If you’re looking for a family-friendly alien invasion movie like E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, you will not find it here. The new out of this world horror comedy, The Seed, is not kid-friendly, but it does feature an incredibly cute alien who has a devious plan for world domination. The Seed is produced by Shudder, Camelot Films and Hardman Pictures, in association with Lipsync Productions, AMP International, The Malta Film Commission and Ingenious Media. The film is written and directed by British filmmaker Sam Walker in his feature film debut.
The Seed stars Lucy Martin (Vikings) as Diedre, Sophie Vavasseur (Resident Evil: Apocapylse) as Heather, and Chelsea Edge (I Hate Suzie) as Charlotte, a group of friends who have bonded over their social media channels. They decide to go to Heather’s family home in the Mojave Desert for a girls’ getaway and to film the upcoming meteor shower to share with their social media followers. What they don’t know is that this trip will change their lives forever.
Diedre is loud and slightly obnoxious, obsessed with taking selfies and obviously a parody of someone who is obsessed with social media, while Charlotte is quiet and reserved, and Heather just wants to enjoy the getaway. The friends spend their first night in the desert partying by themselves and watching the meteor shower. Their party is interrupted when something falls out of the sky and lands in the pool in front of them. A putrid smell emanates from the thing that fell from the sky and as the friends get closer, they realize it has what looks like a face. Charlotte has a history of rescuing animals and insists they take the thing inside to see if it’s alive. Once inside the house, they realize it appears to be a living, breathing creature. Charlotte volunteers to take care of it and wraps it in a blanket. They attempt to do some research to determine what it is, but none of them have cell service in the desert. The next morning, the creature is gone, and the group finally finds it in the grass not far from the house and wonder how it got there.
In an entertaining comedic sequence, a guy named Brett unexpectedly shows up to work in the yard and the trio try to convince him to remove the creature. Brett thinks it’s a dead armadillo and when he attempts to touch it, it moves and screeches causing Brett to run away terrified of whatever it is. Diedre, Heather, and Charlotte drag the creature away from the house and give it some water before they go back to the house to do a photo shoot for social media. The way they are more concerned with their social media presence than with the fact that a creature fell from the sky is quite amusing and a compelling commentary on the modern obsession with social media.
Charlotte is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of the creature crying and brings it back in the house, wraps it in a blanket, and gives it a milkshake. The little, seemingly helpless creature is extremely cute as it snores contentedly. The creature design by 13 Finger FX is reminiscent of a baby frog and despite the fact that it’s not terribly realistic looking, it’s still quite effective as the creature goes from cute and cuddly to alien sex demon who wants to take over the earth.
The Seed boasts a great ensemble cast and Lucy Martin gives a standout performance as the self-absorbed Diedre. When Diedre starts acting strange and unusually hungry, Heather and Charlotte go to the neighbor’s cabin hoping to get a ride back into town. The neighbor isn’t home, but the cabin is filled with electronic equipment and a journal with charts that coincide with the meteor shower. What follows are psychedelic sequences with flashing lights and colors as the creature, which is obviously an alien, seduces Heather and puts her under it’s spell.
Chelsea Edge gives a remarkable performance as Charlotte, who has visions of the alien’s sinister plan and has to decide how to deal with the now pregnant Diedre and Heather. I’m not going to give away how the cute little alien seduces them, but think hallucinogenic, lumpy chocolate pudding. Attempting to describe the plot of this movie sounds like a bad acid trip, but I have to say, The Seed is a fun ride.
Featuring a fantastic cast, who perfectly embody the obsession with social media, wild creature effects, and an intense, blood-splattered final act, The Seed is a highly enjoyable horror comedy.
Movie Score: 3.5/5
The Seed was an Official Selection at Beyond Fest and FrightFest London and will be streaming on Shudder on March 10th.
Michelle credits seeing Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street in the theater as the reason she’s a lifelong horror fan. For the past several years she’s been writing film reviews, conducting interviews, and moderating live panels for various online sites, while also advocating for accessibility and inclusivity in journalism, as a disabled woman working in the horror community. She was previously a featured writer at DreadCentral.com and has also written for Ghastly Grinning, F This Movie!, Nightmarish Conjurings, Horrornews.net, and several other sites. She has also been published in the online zine We Are Horror and wrote an essay for the Blu-ray release of the film Dinner in America for Arrow Films Video. She now resides in Wilmington, NC where she is a member of the North Carolina Film Critics Association.
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