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| Seed of Chucky | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Don Mancini |
| Written by | Don Mancini |
| Based on | Characters by Don Mancini |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Vernon Layton |
| Edited by | Chris Dickens |
| Music by | Pino Donaggio |
Production companies | La Sienega Productions David Kirschner Productions[1] |
| Distributed by | Rogue Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes (R-rated version) 87 minutes (unrated version) |
| Countries | |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12 million[4] |
| Box office | $24.8 million |
Seed of Chucky is a 2004black comedyslasher film. It is the fifth film in theChild's Play series, followingBride of Chucky. The film was written and directed byDon Mancini in hisdirectorial debut, and starsJennifer Tilly,Redman,Hannah Spearritt,John Waters,Billy Boyd andBrad Dourif. The film is set six years afterBride of Chucky and follows a young doll named Glen/Glenda, the child ofChucky andTiffany, resurrecting their parents, causing chaos.
The film, shot inRomania, continues the series' evolution from the pure horror genre of the first three films to a hybridhorror-comedy.[5][6] It was the lastChild's Play film from the original continuity to be released in theaters, with all future installments to be releaseddirect-to-video until the2019 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.
Six years after theprevious film, the benevolent andgenderfluid living-doll child ofChucky andTiffany is being held captive by "Psychs", an abusiveBritishventriloquist who exploits him for his act. Psychs has mockingly named the doll "Shitface" and regularly mistreats him. Despite hispeaceful nature, Shitface has violent nightmares aboutmurder.
Shitface sees a preview on television forJennifer Tilly's new filmChucky 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 inHollywood. Shitface uses theHeart of Damballa, avoodoo 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 nogenitals—Chucky renames Shitface "Glen," while Tiffany renames them "Glenda." Chucky and Tiffany decapitatea 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 herlimousine.
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 theVirgin Mary in rapperRedman'sfeature-filmdirectorial debut. She invites him to her home, intending toseduce 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 aturkey baster toinseminate 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, apaparazzo who had been following Jennifer around. Glen/Glenda accidentally causes Peters to fall and be soaked insulfuric 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 avasectomy. He fires Jennifer from his film, dismissing pregnant women as notattractive enough for his vision. Tiffanyguts Redman in anger over hismisogyny, 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 herlovelornchauffeur 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 apacifist, while Glenda is apsychopath.
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.
Production on a new film calledSon of Chucky began on October 18, 1998, two days after the successful release ofBride of Chucky, whose directorRonny Yu was unable to return due to scheduling conflicts.[9] Don Mancini, who isgay and was interested in exploring LGBT-related themes in the next film, decided to write a screenplay inspired by the 1953 cult classicGlen or Glenda in which Chucky's son is an innocent person suffering fromgender dysphoria. He also decided to continue the shift in the series towards comedy after noting that horror villains such asMichael Myers,Jason Voorhees, andFreddy 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 byFocus Features after the successful release ofCabin 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 castQuentin Tarantino as himself but he declined.[13]
Seed of Chucky was filmed almost entirely inRomania atCastel 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 ofBrian De Palma andDario Argento.[14] All of the animatronic and makeup effects were the handiwork of Effects DesignerTony Gardner, who also appears in the film as himself in a cameo, and his companyAlterian, Inc.[15]
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 behindMillion Dollar Baby (#2), andSky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (#6). In Australia,Seed of Chucky was distributed byUnited International Pictures.
In France,Seed of Chucky opened at #11 with $694,948 for the week of March 2–8, 2005. It opened behindLe Couperet (#2) and the remake ofAssault 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 behindMonster-in-Law (#2),The Jacket (#8), andA Good Woman (#9). In the United Kingdom,Seed of Chucky was distributed byMomentum Pictures.
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OnRotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 37% approval rating based on 78 reviews, with aweighted average of 4.60/10. The critical consensus reads: "GiveSeed 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] OnMetacritic, it has an average score of 46/100, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[17] Audiences polled byCinemaScore 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 "campycult classic".[20]
| 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 |
The film was followed byCurse of Chucky in 2013,Cult of Chucky in 2017, and the TV seriesChucky in 2021.[21]
| Films | |
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| Television | |
| Characters | |
| Video game | |
