How Chucky got lucky: what makes those monstrous Chucky flicks such fun? Credit out auteur Don Mancini and his divinely gay-adjacent leading lady, Jennifer Tilly.

When Universal Pictures received out gay director Don Mancini's first draft of Seed of Chucky, the sequel to his 1998 blockbuster, Bride of Chucky, its response was less than euphoric.

"The studio said, 'It's too gay, it's too funny, and there's too much Jennifer Tilly,'" says the film's star. "My response was, 'How can there be too much Jennifer Tilly?'" She punctuates that with a burst of her signature laughter. Although Tilly's joking, she makes a valid point: The phenomenal success of Bride of Chucky is generally attributed to her.

"Bride of Chucky had a very sympathetic principal gay character, the best friend of the heroine. And he died a spectacular death," Tilly laughs. "When Don writes a spectacular death, he considers it a gift to the actor."

Tilly's character, Tiffany, also died a spectacular death in Bride, when Chucky knocked the TV set into Tiffany's bathtub as she watched Bride of Frankenstein before sending her soul into the bride doll of the movie's title. After her resurrection, Tiffany does a makeover on her doll self, replacing the doll's suburban surface with bleach and makeup, to the backbeat of Blondie's "Call Me."

The introduction of Tilly's character as the doll Tiffany revitalized the then-decade-old Child's Play franchise with the general public. It also struck a surprising note with gay audiences, who have been badly served by the horror genre, with its rigid formula of male aggressor, female victim, and no gender ambiguity.

"Chucky has a huge gay following," Tilly says. When the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival gave her an award two years ago, she watched Bride with a gay audience that laughed in all the right places. "Bride of Chucky works on a lot of levels, but there are a lot of camp references--really, really funny ones. A straight audience laughs when Chuck smokes pot; the gay audience laughs at the ironies."

Getting love from the gay crowd is nothing new for Tilly. "I'm very proud to have a gay fan base," she says. "I had a gay following even before I did Bound and Relax ... It's Just Sex. I think it's because I'm sort of over-the-top--I'm kind of like a female drag queen. My personality is sometimes "larger than life."

Mancini agrees: "Jennifer is iconic. Her roles tend to be almost exaggerated caricatures of femininity in a way that gay audiences have historically embraced and celebrated. Bride had a very prominent gay sensibility. Seed of Chucky goes even further because of Glen, Chucky's gender-confused child."

In this latest outing, Tilly not only reprises her role as the voice of Chucky's "bride" doll, she also plays herself--Jennifer Tilly--making a film about the murderous dolls of urban legend. She soon finds herself stalked, not only by Chucky and his bride but also by their sexually ambiguous son, Glen.

"The relationship between Chucky and Glen is so funny," Tilly says, "because Chucky is always trying to whip Glen into shape, to make him more macho. He takes Glen hunting--hunting people, of course. He can't see how he, Chucky, the terror of the universe, could have wound up with a sexually confused, overly sensitive kid for a son."

"Universal was not necessarily initially in step" with the idea of the Glen character, Mancini says tactfully. "I think they'd have been more comfortable with another Chucky--another doll that went around killing people. I said, 'What's interesting about that?'"

With John Waters, playing a paparazzo hot on Tilly's trail, the camp possibilities seem endless. "I don't think Chucky is cheesy at all," Waters deadpans. "I think he and Jennifer make a beautiful couple up there on the screen. In this movie the monsters are the ones who are sexual. Freddy never has a hard-on. Jason never gets laid. This film has sex in it, and that's part of the humor. It's very today. It's a comedy and a horror film, and it works on both levels."

For her part, Tilly finds it thought-provoking to play the mother--however plasticized--of a gender-dysphoric child. "I would be very happy and proud to have a gay son or daughter," she says. "I would be sad because I know they'd have more of an uphill road to climb because of the inhospitable climate in America." She's clearly sincere, but in true gay style, she's not getting all serious. "I've thought about having kids," she says dryly. "But I lie down till the urge passes."

Rowe's essay collection, Other Men's Sons, will be published this fall by Mosaic Press.