You'll Want A Divorce From `Bride Of Chucky'

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1/2 X "Bride of Chucky" with Brad Dourif (voice of Chucky), Jennifer Tilly and John Ritter. Directed by Ronny Yu, from a script by Don Mancini. 90 minutes. Several theaters. "R" - Restricted for strong horror violence and gore, language, some sexual content and brief drug use.

Can Jennifer Tilly save the Chucky franchise?

Sorry, doll.

"Bride of Chucky," the third sequel to 1988's "Child's Play," is an incredibly lame attempt at '90s-style camp horror. Universal Pictures bills it as a smart, self-aware horror/comedy, filled with tongue-in-cheek allusions to past horror greats - the most obvious being "The Bride of Frankenstein."

But all they've done is thrown together tons of gore, a bunch of flat jokes about '80s pop culture and some really bad doll sex.

Chucky, if you remember "Child's Play," "Child's Play 2" or "Child's Play 3," is the murderous toy infused with the human spirit of a serial killer. Little Chuckster was presumed dead at the end of "CP3."

In the latest installment, however, he's reunited with Tiffany (Tilly) - the former love of his human life who, of course, is also a psycho killer. She rescues her beloved's remains from the police, stitches him back together and does her hoodoo, breathing life back into the doll.

After a small misunderstanding about Chucky's marriage intentions, the little munchkin kills Tiffany and transplants her soul into a doll, too. Enlisting the services of two unwitting lovers on the lam, the demonic puppet couple hit the road. Their mission: to retrieve the soul-transferring amulet that was buried with Chucky's human body (the serial killer, remember?) and find some body donors.

OK, the sheer inanity of "Bride" earns a few chuckles, particularly when the homicidal, pot-smoking dolls start fighting each other in stereotypical trailer-park-trash style. ("Plastic is no substitute for hard wood," Tiffany shouts at Chucky.) But the laughs peter out as the film wears on.

For the most part, the filmmakers' attempts to go over the top only make this already ridiculous concept painfully boring - something you might appreciate on video, armed with a six-pack.