Marcus Milton (Trevor Long) is a rich ass mother fucker that ends up killing a woman dressed as a moth during consensual, though substance enhanced, sex (doubtless more common than one would think among the jet-set). Anyway, after hiring someone to clean up that lil’ indiscretion, Double M hauls ass to family’s New England coastal estate currently occupied by his his brother Michael (Chris McGarry) and his kids, the teenage Lily (Andrea Chen) and her younger bro Spencer (Garr Long).
Speaking of Mikey, that dude soon splits the scene to try and win back his wife, so it’s up to ol’ Uncle Marcus to watch the “children”, which of course is a pretty shitty plan, because Marc-dawg is no Uncle Buck; flippin’ giant pancakes and shit, rather it becomes obvious he has the horny’s for his niece… not that she seems to mind. Of course there’s some sort of preternatural beast involved as well, and that creepy bastard is unlocking all the wrong-ass desires which of course leads to even darker goings-on.
Director Owen Long (who also co-wrote Seeds along with Steven Weisman) succeeds mainly on it’s aesthetics alone. This is the near Lovecraftian story of a man on the precipice of a mental breakdown who experiences something beyond the ken of mortal man… something immeasurably dark that makes him act on base impulses (or does it… more on that in a bit).
The whole affair delights in the unease of uncle and niece drawn ever closer as the horror mounts… a closeness that is fraught with taboo sexual tension, which would be unsettling enough even without the tentacles and spider legs that invade Marcus’ reality.
Speaking of reality, Seeds suffers from that most dreaded of problems; the indecision of whether Marcus is experiencing a true paranormal event, or is just nuttier than a shit-house rat. I can dig on presenting a psychological terror tale, but in the final tally, if things aren’t defined as being a really real supernatural menace I feel cheated… not to mention it seems the filmmakers in those cases are ashamed to fully embrace the horror biz which causes yours cruelly no end of sad face emoji.
That said, Seeds is an incredibly well-crafted and expertly acted dive into a world of truly fucked-up family dynamics, and mind-warping encroaching malevolence, and it shouldn’t be missed!
