Seeds, a mystery filled with suspense has good directing, acting and a wry tale. The movie does all it can to shock and hide the monster within until the very end, even if you follow the clues to try and figure it out. The film has already been released in select theaters and it’s now available on VOD.
Lilly Milton (Uatchet Jin Juch) is a young girl visiting the Milton homestead built on the edge of a large body of water where she finds a strange seashell that she takes for her collection. Years later we find that Marcus Milton (Trevor Long) the younger of two brothers is now living there. A single man he’s been turning his life into a decadent mess involving loose women that end up dead.
Now a teenage, Lilly (Andrea Chen) has been living with her parents Michael (Chris McGarry) and Grace Milton (Michelle Liu Coghlin) just down the road from her uncle’s home. She notices that the boys she’s been dating are too immature and she has been recently visiting Marcus’s home on her bike. She’s become enamored by his innocent love for her.
One day Michael drops Lilly and her younger brother Spencer off at Marcus’s house for a few days due to an emergency. Grace has left Michael and moved out to live with her parents. Michael wants to go to her mother’s house in hopes of convincing Grace to return. But while the parents are gone there’s a creepy crawly moving around inside Marcus’s house and it’s not too friendly. And then there’s something else going on that shouldn’t be happening as well.
Director and writer Owen Long crams a lot of dialogue and visuals into his hour and a half film. He gives a lot of hints about the strange and unhealthy situation in which Marcus has put himself giving way for Lilly to fall into his charming persona. But, Long also confuses and fools his audience with a lot of symbolism that although has answers to the sensual bonding, never really fleshes out in the end.
I like the performances by the whole cast and especially that of Trevor Long as Marcus and Andrea Chen as Lilly. The two work well together showing the growing desires of Lilly and the strong will of Marcus to avoid his sexual hunger. The two put on a great show even though the complex script takes too many liberties from the audience’s perspective.
Seeds has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains explicit nudity and sex, language, some violence and drug use.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Although very good acting, the story gets very complex. (2.5 out of 5 stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Trevor Long, Andrea Chen, Garr Long, Kevin Breznahan, Chris McGarry, Michelle Liu Coghlin, Adrian Enscoe, Shannon Hartman,
Director and Story by: Owen Long
MPAA Rating: Not Rated contains nudity, sex, drug use, some violence
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Running Time: 1hr. 30 min.
Video Release Date: September 24, 2019
Original Theatrical Release Date:
Language: English
Distributed by: Uncorked Entertainment
Released on: VOD, also currently in select theaters so check your local listings.
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
