Glen (voiced by Boyd) is a Pinocchio-like puppet who escapes his vile English freakshow to find his parents Chucky and Tiffany (voiced by Dourif and Tilly) on the Hollywood set of a movie about their exploits. He naively uses his dad's magical amulet to resurrect them, not knowing that they're homicidal maniacs. But now they have a child, so they vow to break their addiction to murder. On the other hand, it'd be handy to inhabit the bodies of a couple of glamorous stars (Tilly and Redman, as hilarious versions of themselves).

The script is absolutely jammed with silly jokes, many of which are actually funny (we won't talk about the many that fall completely flat or never get off the ground at all). Each character has little quirks that make them great fun to watch, keeping us giggling both through the sheer audacity of the script (is Glen a Glen or a Glenda?) and the daring of the cast members (honestly, Tilly and Redman have no shame!). Even Waters, as a slimy paparazzo, goes for broke. And as the story gets increasingly unhinged, referencing horror films from Psycho to The Shining to Scream, we can almost hear the filmmakers laughing at their own jokes. Which in a strange way actually makes it funnier.

Now I have to confess that I've seen plenty of clips, but I've never seen another Chucky movie. Which may hand helped. The story stands on its own, never gets remotely complicated, and simply shows Mancini having a great time acknowledging his favourite scary movies while spinning a blood-soaked little yarn. It's actually nice to see a film in which the villains have strong, vivid personalities, even if they're plastic dolls. And while it's not terribly clever, it's still a gleeful must-see for horror fans.

themes, violence and gore, language, innuendo

3.May.05