'Seed of Chucky' shoots blanks

If slasher flicks were akin to professional basketball players, the "Child's Play" series would be Mugsy Bogues. Chucky (voiced yet again with perverse glee by Brad Dourif), the demonic doll who's hacked his way through five intermittently entertaining horror outings, is almost of equal stature to Bogues with a slam dunk being about as likely. "Seed of Chucky," the latest and arguably lamest of the "Child's Play" catalogue, just hit DVD.\n"Seed" centers on Jennifer Tilly (playing an unflattering version of herself and voicing Chucky's wife, Tiffany), as she stars in "Chucky Goes Psycho," a movie within the movie. Little does she know that her diminutive co-stars have been revived by their long lost and entirely gender-confused child Glen/Glenda (the voice of Billy Boyd, Pippin in "The Lord of the Rings") -- a none-too-subtle Ed Wood reference. Dissatisfied with her work on the "Chucky" picture (and who wouldn't be, what with the dolls wreaking havoc?), Tilly longs to be cast in rapper-turned-director Redman's (also playing himself ... embarrassingly) biblical epic playing the Virgin Mary. Ironically, in order to nail the role she's willing to nail him -- drawing the ire of Joan (Brit cutie Hannah Spearritt), her youthful assistant and the flashbulbs of Pete Peters (schlockmeister John Waters), a sleazy paparazzo. \nThough there are some ably staged murders (a man rigged with a camera is stabbed in the chest, prompting a balcony fall captured in its completion; another is decapitated, hurtling his head upward through the air with CG assistance), "Seed" is played primarily for laughs. However, the unsubtle barrage of gay and fat jokes just isn't funny -- something its predecessor "Bride of Chucky" was able to attain. Also, this wink, wink, nudge, nudge style of horror was played out back with the "Scream" sequels.\nThe DVD, much like the movie, is nothing to write home about. While chockfull of features, none of them are particularly illuminating. Commentaries, a "Family Hell-iday" slideshow and Tilly's screen-scrolling onset diary give no real insight into the filmmaking process (like you'd want tips from these folks anyways) and only serve to further irritate.\n"Seed of Chucky" as a title is a misnomer because this dog's no doll and it's certainly shooting blanks.