Seed (2007)

Now that’s what I’m talking about! Baghead’s film career must have gone downhill since this film, which came out a year before his self titled film came out and he has subsequently disappeared. Which is a shame because this film is actually quite good. And before anyone points out, yes I do know the two films have nothing to do with each other. Also, if you look on IMDB, we have this poster to our right. I don’t know why.

‘Seed’ follows a serial killer called Max Seed (Will Sanderson), who has just been caught after killing six hundred and sixty six people in six years (Do you see what they did there?). Seed, who I will be calling Baghead now since he wears a bag on his head,  has been sentenced to death by electric chair. However there’s this state law where if a convict survives being shocked three times by 15000 volts for forty five seconds, that convict gets to be released. Baghead survives being shocked twice.

Now, I admit I have difficulty believing this state law, but I still watched the film anyway. While planning to write this review I actually decided to Google this so called state law, and from what I’ve found, this law doesn’t or has never existed, since I cannot find any trace of it whatsoever.

Instead of risking Baghead surviving a third shock and being released to slaughter people again, the guards on Death Row decide to bury him alive. Without restrains. And only a couple feet underground. And they didn’t shoot him or anything. You can see what happens. Hey the opening text scroll gives away the plot in the first ten seconds.

We also follow Detective Matt Bishop (Michael Pare), the man who managed to stop Baghead, after Baghead killed Bishop's squad. Bishop has nightmares about seeing what Baghead has done to his victims, which include taking a baby and, presumably its mother, keeping them trapped in an underground cellar alone and, I guess, leaves them to starve, filming the whole thing (And then films the maggots eating the body while it decomposes).

Bishop isn’t the smartest tool in the shed though, I mean, one way that Bishop can help cure himself of these nightmares is to NOT WATCH THE TAPES. Bishop finds that Baghead has crawled out of the grace, he quicckly fills in the dirt, apparently trying to hide the fact that he's alive from  the still living guards at Death Row. But then it's revealed that the police know anyway, and that they're trying to hide the fact that Baghead's alive. Why, I don't know. Well, okay, I assume it's so that the police aren't humiliated, but they could just say that Baghead did die, but he, unfortunately, came back to life. I don't understand the secrecy. Then there's the fact that the police apparently didn't think to check Baghead's old hideout! Morons!


There are some stupid or bland lines of dialogue, the main example being a Death Row inmate who tells the warden (Ralf Moeller) that everyone knows that they buried Baghead alive and that "Karma's a bitch". A bit hypocritical coming from an inmate who did something so horrible he was put on Death Row for it, but I digress.


That and the film is constantly broken up as we're constantly alternating between present day and flashbacks. It wouldn't be so bad, but the flashbacks are just suddenly thrown at us so it's confusing whether we're watching a flashback or a current event. That being said the director does this in the best way possible, as it keeps us hooked since we want to know more about what happened.


That being said, this isn’t a bad film. The characters are well rounded, the pace is great, and the acting is fairly decent. Sure, there are blips in the acting and dialogue, but it is still pretty good, the film does make you care about the characters. The Baghead character is actually a really great character, we delve deeply into the character and see that he isn’t just some cheap copy of Jason Voorhees or Michael Myers. We actually feel some sort of sympathy for the guy, especially when the second execution attempt sets him on fire. After seeing ‘The Green Mile’, you know that that is inflicting a great amount of pain. And the ending is one of the best I’ve seen in a long, long time.

For a film which is quite bloody, with some real animal cruelty footage donated from PETA (Which is even more disturbing), it doesn’t directly focus on the gore like so many other films like ‘The Human Centipede 2’ or the ‘Hostel’ trilogy do. The film squirms its way into your head, it gets into your mind, and to great effect.

Wow, a film this good, I just have to wonder who directed it, who wrote it, heck, who produced it! Let’s have a look. It must be some up and coming new director, a brilliant writer, it must be a perfectionist, it must be...UWE BOLL?! That guy?! The guy who basically destroys any film adaptation of a video game? Hell, the guy who basically destroys anything he touches?!

Well, okay, let’s face it, the film has its problems, but for an Uwe Boll film...it’s pretty damn decent. You’re going to think I’m crazy, but, this Uwe Boll film is good. This film is proof that not everything Boll touches is destined to the scrapheap. I believe there are some other Boll films which are pretty good, ‘Rampage’ for a start, and while ‘Seed’ isn’t a brilliant film, it’s one of his better ones. I just think it’s great Baghead was given a film he so rightfully deserves.