Seeds

TheSTORY-0.75

The premise for this tale of depravity is quite solid and offers up a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, all of them were squandered... that's if they were ever realised at all. And that is the main drawback.

However, it's unclear as to where the seeds in the title come from. It would appear that the main player in this story, Marcus Milton, is infected by a parasite. One that his daughter found in a conch shell. Here is another little vagueness - is it the creature that affects Marcus or is Marcus broken. This isn't the only ambiguity that hinders the project. There is too many to list. With everything being left unanswered it makes everything inconsequential and irrelevant. You cannot relate to it so you don't invest yourself in the story.

And this isn't the only weak thing about the story. The characters are paper-thin and two-dimensional, and this helps to hinder and weaken the tale.

theDIRECTION-0.75

Owen Long, who also penned this travesty is a much better director than he is a writer. There are some very nice pans and sweeps. These are mostly around Marcus walking through the garden or his daughter running through it after finding the conch shell. The rest is quite average and basic. The bad thing is it doesn't add anything to the story it just fundamentally tells the story in pictures.

A little bit of imagination and inventiveness in a few of the darker scenes would have helped a lot. Even in the more ordinary scenes, a different camera angle here or a change in lighting there could have worked wonders.

I have to admit though that the scenes where the parasite becomes visible are the best parts of the film - shot wise. I especially liked the parasite hug scenario, though it wasn't as creepy as it should have been, and the slight reveal in the cellar tableau.

theTEMPO-0.5

As with the story, this is lacklustre and lethargic. I believe Long may have found a cure for insomnia. When the story is mixed with this torpid telling pace you have to fight to stay away. It would have helped some if I actually cared about the story or the characters. If you are going to use a more languid speed to tell a tale that tale and its participants need to be interesting.

theACTING-1.25

This was the biggest surprise of the whole film. The acting varies between okay to good. At least Trevor Long, who portrays Marcus, is a better actor than his kin is a writer or director. Trevor even has screen presence and this lifts the film a little. But this slight rise is deflated when Lily, Andrea Chen, shares screen time with him. Marcus and Lily are the forbidden lovers... but there is absolutely no chemistry between the two. A truly horrendous thing when this is supposed to be a twisted love story.

theGRATIFICATION-0.75

Apart from the couple of scenes I mentioned above, there is very little to like in this slow and boring film. The story needed to be crisper. Some of the mysteries needed to be answered, even if only in a vague fashion. The characters needed to be more believable and meatier. The direction needed more oomph and punch. And the pace needed to be varied.

theSCORE-4

I would not recommend this film to anyone. It's not a horror story, there may be a monster but there's no horror - there's no tangible emotion whatsoever. I'd be hard pushed to call it a fantasy, a drama, or a sci-fi. There is so little of anything it's hard to categorise.

Stay away from this one.

Come and check my lists-come-charts, in this case, Absolute Horror, to see where this film ranks... or to find something better to view.

The director sets the mood right off the bat. Makes you feel you are right there. I understand it can be a little slow paced for some, but it keeps you wanting to watch more. Trevor Long is phenomenal in it! After seeing him in this, then seeing him in Ozark, it's unbelievable to think it's the same actor. This won't be everyone's kind of movie, but if you can understand what the director is going for, you will love it as I did!

"Seeds" isn't unique in its style or concept when telling stories like this, surreal melodrama and psychological horror meant to serve as a metaphor for something else. It is creative, and even with such dark, uncomfortable material, the film is often poetic. Right off, I got impressions of classic horror dramas like "Suspiria" and "Possession". Two films that hardly made sense at times, flowed in a dreamscape of confusion and melanchalia, but managed to be captivating and hypnotic.

"Seeds" is filmed beautifully, the characters hang between detached mimics and relatable, tragic beings. I have to admit though that a lot of the film is muddled in aimless grandeur, and it took far too long for a clear story line to emerge. There is also a very real moment when you understand the metaphorical significance, it all becomes predictable, and I wished for the confusion and mesmer to return.

The horror rests mostly on the psychological elements, more so than the monster aspect. The conflict between ones own morality and propensity for depravity is universal and always relavent. The creature, set aside it's own existence within the film, is menacing when on screen . Strikingly so! Still what I personally wanted was a representation a bit more Lovecraftian, than what I got.

Overall I left the film being a little split on my feelings. There is so much in this film that is told disturbing, beautiful. The acting is superb, and the creativity can't be denied. But I also wanted a bit more actualized, traditional horror. Still "Seeds" is film worth checking out, and a project worthy of recognition.

Firstly, the script is not that great. Some scenes feel like a waste of time. These just drag for no reason, not really establishing anything. Yet new characters appear out of nowhere and still get no introduction anyway. The editing also doesn't help, it's messy and constantly trying to be artsy. There's too much pointless symbolism in this, it's just a basic case of "trying to look smarter that you are". The whole "slowly going insane" thing was managed poorly and the film feels like a disjointed mess rather than a journey down into insanity. The ending love drama while being somewhat justified still doesn't work because they wasted too much time on pointless things and "smart symbolism" instead of building it up. I can see such a story work, but it's just not done well.

Secondly, the main lead's acting hurts me. He's not a good actor and he is constantly bad in this. His acting never changes to reflect any changes in his character. This also takes away from the story. The girl was an ok actress and this film just feels like a waste of her talent. This is a competent film, they had a nice location, some CGI here and there, and this looks good since it was shot on Red cameras (as mentioned in the credits). Some of the music tracks were good, but most of them were misused to build up tension out from nowhere.

What it all boils down to is that this could've been a good psychological love drama. The way they did it is just a boring mess nobody is going to sit through (besides me of course). I wish they would rethink and re-write this and try again, this might work.

Seeds is an upsetting directorial debut that left me wondering what in the hell I'd just seen. A genuinely creepy film. There's something here to make everyone uncomfortable. Acting is right in line with the overarching theme of disturbing tension. There are scenes that are beautifully shot, and the sound design and sound editing really stand out as memorably disturbing. I didn't know whether to drink until I forgot what I'd just seen or watch it again right away.