A post-Scream reboot that turns up the meta-humor and turns down the horror.

Jennifer Tilly plays Chucky’s former girlfriend, Tiffany. It’s taken her ten years to track down his doll-form, which she stitches back together and revives with the help of a Voodoo for Dummies book. Some plot happens, trapping her in a doll as well. The pair scheme to make their way to New Jersey, where an amulet can free them from their plastic bodies. Getting there proves a challenge. Enter a teen couple played by Katherine Heigl and Nick Stabile.

I appreciated the nods to assorted horror films, the dynamic visual style, and the script’s willingness to diverge from the series formula. But like most post-Scream slashers, it lacks edge. The teens resemble stars, not ordinary kids. The violence proves tame, not shocking. It’s wink-wink entertainment devoid of any disturbing undercurrent.

To that end, it works. But we’re four films in and they haven’t cracked the killer doll formula.