Seeds Review : Monsters on the inside

Horror comes in many forms : surprise, terror, revulsion, dread, etc. Other times,
it’s the uncomfortable creepiness of the situation that makes it horrific. Seeds is a prime example of the latter.

Written and directed by what appears to be first time filmmaker (via IMDb at least) Owen Long, Seeds stars Trevor Long and Andrea Chen. The tagline is “A story of temptation and monsters. That does sum up the plot quite nicely.

The movie starts out with some Terrence Malick infused with David Lynch imagery. Through the fast cuts, it is revealed that a young girl has found a sea shell with some mysterious creature inside and that a man is living a rather debaucherous lifestyle. When the edits slow down, the plot unfolds as Marcus has moved back into his family home to sort out his life. He agrees to watch after his brother Michael’s children, Lily and Spencer, and soon strange occurrences begin to happen.

Horror of this tale isn’t oddly just the monster we see stalking its prey but also the monsters inside. The focus is mostly on a very inappropriate and taboo relationship between the uncle and niece. This is where the film becomes unsettling. It’s creepy as shit, mostly because it’s hard to watch what is transpiring between the two. The metaphor for the monster inside has never been more prevalent.

Cinematography for the movie is quite good. The acting is well delivered and the story, though never giving up all the answers, is satisfying. Seeds is not a traditional horror flick though but rather a case study in perversion and inappropriate desires. It isn’t all that scary but it sure does get under the skin.

Seeds releases on September 13th.