What is Shudder Original film The Seed about?

The Seed became available to stream on Shudder last week, and it’s quite a wild (and gooey) ride. Our readers want to know what it’s all about, so 1428 Elm is here to help.

If I had to describe The Seed in just a few words, I would say that it’s a mashup of cosmic horror and body horror with a dash of fun thrown in the mix. Don’t go into it expecting it to be a more serious film like Color Out of Space (though there are some similarities in the more psychedelic scenes of both).

Our three main characters are young women of different types. Charlotte(Chlesea Edge) is pretty grounded, and not at all into technology or social media. Her phone is outdated, she doesn’t even have an Instagram account (the horror!). In one of the funniest moments, she tries to give some solid facts, and Dee scathingly says, “What do you know? You don’t even Google!”

Heather (Sophie Vavasseur) is the rich girl. When she and her two friends decide to take off for a fun weekend, the fancy house they stay in belongs to her father. She seems to be pretty tight with Charlotte, but wants to impress social media maven Dee.

Dee (Lucy Martin) is the most vapid (and self confidant) of the three. She considers herself a social media star, and is all about materialism. You get the feeling she is only friends with Heather because of her money.

It’s most likely Dee who hatches the plan to go to the Mojave Desert so they can film the upcoming meteor shower and put it up on her social media accounts. And, everything goes as planned at first, as the girls get dressed up, drink and watch the meteor shower when it starts. And this meteor shower is a doozy! Of course, Dee nearly misses it, so involved is she in complaining about her phone signal blinking in and out. But once she looks to the skies, even she is impressed.

The girls are having a good time until something crash lands in the pool, and that something is a weird, pulsating blob covered in black slime. They leave it on the pool deck for the night, and the next morning, they follow the slimy trail it leaves behind, finding a strange looking creature is laying out in the sun. It’s crying and writhing, and when the girls try to move it, it’s very heavy.

That creature in The Seed looks oddly familiar

Soon enough, the creature (which looks like a weird, mutated version of ET) begins to control Dee, then Heather, and it even tries to take Charlotte over, but she manages to fight it off.

I won’t give away any more plot details than that, but suffice it to say that The Seed takes a turn into darker territory after the creature is moved into the house. The mind control scenes are pretty trippy and surreal, and there is plenty more of the black slime to come.

I really enjoyed The Seed, but if I have to pinpoint a weakness, it’s that it doesn’t know what kind of film it really wants to be. Is it meant to be satire? Dark comedy? There are plenty of satiric and funny moments, but the final thirty minutes or so gets pretty serious and dark, without the comedic overtones.

The actresses are good, and do a really great job of portraying three very different character types. Lucy Martin is fantastic as the one you love to hate, and delivers her snotty lines to great effect.

Overall, I think Shudder has once again given subscribers a pretty cool film with The Seed, and one that isn’t the same old same old.

Did you watch the Seed? Give us your own mini-review in the comments section.