Applause Books. Hal Leonard. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-55783-667-0. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  6. Film Review. Orpheus Pub. 2005. p. 68. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. Henkel, Guido (March 25, 1999). "Bride Of Chucky". DVD Review & High Definition. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  8. "Q&A with Seed of Chucky Director Don Mancini - Nymag". New York Magazine. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  9. "How "Child's Play" Became The Funniest, Most Reliably Surprising, And Queer Slasher Series". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  10. "Eli Roth says 'The Seed Of Chucky' is a go!". MovieWeb. September 18, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  11. "The Chucky Files #5: Don Mancini on Seed of Chucky". Mandatory. October 12, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  12. "Cult of Chucky - FX Designer Tony Gardner Speaks! Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Video and Images!". Dread Central. October 3, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  13. "Seed of Chucky (2004) - Rotten Tomatoes".
  14. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore.
  15. Ebert, Roger (November 11, 2004). "Seed of Chucky Movie Review & Film Summary (2004)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  16. "'Cult of Chucky' Is What it Is, Which May Be Fine Enough (Film review)". Glide Magazine. October 3, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
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