Synopsis:
What starts out as girls weekend away in the Mojave desert becomes a tale of horror, death and alien invasion.
Editing: Barry Moen
Music: Lucrecia Dalt
Cast: Lucy Martin, Chelsea Edge, Sophie Vavasseur, Jamie Wittebrood, Anthony Edridge
Directors: Sam Walker
Writers: Sam Walker
Cinematography: Ben Braham Ziryab
Over the last year or two, I’ve watched a few horror films use social media influencers as tropes that eventually lead into a blood bath. The Seed joins the rank of what continues to be a collection of movies critiquing those who have nothing of substance to add to their online posts while also not really having anything to add to the conversation itself, other than criticising the majority of the younger generation.
The Seed follows three friends who head to the Mojave desert for a weekend away. Deidre (Lucy Martin) is a social media sensation, Heather (Sophie Vavasseur) an Instagram addict, and Charlotte (Chelsea Edge) who owns a flip phone. While Deidre and Charlotte play the blond cover girls, how Charlotte fits into the friendship group is never explained, and it isn’t very clear how or why she is there. She talks about having a life of a grid; she doesn’t have social media and certainly doesn’t get excited about the idea of bikini shoots in the backyard like Deidre.
The two blonds may be vapid, but the played up stereotypical dialogue of an influencer doesn’t look to challenge the idea of a generation but instead point out how much time an entire generation is wasting online. It’s not a particularly interesting direction for the film and a critique that isn’t fresh or unique. Charlotte doesn’t get the better end of the deal here either as her ‘better than though’ personality and flip phone lead to her being an annoyance rather than a hero. Her lack of technology seemed to be a significant point the film will lean on later as it’s the technology that leads the other girls into trouble, but it’s seemingly just dropped.
Even if Deidre is annoying most of the time, the chemistry between the three actresses is excellent and carries the film’s first half as it’s mostly just the girls talking to one another. That is until the little alien critter shows up, and things start to get a little weird and gross.
I love a good practical creature design, and The Seed ticked all boxes with its creature that looks like an odd mole-rat. The little alien drops from the sky in a meteorite and is both disgusting and cute all at the same time. The basic puppetry leads to simple but effective manoeuvres from the creature, who spends most of its time laying on the ground while the girls figure out what to do with it.
When the last third arrives, The Seeds turns into a film of psychedelic flashes and gruesome discoveries. I did feel, however, that The Seed was tonally left feeling a bit off. The first two-thirds were almost a comedy horror, while the final act highlights the horror aspects and scares for utmost seriousness. Even in the film’s last minutes, the bleak finality of it all didn’t seem to match the over-the-top silliness of the first hour.
I had a bit of fun with The Seed, primarily thanks to the cast who eat up the ridiculous characters they have to channel. Even if the script thinks it’s got more social commentary than what’s truly represented in the final product. Yes, too much social media is bad, but you end up looking like an old man yelling at the clouds without more to say other than that.
