Peoples' thoughts on movies seem to be getting pretty short in this thread...It makes me feel like I'm trying too hard
Seed People
Oh, the joys of VHS hunting at the thrift stores. Just look at that cover. "Root of all Evil..." Pfffft.
Seed People starts in a hospital with geologist, Tom Baines. Tom is rushed into a room with a head injury, spouting about some unknown entity that has to be stopped. From there, Tom narrates the story about his role in what happened in and around Comet Valley.
Three days prior Tom arrived in Comet Valley looking for…comets. Go figure. While he’s there he notices that certain people start acting sort of strange. He’s not the only one to notice, either. His ex-girlfriends niece is walking around, freaking out about how the maid, and even her father, have been taken over or hypnotized. Then she starts talking about monsters. He doesn’t think anything of it at first, until he gets a shocking surprise when he opens the door to his room one afternoon.
Pizza delivery!
Turns out all those comets were seeds and in those seeds are the beginnings of an evil alien plant race bent on taking over the world (Of course). Poor Tom has gotten way more than he bargained for. To make matters worse, the only bridge connecting the town to the rest of civilization is out of commission for three days, leaving Tom to try to convince the few townspeople left who haven’t been infected to help him stop the spread of the evil Seed People.
But we’ll need evidence first. So be sure to sneak around with this bulky, unassuming video camera at all times.
Seed People is a weird combination of
Invasion of the Body Snatchers and
Critters, except without the added benefit of
Critters hokey humor. It’s also a strictly by-the-number B-movie through and through. It’s got the satisfactory, but kind of corny alien costumes, the plucky science guy who tries to bring everyone around, an ex-love interest for the hero, a kid who tries to warn people even though no one believes them (and has the shoulder strength of a linebacker with the way she carries around that video camera), the skeptical, hostile authority figure and the plot that probably could have been completely avoided if that one guy hadn’t poked that ‘strange thing-y’ with a stick.
Look at me! I’m so brilliant! Nothing bad could possibly come of this…
Hell, they’ve even got the prerequisite expert who’s the only person around who knows what’s really going on. Because, of course, in every small town of less than 200 people there’s always a convenient expert available who just so happens to live down the street. That he’s known around town as being bat-shit insane is just icing on the already gooey cliché cake.
Hello, sir. Do you have a minute to talk about our lord and savior, UV Lightsimous? Wait, before we talk, please put on this tinfoil hat...
The special effects of
Seed People wind up being about what you would expect from a B-movie from the early 90’s. The creature costumes don’t look half bad (and yes, they are costumes, not puppets. There are actually people in those little suites), but everything else is pretty dated and a low budget affair.
Great, not only is he floating 2 inches off the ground, but it looks like he’s farting fairies.
It’s is a bit gorier than
Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but those moments are few and far between and any blood used is used sparingly.
I’m also 99% sure it’s some sort of jam.
The acting in the film is pretty good. Most of the characters are likable and the crazy doctor is actually very amusing. There are no standouts, either good or bad, so there’s nothing condemn or praise worthy to look forward to here. So basically the acting is pretty much “average.” The shocked facial expressions, however, are exceptional.
In the end, it’s kind of hard to complain about a movie like
Seed People. I mean, with a title and cover like that you should sort of know what you’re getting into. It’s a typical B-movie that steels plot elements from better films yet somehow still manages to fall just short of ‘good.’ There aren’t really any surprises, and you’ll be able to spot the ending within the first 10 minutes, but I found it to be an enjoyable little low-budget flick. If you like quirky B-movies with low budgets you might find something enjoyable here. At the very least, it’s not a bad way to spend the afternoon.
I'm going to be gone for the weekend (Yay!), which is going to cut into my scary movie time (Boo!). Hopefully I'll be able to get a couple more movies in before the end. I'm looking at you
Trick r' Treat.
