A few weeks ago the horror streaming platform Shudder released The Seed as part of their Exclusive and Original content.

The film sees Sam Walker in the director’s chair for the first time overseeing a feature length movie, and is centred in the Mojave desert where 3 girls are settling in for a weekend retreat. Their plans however, would  be disrupted due to a bizarre alien invasion.

The choice of location may seem a strange choice but is packed with promise for it’s remoteness and ripe with tapping into dealing with a crisis when isolated from society.

What surprised me though is that The Seed gets swamped in vacuousness, both in narrative and character depth. There is simply nothing here for the audience to grab hold of.

The girls in question are some of the most frustrating characters I’ve seen on screen in some time with no redeeming features whatsoever, particularly from Deidrie (Lucy Martin) and Heather (Sophie Vavaseur).

These so called friends are so self-consumed (which I get is the point) that any grace we would have for their predicament dies along with their performances. Any vein attempt to dilute their negative energy with our lead protagonist Charlotte (Chelsea Edge) who at least has some sense and is in touch with reality, is lost in the mirth of pained scripting choices.

What is does boast is some creditability in the effects department, creating some suitably gross visual creature effects in the alien life forms design. If this is anything to go by there is still potential from Sam Walker to produce something worthy, but we’re too bogged down by it’s obvious weaknesses for this area alone to warrant any high praise.

The Prognosis:

Quite simply, this movie is dull and lifeless

The characters propel you from the narrative and there is little care to hold your attention beyond some fairly decent visuals.