Seed (2007)

Very disappointing...

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The Plot. Max Seed, a mass murderer, is scheduled for execution at the hands of Warden Wright. Before the executioner throws the switch, Wright steps in front of Seed, "Do you have any last words?" Seed, " I'll see you again." After three attempts to electrocute, complete with boiling blood that steeps from his eyes, he's still alive. The executioner, Wright & the doctor collectively agree, that the breathing Seed be pronounced dead. He is bound and buried alive. After biting & clawing his way to the surface, Seed, the blood soaked, enraged madman, is now bent on vengeance. The reign of violence that follows will redefine the boundaries of extreme gore, physical & mental torture explored through cinema.Not sure why the poster has a woman in the electric chair.The movie makes little sense. It's not very good. It's cheaply put together and the plot is hard to follow because there's not real direction.The death scenes are about the only good parts to the movie in that they are super gory. But in the end, they are not worth the time between deaths. Too boring.

2007's "Seed" is a retro-slasher from Uwe Boll, meant to lament a frustration over his cold reception into the horror world. More people seem to hate him than like him, it seems. There has only been a handful of films that Boll has directed that are in my wheelhouse as far as what I will watch. I actually liked more of those than I hated. I can't speak for him based on all his material because a lot of the films he has made aren't films I would watch regardless of the director or star. As far as "Seed" is concerned, I found the film to be a dark, graphic, and blunt expressionist nightmare. The story gives rise to a brutal, stoic killer that seems to kill for the shear pleasure of the torturous process of killing his victims. Not sure the motive, or reason for the obsession other than it appears to be his fetish, not the act of taking the life but the process by which the body finally breaks, along with the gruesome and macabre aftermath. All of which Uwe Boll forces the viewer to experience head on. "Seed" is filmed in heavy atmospheric surrealism, blended with moments of splatter gore. Set in the 70's, the backdrop is as macabre and depressing as the notion of witnessing the life leave someone you love. The killer, Seed, is a large, terrifying force of cruelty and death, shown completely and utterly without remorse or compassion. I am not even sure if he understands an actual difference between right and wrong. It wasn't really established. Normally that would be an issue, however Boll frames the whole story as if we stepped into the middle of a horror unfolding. It forces you to either check out completely or set up and figure out the situation as you go. I actually enjoyed that because it made the viewing experience slightly uncomfortable. The acting is pretty good in "Seed". Most of the film is build on tense emotional interactions with limited dialog. The soundtrack and character conflicts tell most of the story. The dialog that does happen is based in the present with now "wordy" reflections or deep philosophical speeches to justify what we are seeing. The film really does feel classic in nature. The cinematography reminded me of "Hellraiser: Inferno", with heavy noir elements. For me personally there is more that works here than goes wrong. The special effects and soundtrack combine to give "Seed" that total horror feel. The slasher side of Boll's vision is strong in the kill/death sequences. Most are practical effects that really push the comfortability level-moving into heavy splatter / gore territory. The downside is that, in a couple of the scenes, CGI spoils the overall effect of realism that is created by most of the other deaths. Uwe Boll has a habit of taking the effects one step to far into the tacky –where the CGI becomes too obvious to let the scene have a strong impact. Plus some of the sound effects, although very creepy and effect, seem like rip-offs of films that have come before "Seed". But overall, "Seed" is an entertaining, brutal piece of slasher/ horror that most fans will enjoy-I did.

If there is one thing I cannot take, it is anyone who gives an opinion, review, etc. of something that involves "insulting" those of a different opinion. Take Author: zarakian_58 from United Kingdom's Review: "badly directed garbage. a mediocre nihilist sadistic gorefest ... if you are the sort of person who likes that ... see a shrink". So, I LOVED this movie, hence perhaps I should skip the shrink and move into the asylum. Stay off the review pages unless you can review objectively AND subjectively without insulting those of a different ilk.Back to the movie. While this is a horror movie, without a doubt, it is also a crime thriller involving the search for the serial killer, "Seed", the search led by the detective Matt Bishop played by the under-rated Michael Pare'. He is caught early in the movie, but after surviving two attempts in the electric chair, he is buried alive to avoid a third attempt that if survived would give him his freedom. He escapes the grave, begins a new killing rampage, exacts revenge on the prison employees who oversaw his "death" and burial, and the investigation for the "copycat killer" begins.This film is brutal, but Seed himself is no worse than a Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate his victims. Seed tortures and kills his victims over and over. These scenes are some of the goriest and most shocking I have ever seen.This is everything a horror film should be: Horrifying, shocking, scary, terrible antagonist, sympathetic protagonist, and with great special effects thrown in. Solid acting and plot for a low budget effort (Don't forget-classics like Halloween and Night of the Living Dead were also extremely low budget). Eight Stars-One of the best torture horror films I have seen in a while.Back to Michael Pare': I have always thought that Michael Pare' has never gotten the respect he deserved. Watch "Eddie and the Cruisers", "The Philadelphia Experiment" or even "Streets of Fire" (Not a good film, but great performances by a young Willem Dafoe and Diane Lane). While earlier in his career, he shows emotion, drama ability, can handle action scenes, and just has overall screen presence. Somehow he has gotten stuck in smaller supporting roles and in B movies. Another example of his B movie prowess, Pare is excellent as the detective hunting for the serial killer in this film.One last note: I recommend skipping the first few minutes of this film which show real footage of animal torture taken from PETA. While this footage helps the Director, Boll, to get his point on "human nature" across along with the rest of the film, I find it unbearable to watch.

The name Uwe Boll is automatically linked to bad horror/cult cinema and every new movie he releases – which is about two, three per year – immediately always receives negative ratings and harsh criticism. You're actually almost tempted to think this is just a contemporary hype. You know, like it's popular to hate Uwe Boll whether you liked his movies or not. Let me just assure you that this is NOT the case. Uwe Boll is a terrible writer/director and quite frankly a menace to the entire film-making industry. "Seed" is another most unfortunate of proof that. In here, Boll tries so desperately hard to come across as controversial and shocking that he overlooks numerous other elements that any movie essentially needs to exist, like a plot, a narrative structure, character development, tension building… "Seed" is a hideous movie, full of gratuitous filth and incompetent padding footage. I once read that "Seed" was Uwe Boll's interpretation of the nowadays popular horror trend of Torture Porn flicks, but that's not even close. The film inarguably does borrow some influences from "Saw" and "Hostel", but basically it's just another umpteenth dull slasher with an indestructible killer and video game violence. The first 45 minutes of "Seed" are beyond boring and actually just confirm all the obvious things you already knew were going to happen. For you see, Boll was stupid enough to begin his film with a (hyper- fast) scrolling text explaining there's a federal US law claiming that death row prisoners have to be set free if three attempts to electrocute them fail. So you know this will happen later on, but still the first three quarters are wasted on catching a serial killer and bringing him to the electric chair. Seed is a mute serial killer who supposedly slaughtered 666 victims (exaggerate much?) who wears a bag over his head. He watches real-life animal cruelty footage (and thus WE watch real-life animal cruelty footage; thanks for that Mr. Boll) and videotapes people as the slowly decompose in their cellar (including a crying baby which is really sick and twisted). When he's finally captured, during the most amateurish and implausible police manhunt ever filmed, and put on death row, the film even becomes more retarded. After being buried alive because the electric chair couldn't fry him, Max Seed crawls back to the surface and goes on a brand new killing spree; this time mainly focusing on the people who arrested and executed him. The senseless plot twists and complete lack of story depth of this movie go way past being just bad; they're downright infuriating and insulting the intelligence level of the average horror movie fanatic. Multiple twists and sub plot in "Seed" are simply impossible to accept by the reasonable functioning human mind because they're just too dumb! Nobody believes that cops and prison staff members will just bury a mass murderer alive without shooting a few bullets through his head first. Nobody will accept that a fugitive convict cannot be found for another six months even though he went straight back to the exact same hideout place where they first caught him! "Seed" is full of retarded little things like these and the movie gets dumber with each minute that passes. Personally, I refuse to accept that the cast & crew members didn't notice this as well. It really makes you think that Uwe Boll simply neglects all advice and criticism, and just stubbornly shoots his movies the way he wants to. I imagine his yelling stuff like "shut up and do as you are told" to his actors whenever they remark that the scene they're shooting doesn't make a lick of sense. Just for the fun of upsetting people, there's a gigantically overlong sequence where Max Seed smashes an elderly lady to death with a hammer whilst she's tied up to a chair in the middle of her own living room. Instead of shocking, as Boll intended it to be, this sequence masterfully epitomizes how pathetic and wannabe controversial the whole film in fact is. "Seed" is horrendous, it's disgusting, it's pitiable, it's … Boll.