TheSTORY-0.75
The premise for this tale of depravity is quite solid and offers up a lot of opportunities. Unfortunately, all of them were squandered... that's if they were ever realised at all. And that is the main drawback.
However, it's unclear as to where the seeds in the title come from. It would appear that the main player in this story, Marcus Milton, is infected by a parasite. One that his daughter found in a conch shell. Here is another little vagueness - is it the creature that affects Marcus or is Marcus broken. This isn't the only ambiguity that hinders the project. There is too many to list. With everything being left unanswered it makes everything inconsequential and irrelevant. You cannot relate to it so you don't invest yourself in the story.
And this isn't the only weak thing about the story. The characters are paper-thin and two-dimensional, and this helps to hinder and weaken the tale.
theDIRECTION-0.75
Owen Long, who also penned this travesty is a much better director than he is a writer. There are some very nice pans and sweeps. These are mostly around Marcus walking through the garden or his daughter running through it after finding the conch shell. The rest is quite average and basic. The bad thing is it doesn't add anything to the story it just fundamentally tells the story in pictures.
A little bit of imagination and inventiveness in a few of the darker scenes would have helped a lot. Even in the more ordinary scenes, a different camera angle here or a change in lighting there could have worked wonders.
I have to admit though that the scenes where the parasite becomes visible are the best parts of the film - shot wise. I especially liked the parasite hug scenario, though it wasn't as creepy as it should have been, and the slight reveal in the cellar tableau.
theTEMPO-0.5
As with the story, this is lacklustre and lethargic. I believe Long may have found a cure for insomnia. When the story is mixed with this torpid telling pace you have to fight to stay away. It would have helped some if I actually cared about the story or the characters. If you are going to use a more languid speed to tell a tale that tale and its participants need to be interesting.
theACTING-1.25
This was the biggest surprise of the whole film. The acting varies between okay to good. At least Trevor Long, who portrays Marcus, is a better actor than his kin is a writer or director. Trevor even has screen presence and this lifts the film a little. But this slight rise is deflated when Lily, Andrea Chen, shares screen time with him. Marcus and Lily are the forbidden lovers... but there is absolutely no chemistry between the two. A truly horrendous thing when this is supposed to be a twisted love story.
theGRATIFICATION-0.75
Apart from the couple of scenes I mentioned above, there is very little to like in this slow and boring film. The story needed to be crisper. Some of the mysteries needed to be answered, even if only in a vague fashion. The characters needed to be more believable and meatier. The direction needed more oomph and punch. And the pace needed to be varied.
theSCORE-4
I would not recommend this film to anyone. It's not a horror story, there may be a monster but there's no horror - there's no tangible emotion whatsoever. I'd be hard pushed to call it a fantasy, a drama, or a sci-fi. There is so little of anything it's hard to categorise.
Stay away from this one.
Come and check my lists-come-charts, in this case, Absolute Horror, to see where this film ranks... or to find something better to view.
