God help us. How many more Chucky movies are there going to be!? The fifth film in the successful series is a slice of gay horror, with a baby Chucky that might just be ‘family’. With the doll’s twisted, gender confused issues the creator of the film, the openly gay Don Mancini, says that the film “is kind of about Chucky dealing with his gay son.”

The seed of the title is the offspring of Chucky (voiced by Brad Dourif) and his bride, Tiffany (voiced by Jennifer Tilly). Junior sees his parents on television, escapes from a British ventriloquist, travels to LA and manages to bring his plastic parents back to life.

No one would call Chucky a stunner, but his son (voiced by Billy Lord of the Rings Boyd) has really been through the ringer. He looks and sounds like he’s just wandered off the set of Oliver Twist and Boyd plays him as a Cockney street urchin who hasn’t eaten for six months.

Chuck and Tiffers are delighted to see him though, but can’t work out whether he’s a boy (Glen) or a girl (Glenda) because he has no genitals. That’s enough to convince Tiffany he’s a girl, but Chucky’s having none of it and wants a son and heir to go hunting with.

This disagreement leads to Glen / Glenda being dressed in girl’s clothes by his mother and leaves him so confused by everything he / she eventually has a severe gender identity crisis and starts dressing up like Bette Davis in Baby Jane (one of the all too scarce funny moments in the film). Did we mention that camp gay quota has been severely upped on this movie?

Tiffany wants to clean up the family’s act and stop the slaughter. She joins an AA-type group and starts preaching The 12 Steps. Chucky on the other hand is happy to continue the family tradition of murder and mayhem much to the disappointment of Glen / Glenda.

Meanwhile, the real Jennifer Tilly, playing herself, has just finished the role of Tiffany in the film within a film, Chucky Goes Psycho. She then auditions for a part as the Virgin Mary in a film directed by rapper Redman, but has no idea that the real Chucky and Tiffany are alive and looking to her to produce a brother or sister for Glen / Glenda.

Confused? You won’t be. You’ll just be amazed at how silly and tired the franchise has become, not to mention un-scary. Tilly is okay in spurts, but the material lets her down. Dressed in virginal white for maximum ‘mess’ potential, and with her husky voice and heaving bosom, at least she’s great to look at.

But there’s little reason to watch Seed of Chucky unless you’ve seen the other four movies because it won’t make any sense and it doesn’t stand up as an independent exercise.

One of its plus points, though, is the minor, but significant appearance of a far superior connoisseur of bad taste in John Waters, playing a paparazzi scumbag. Another little nugget is Britney Spears in a cameo scene. With its queer theme the decidedly gay-friendly cast also turns this average sequel into a camp, homo edged experience.

Mancini should look to the makers of Team America, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, for inspiration if he insists on grossing everyone out with another sequel. He should also consider seeing a therapist to find out why he would want to.

Seed of Chucky is released in the UK on 13 May 2005

Buy Bride Of Chucky online now if you want to see how Chucky got lucky!