I'm going to confess, I didn't have much hope for Seedpeople when I stuck it on. It's one of those movies I've been loosely aware of for several years, but never really appealed to me, despite my love of B-Movies. Alien plant people sounded a little too on the nose 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' for me. Sticking this on was the result of a very bored Friday before payday. When the Full Moon logo greeted me, my heart sank.
The film is narrated, from his hospital bed, by Tom Baines (Sam Hennings) a meteorologist who had returned to his home town of Comet Valley to investigate a meteor that has crashed.
Here he has to link up with his former flame Heidi (Andrea Roth) and her teenage niece Kim (Holly Fields) whom she is now guardian of. The town has all of the classic small town tropes here, from Heidi's suspicious new boyfriend, the Sheriff Brad (Dane Witherspoon) and town nutjob Doc (Bernard Kates).
Kim has been raising eyebrows and causing Heidi stress by stating townspeople aren't who they say they are, something that also rings true of Doc. The more Tom investigates the 'meteorite' he realises it, and certain people, are not what it seems. With the town isolated due to bridge repairs, Tom realises the Doc might be right, and the pair might have to join forces to take on this alien threat.
I'm gonna come right out and say it, I was pleasantly surprised by this. It's silly, but in the most wonderful of ways. Despite being made in 1992, this looks, and feels, very much like it was made in 1985, and that's more a compliment than a criticism. It reminds me a bit of Critters, and while nowhere near as good, that's a good thing.
While this doesn't have an original bone in its body, it moves at a brisk pace, offers some fun characters, creative effects and entertaining set pieces. If Charles Band was capable of stuff like this, why did he persist with so many rubbish killer doll films?
The creatures themselves are fun. There are different types, with no real explanation, and while not exactly a masterclass in realism, the practical effects used to bring them to life are fun. The designs remind me of the little sidekick monster characters you'd get with some 80s action figures. The Ghostlings from Supernaturals meet Real Ghostbusters Companion Ghosts.
Acting is, well not great, but better than your average Full Moon feature. I mean all of the principle cast have acted to a decent standard since then.
When all is said and done, you can't honestly call this a good movie, but at the same time...it's largely some good, mostly clean, B-Movie Sci-Fi horror fun. It's not really scary or gruesome, so I can imagine I'd have enjoyed this as a kid.
If you like 80s B-Movies, there's a solid chance you'll get a kick out of this. It's not worth going out of your way to track down, but it'll pass a night in a fairly good fun manner.
