Chick Flick

Chick Flick is the 40th episode of Charmed.

Summary
The Halliwells battle the Demon of Illusion who has the power to unleash celluloid villains on society and brings to life Phoebe’s favorite film character, Billy, who remains in black-and-white while everything around him is in color. Using his newly discovered ability to bring psycho characters out of horror movies, the demon sends an axe murderer and a knife-wielding corpse to kill Phoebe, Prue and Piper, but they force him back into the movie and join him in an on-screen battle of good vs. evil.

Plot
Piper watches Dan come home alone. Prue takes her picture and teases her about pretending not to look out the window. Piper feels guilty, but is happy that Leo is in town.

Phoebe has been watching old horror movies. She saw Kill It Before It Dies because, as a teenager, she thought its protagonist Billy was the perfect man. It's research, she says, not for her classes but for herself.

The doorbell rings, and Phoebe answers -- to be flung back by an angry demon. Prue stands up and flings him into the grandfather clock. The demon gets up and leaves. The two run after him as Piper comes down and finds them gone. They chase him into the theater where Kill It Before It Dies is showing. Phoebe casts a spell and the demon seems to disappear. Prue urges Phoebe out of the theater before Billy comes on screen, and so the two miss the appearance of the demon in the movie.

As the sisters clean up after the attack, Phoebe realizes that the demon had followed her home from the movie. Piper realizes that she's late for her date with Leo. She arrives at the restaurant and Leo isn't angry. The food arrives and Piper notices there's no salt. Leo asks the next table for the salt and finds Dan with his coworker Amelia.

When an accordion player starts playing, Piper freezes the room, unfreezes Leo, and proposes a toast when Leo gets a jingle. Leo starts to orb away, but Piper asks him for a normal exit and unfreezes the room. Leo offers a kiss and a goodbye.

Prue is excited to meet her hero, Finley Beck -- until she actually meets him. He is arrogant, misogynist and condescending.

Leo tells Piper and Phoebe of the Demon of Illusion, a promoter of violence. The sisters believe they have vanquished him, but Leo doesn't think he would have been summoned if that were true. The sisters go back to the theater and find that the Demon of Illusion is now part of Kill It Before It Dies. Billy, on screen, flirts with Phoebe. The Demon of Illusion insults the sisters and Billy tackles him, knocking the demon and himself off screen. The demon escapes. Billy still appears in black and white.

The sisters bring Billy to the attic. He has trouble understanding the world outside of movies. Just the same, he knows the Demon of Illusion; he regularly uses movies to promote violence. Phoebe realizes that the demon was not at the movie, but in the movie when he followed her home. Prue decides to look for horror movies.

Prue, Leo and Piper try to leave when Finley Beck calls. He insists on seeing Prue now. Piper and Leo leave without Prue.

The Demon of Illusion appears in the movie Axe Husband. He offers to get the title character off screen, and sends them after the Charmed Ones. He encourages the audience to riot.

Phoebe applies makeup to Billy, the better that he will appear real. The two flirt and talk. He begins to enjoy being free to live the life of his choice. They kiss, turning his lips back to silver. The phone rings, interrupting them, and Darryl is at the scene of Axe Husband.

Finley continues to criticize Prue's work, finishing with "absolutely no depth". She asks if it's the technique or the subject. She finally tells him off, telling him of her disappointment. An enlargement burns, prompting a catty remark from Finley. As Finley climbs the basement stairs, Prue takes a candid shot, the flash stinging his eyes.

Piper and Leo enter a movie where Bloody Mary is playing. The Demon of Illusion pushes the title character, Bloody Mary off the screen.

Axe Husband attacks Prue in the darkroom. Prue runs to the attic and joins Phoebe and Billy, Axe Husband in pursuit. Piper comes in, fleeing from Bloody Mary, and hears the commotion. She impales Axe Husband with a timber fragment. Phoebe remembers both movies. Axe Husband stirs and the sisters and Billy flee, only to be met by Bloody Mary. Bloody Mary stabs Billy, but he is unharmed, as he is not real, and the sisters escape.Piper hides in the shower, noting how silly that seems. The door creaks and a shadow appears, growing larger -- but it's only Prue. Bloody Mary chases them out and they run into Phoebe and Billy. Phoebe thinks that the only way to kill Axe Husband and Bloody Mary is the way they died in the movies. Phoebe flips Bloody Mary and and kicks her out that much-abused attic window. She disappears. For Axe Husband, it's electrocution; he shows up. Prue flips an electric heater into his hands and then throws water, making him disappear as well.

The doorbell rings, and the four wonder what's on the other side -- but it's only Darryl. He tells of riots at several theaters. The sisters tell him what they know of the Demon of Illusion and the characters coming out of the screen. After Darryl leaves, Billy says the Demon of Illusion travels with his print of Kill It Before It Dies. He'll be back as it is the last screening in San Francisco.

Billy, Phoebe and Piper use potions to enter the movie. They confront the Demon of Illusion, but the movie is about to end. As the last of the film plays, Prue astral projects and finds the projectionist asleep. In time, she finds the reverse button and rewinds the movie. Phoebe and Piper escape, leaving Billy in the movie. The Demon of Illusion comes on screen and taunts the sisters, but Prue remotely stops the projector motor, burning the Demon under the bright light.

Phoebe says her goodbye to Billy.

Piper and Leo are kissing on a sofa when Dan comes over with things that Piper had left at his house. He had hoped she would come back, but now realizes he must move on.

Prue says her editor enjoyed her basement-stairs shot of Finley, and has bought Phoebe a copy of Kill It Before It Dies.

Featured Music

 * "Badway" by Nina Gordon

Glitches

 * Phoebe’s glasses are very different from those she began to use in the last episode. Although it is possible because Phoebe left them with the two men when she asks for direction in How To Make A Quilt Out Of Americans.
 * After Phoebe kisses Billy, all the make-up disappears from his mouth, however none of his make-up ends up on Phoebe.

Quotes

 * (Prue's kneeling on the floor holding her camera and taking photos of Piper, who's looking out the window.)
 * Prue: Hmm, so I think I'll call this "Woman not pretending to look out the window."
 * Piper: How about "Girl about to pour hot tea on sister's head." Let me see. (Prue shows her the photo.) Either I'm that transparent or you're that good.
 * Prue: Well, I don't think I'll comment since you do have hot liquid over my head.

:Prue: Yeah, well, the house is a mess again. I mean, how come we can't fight the demon of cleanliness or the demon of housekeeping, or even that really big bald guy, Mr. Clean? I would so totally take him on.
 * Piper: But I don't get is the order of things. Don't we usually start some place dark and dreary and then end up at the manor for the big old vanquish?
 * Phoebe: Wait a minute. He followed me home. I knew I recognised him from somewhere. He was at the movies and then he followed me home.
 * Prue: Well, he had a reason to attack us, so he would of found us sooner or later.
 * Piper: But the question is why? I mean, we usually don't vanquish someone without knowing who, what, where, when...
 * Prue: Well, what about the how? How did you know how to vanquish him?
 * Phoebe: Well, remember the spell that we used for the bunyip? Well, I just combined that with the one for the demon with the horn coming out of his...
 * Piper: Forehead?
 * Phoebe: Yep.

:Finley Beck: Here. Print this one again, but you need to flag a gradual fade on the wall behind me and burn in the key under my chin. Would you like me to hold your hand this time?
 * Finley Beck: I figured out what's wrong with your photos, Miss Halliwell. Absolutely no depth.
 * Prue: Really? Now would that be the technique, or the subject?
 * Finley Beck: Excuse me?
 * Prue: I wish I could. Your work meant more to me than you will ever know, and because of that, I have carried around this illusion of what it would mean to me to meet you and to learn from you and how that would make me appreciate your work even more, but now it is so hard for me to even look at your pictures because I think of the man who took them, and it is devastating to me to realize that the brilliance of your eye is completely destroyed by the ignorance of your mouth.
 * Negative mounted in enlarger begins to burn. Prue removes it and discards it.
 * Finley Beck: See, that's the thing about art, Miss Halliwell. If you leave your subjects under the light too long, they burn.
 * Beck walks out of the darkroom and up the basement stairs.
 * Prue: (raises a camera) Mr. Beck?
 * Beck turns. Prue snaps a picture and the flash stings his eyes.
 * Prue: Thank you.
 * Finley Beck: (sarcastic) You're welcome.

:Demon of Illusion: Silly Wiccan, tricks are for kids!

:Phoebe: Hey! (Billy looks at Phoebe.) Oh my God, I think he's looking at me.
 * Billy: Hi.
 * Phoebe: Hi.
 * Prue: Okay, I hate to put a damper on your little love connection here, sis, but we need to kick some ass.

:(Phoebe and Billy are still making out. Prue runs in.)
 * Phoebe: Hello, privacy.
 * Prue: Hello, axe murderer.

:(Piper runs in and shuts the bathroom door. She looks around for a place to hide. She gets in the shower and pulls the shower curtain across.)
 * Piper: I am being stalked by psycho killers and I hide in the shower.

:Darryl: So is it over?
 * Piper: Not even close. We don't know how many more are out there and we have no way of stopping the demon from tampering with the audiences, so...
 * Darryl: You used the 'd' word again.
 * Piper: Sorry.