Following 1998's hilarious Bride of Chucky - the greatest killer-doll film since Dead of Night - this latest episode in the notorious horror series comes as a disappointment.

Returning to the self-conscious jiggery-pokery we thought all those Japanese directors had scared away, Seed of Chucky is loaded with good jokes and features a performance by Jennifer Tilly that confirms her as one of cinema's best sports. But anybody who has suffered through the clever-stupid horror films written by Kevin Williamson is probably sick of having Pirandello served up with their Corman.

Seed - which features more movie parodies than a bumper DVD of The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror - follows the adventures of a razor-toothed boy-doll, forced to perform as dummy for an English rock 'n' roll ventriloquist, as he flees his tormentor and seeks out his parents. It transpires he sprang from the woody loins of Chucky and Tiffany, two murderous dolls who are currently appearing as two murderous dolls in an American horror film. A lascivious, uncultured actress named Jennifer Tilly (Jennifer Tilly), employed to provide the voice of Tiffany, finds herself embroiled in the toys' terrifying antics. Souls are transferred from dolls to humans. The real John Waters's head is stripped away by sulphuric acid. "Oops, I did it again," Chucky says after annihilating a fake Britney Spears.

The film comes close to working. Tilly apes her usual screen persona with such ruthless enthusiasm we are left in no doubt how sharp she must really be. And, as Tiffany tries to quit killing, we enjoy a very cute satire on the Californian obsession with beating imaginary addictions.

But Don Mancini, the writer of the Chucky films, has cause to be annoyed at the shabby work of the director. In a twist that would fit quite neatly into Seed of Chucky, his name is . . . Don Mancini.