Written and directed by Sam Walker, The Seed is a fun feature film debut that boasts gore-filled antics as vivid as the film’s color palette. The Seed strikes the perfect balance between Hollywood aesthetic and B-movie camp, breathing a chic sensibility into the old sci-fi horror premises of alien invasion and body snatching. Headed by a highly stylized, feminine posse of friends, Walker builds a rollercoaster of a sci-fi feature, going from a weekend getaway, to body snatching, to alien invasion without missing a beat (or beatings).

Three girlfriends — Charlotte (Chelsea Edge), Deidre (Lucy Martin), and Heather (Sophie Vavasseur) — go to an idyllic vacation home in the middle of the desert to enjoy viewing the meteor shower of a lifetime. Obsessed with likes and follower views, Deidra sets out to film the affair for her social media channel, but soon finds that there is no service. After the oddly mesmerizing celestial show, the girls realize that an unexpected visitor has crashed landed into their girl’s trip, stinking up the backyard, and eventually, stinking up their vacation plans by attempting to control their bodies. The girls must fight not only for their lives but also for the survival of their friendship, as the alien tests the strength of both their bodies and their bond.

The outset of The Seed had me questioning the potential production quality of this film, as the sound design faired on shot-on-video quality and had volume issues. However hypnotic visuals and compelling performances soon took over, and The Seed proved to be an increasingly riveting watch. Each scene in The Seed was better than the last, ending on a high note that reminded me of something out of an exploitation movie — stuffed with killer twists and violent standoffs. With the color hues seemingly turned up to their full brightness at times, the cinematography screamed ‘inspired by David Lynch,’ but the premise itself screamed B-movie flick — a combination that proved to be entertaining, though also over-the-top at times.

The film called for its actresses to get down and dirty, dripping with evermore blood and alien fluids as the film escalated into a back and forth blow between the alien and the film’s scrappy women. Lucy Martin stood out in particular, who was seemingly given the meatier body-acting moments and did a fairly good job at delivering the unnatural quirks and ticks of telepathic alien possession. What’s more, the practical effects of the blood and fluids that Deidre and other characters were drenched in looked very good. The film really leaned into practical effects in the second half of the film, complete with a great creature moment that showed off special makeup effects in the film’s arguably one moment of terror.

Available on Shudder’s streaming platform beginning March 10th, The Seed is a “Hollyweird film” that sets its campy ET premise against the background of a Hollywood aesthetic. The film may start out rocky and take a while to find a firm footing in its science-fiction premise, however, its second half is a lot more exciting than its first, and overall, The Seed was a fun watch despite some technical difficulties.

6.5 out of 10