Seeds

Seeds (1968)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A mother, an elderly and alcoholic mother, is outraged when her children are invited over to her house for dinner. This here sets loose a lot of old rage and before long everyone is being killed off one by one.

Andy Milligan's SEEDS got a brief theatrical run back in the day but it was a major flop so another company bought the film, took out forty-minutes worth of footage and then filmed around forty-minutes worth of sex scenes. This version was released as SEEDS OF SIN and this is what most people have seen. In 2016 a restoration was done to try and complete Milligan's original version of SEEDS and that's what is reviewed here.

I must say that I think Milligan was a horrible filmmaker but his films are quite interesting to watch and there's no doubt that the man himself was quite fascinating. SEEDS is a rather interesting film because it features some awful acting, lame dialogue, bad camera-work and I'd argue that on most levels you'd consider it a bad film. However, it's actually rather entertaining because of all of these things and I must admit that it help my attention because this family drama, a real train wreck of a family, pretty much explodes on the screen like a train wreck.

I called the performances awful and that's a bit too extreme. They certainly aren't Oscar-material but at the same time they are all interesting to watch. They are bad and some are over-the-top but at the same time it adds an interesting element to the characters. The characters here seem like from an alternate universe and that's basically what Milligan's film seems like. Strange characters in a strange world and it's got some very nasty and mean things going on. In a Milligan type of way, SEEDS works.

Seeds of Sin (1968)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Somewhat of a producer's cut of Andy Milligan's lost film Seeds, which adds various sex scenes in so that the film could be sold to sex theaters. With all the added sex scenes it's really impossible to judge Milligan's original film but for this here it isn't too bad. The sex scenes will certainly keep you interested and they're actually better done than what you'd normally see in a film like this. I'm still new to Milligan's work and I've heard it can have its certain charm but I've yet to witness any of that.

A HEAVILY dysfunctional family gets together for the holidays. This leads to multiple murders (all badly done) and quite a few sex inserts that feature none of the original cast! This was originally shot as a straight-forward exploitation film with little skin. The producers saw it and decided to change it. They cut out key scenes that explained the plot, inserted some seriously terrible music that occasionally drowns out the actors dialogue, inserted some soft core sex scenes (seemingly at random) with two people who aren't even in the movie! They turned what MIGHT have been an OK movie into an incomprehensible mess. Still the script (or what's left of it) isn't bad, the acting is pretty good (even though some actors REALLY chew the scenery) and a lot of dramatic sequences really work. However the sex scenes the producers inserted pop up all over the place and go on for up to 5 minutes! The two actors (a guy and a girl) ARE attractive and have nice bodies so they're not a chore the watch...but their scenes totally destroy the flow of the story. So what's left is what might have been a pretty good film destroyed by editing and inserting pointless sex. A 3.

If you really want to see what Milligan intended, skip the main film. It is cluttered with boring softcore inserts that are tedious. Seeds is an interesting film about a dysfunction family gathered for Christmas as the home of an almost insane Matriarch (Maggie Rogers) One of the family is killing off the family. It's a crude but fascinating look at palpable hate and loathing. There is not one character who is a positive person the viewer can like. One character, Carol, is interestingly played by Candy Hammond, who was briefly married to Milligan. As mentioned, the producers, concerned the film was too dark and not sexy enough, all true, inserted the straight, boring softcore stuff. It doesn't come close to matching the characters. As mentioned, go to extras and watch the Milligan print; you'll see a unique film that's not for all tastes but is a great sampling of Milligan's art.

I saw this film as it was the second feature on a disc containing the previously banned Video Nasty 'Blood Rites'. As Blood Rites was entirely awful, I really wasn't expecting much from this film; but actually, it would seem that trash director Andy Milligan has outdone himself this time as Seeds of Sin tops Blood Rites in style and stands tall as a more than adequate slice of sick sixties sexploitation. The plot is actually quite similar to Blood Rites, as we focus on a dysfunctional family unit, and of course; there is an inheritance at stake. The film is shot in black and white, and the look and feel of it reminded me a lot of the trash classic 'The Curious Dr Humpp'. There's barely any gore on display, and the director seems keener to focus on sex, with themes of incest and hatred seeping through. The acting is typically trashy, but most of the women get to appear nude at some point and despite a poor reputation, director Andy Milligan actually seems to have an eye for this sort of thing, as many of the sequences in this film are actually quite beautiful. The plot is paper thin, and most of the film is filler; but the music is catchy, and the director also does a surprisingly good job with the sex scenes themselves, as most are somewhat erotic. Overall, this is not a great film; but it's likely to appeal to the cult fan, and gets a much higher recommendation than the better known and lower quality 'Blood Rites'.

Say what you want about Andy Milligan - but if his family was even 10% as deranged as the one in this film, well then I guess he could have turned out worse. Unfortunately, the video print of this film contains sex scene inserts originally shot by the distributor to boost the picture's box office appeal. Several times during the film Milligan's ugly camerawork and silent film music abruptly ends, and suddenly good-looking stand-ins for Milligan's homely actors take over and start doing it to psychedelic 60's guitar rock. It's pretty easy to fast-forward through if you're trying to pay attention to Milligan's original film, which, unfortunately, is missing quite a bit of action that was cut to make room for the added sex scenes. What remains, however, is still compelling stuff. I don't think I've ever seen a more hateful mother in any film before.