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Seed of Chucky

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Seed of Chucky
Theatrical release poster
Directed byDon Mancini
Written byDon Mancini
Based onCharacters
by Don Mancini
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyVernon Layton
Edited byChris Dickens
Music byPino Donaggio
Production
companies
La Sienega Productions
David Kirschner Productions[1]
Distributed byRogue Pictures
Release date
  • November 11, 2004 (2004-11-11)
Running time
86 minutes (R-rated version)
87 minutes (unrated version)
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • Romania
  • United States[2][3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$12 million[4]
Box office$24.8 million

Seed of Chucky is a 2004 black comedy slasher film. It is the fifth film in the Child's Play series, following Bride of Chucky. The film was written and directed by Don Mancini in his directorial debut, and stars Jennifer Tilly, Redman, Hannah Spearritt, John Waters, Billy Boyd and Brad Dourif. The film is set six years after Bride of Chucky and follows a young doll named Glen/Glenda, the child of Chucky and Tiffany, resurrecting their parents, causing chaos.

The film, shot in Romania, continues the series' evolution from the pure horror genre of the first three films to a hybrid horror-comedy.[5][6] 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-video until the 2019 remake. The film was followed by another sequel, Curse of Chucky, released in 2013.

Seed of Chucky grossed over $24 million against a $12 million budget. Like its predecessor, the film received mixed reviews from critics.

Plot

[edit]

Six years after the previous film, the benevolent and gender-confused living-doll child of Chucky and Tiffany is being held captive by "Psychs", an abusive British ventriloquist who exploits him for his act. Psychs has mockingly named the doll "Shitface" and regularly mistreats him. Despite his peaceful nature, Shitface has violent nightmares about murder.

Shitface sees a preview on television for Jennifer Tilly's new film Chucky Goes Psycho, which features Chucky and Tiffany dolls repaired from their original remains. Realizing he is their child. Shitface escapes Psychs and tracks the Chucky and Tiffany dolls to a prop room in Hollywood. Shitface uses the Heart of Damballa, a voodoo amulet, to resurrect them. Chucky is shocked at having a child while Tiffany is overjoyed. Confused about their child's ambiguous gender — his body having no genitals—Chucky renames Shitface "Glen," while Tiffany renames them "Glenda." Chucky and Tiffany decapitate a special effects technician with a wire. Jennifer finds the beheaded body and calls the police. Chucky, Tiffany, and Glen/Glenda sneak a ride to her home in her limousine.

Having witnessed his parents murder the technician, Glen/Glenda asks them why they kill. Chucky and Tiffany are taken aback by the question. Tiffany, feeling parental responsibility, tries to force Chucky to stop killing for the sake of their child; Chucky falsely promises to do so. Meanwhile, Jennifer tries to get a role as the Virgin Mary in rapper Redman's feature-film directorial debut. She invites him to her home, intending to seduce him for the role, much to the disgust of her assistant Joan.

Chucky and Tiffany make plans to transfer their souls into Redman and Jennifer. Tiffany knocks them out and uses a turkey baster to inseminate Jennifer with Chucky's semen, intending to use her baby as a host for Glen/Glenda's soul. Chucky takes Glen/Glenda on a secret joyride to kill Pete Peters, a paparazzo who had been following Jennifer around. Glen/Glenda accidentally causes Peters to fall and be soaked in sulfuric acid, killing him. Glen/Glenda is horrified while Chucky is delighted.

Jennifer awakens and senses that she is pregnant, believing Redman is responsible. Redman explains this is impossible, as he previously had a vasectomy. He fires Jennifer from his film, dismissing pregnant women as not attractive enough for his vision. Tiffany guts Redman in anger over his misogyny, which Glen/Glenda witnesses. The next day, Jennifer wakes up to find herself with a full pregnant belly, a consequence of the voodoo magic. Chucky captures Jennifer and her lovelorn chauffeur Stan to take Redman's place. Jennifer's assistant Joan tries to help, but she is killed by Glenda, revealing that Glen and Glenda are two separate souls in the same body; Glen is a pacifist, while Glenda is a psychopath.

Jennifer gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl, and Tiffany realizes that both Glen and Glenda can inhabit the two children. However, the chaos causes Chucky to have an epiphany: he has finally accepted his life as a living doll and no longer wishes to become human. Disgusted, Tiffany rejects Chucky and decides to leave him. Enraged, Chucky throws a knife at Jennifer to stop Tiffany from leaving him, but Stan jumps in the way, sacrificing himself to save her. The police arrive, forcing the dolls to flee.

Jennifer is rushed to the hospital. Tiffany drugs Jennifer and begins to possess her, but Chucky breaks in and kills Tiffany with an axe. Devastated, Glen snaps and attacks Chucky, striking him with the axe. Chucky assumes it's Glenda, but Glen reveals it is actually him and not his murderous twin. Glen dismembers Chucky, who praises Glen for his actions before being decapitated. Realizing what he has done, Glen breaks down in tears as Jennifer comforts him.

Five years later, Jennifer is raising Glen and Glenda, who transferred their souls into the bodies of her two children. During a birthday party for the twins, a nanny quits because Glenda scares her. Jennifer beats her to death in a rage, revealing that Tiffany had successfully transferred her soul into Jennifer's body. Meanwhile, Glen opens a birthday present to find Chucky's severed arm, which springs up and grabs him.

Cast

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Production

[edit]

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.[9] Don Mancini, who is gay 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.[10]

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.[11][12] Mancini claimed in a podcast that prior to casting Redman, he had offered to cast Quentin Tarantino as himself but he declined.[13]

Seed of Chucky was filmed almost entirely in Romania at Castel Studios in order to save costs.[5][14] Mancini tried to replicate the look of older horror films by shooting the film mostly on sound stages and was additionally influenced by the filmmaking styles of Brian De Palma and Dario Argento.[14] All of the animatronic and makeup effects were the handiwork of Effects Designer Tony Gardner, who also appears in the film as himself in a cameo, and his company Alterian, Inc.[15]

Release and reception

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Box office

[edit]

Seed of Chucky opened at #4 with $8,774,520 on November 11–14, 2004. When the film closed on December 23, 2004, the domestic gross was $17,083,732 and $24,829,644 worldwide.[4]

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

[edit]

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."[16] On Metacritic, it has an average score of 46/100, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[17] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[18]

Roger Ebert gave the film two stars out of four stating, "Seed of Chucky is actually two movies, one wretched, the other funny."[19]

In 2023, Out described the film as a "campy cult classic".[20]

Awards

[edit]
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

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The film was followed by Curse of Chucky in 2013, Cult of Chucky in 2017, and the TV series Chucky in 2021.[21]

References

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  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 (2004)". 2.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved June 3, 2002.
  3. ^ "AFI|Catalog". Catalog.afi.com. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Seed of Chucky at Box Office Mojo
  5. ^ a b King, Randall (October 7, 2017). "Cult of Chucky a fine fit in popular slasher series". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  6. ^ Dunkley, Cathy (March 15, 2004). "Redman, Waters go to 'Seed'". Variety. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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.
  8. ^ Film Review. Orpheus Pub. 2005. p. 68. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  9. ^ Henkel, Guido (March 25, 1999). "Bride Of Chucky". DVD Review & High Definition. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  10. ^ "Q&A with Seed of Chucky Director Don Mancini - Nymag". New York Magazine. November 4, 2004. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  11. ^ "How "Child's Play" Became The Funniest, Most Reliably Surprising, And Queer Slasher Series". BuzzFeed News. October 25, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  12. ^ "Eli Roth says 'The Seed Of Chucky' is a go!". MovieWeb. September 18, 2003. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  13. ^ "The Chucky Files #5: Don Mancini on Seed of Chucky". Mandatory. October 12, 2013. Retrieved April 27, 2019.
  14. ^ a b "Behind-the-Scenes of 'Seed of Chucky'". Movieweb. November 11, 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2021.
  15. ^ "Cult of Chucky - FX Designer Tony Gardner Speaks! Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Video and Images!". Dread Central. October 3, 2017. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  16. ^ "Seed of Chucky (2004) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. November 12, 2004.
  17. ^ "Seed of Chucky". Metacritic.
  18. ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Archived from the original on December 20, 2018. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  19. ^ Ebert, Roger (November 11, 2004). "Seed of Chucky Movie Review & Film Summary (2004)". Roger Ebert. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  20. ^ "25 Gay Horror Films & TV Shows to Stream This Halloween". Out. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  21. ^ "'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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