‘The root of all evil…’
Seedpeople aka Seed People – is a 1992 American science fiction horror film directed by Peter Manoogian (Demonic Toys; The Dungeonmaster ‘Cave Beast’) ) from a screenplay written by Jackson Barr (Robot Wars; Bad Channels; Subspecies), based on an original idea (!) by Charles Band.
The Full Moon Entertainment production stars Sam Hennings, Andrea Roth, Dane Witherspoon and Bernard Kates.
Plot:
Geologist Tom (Sam Hennings) is in a hospital emergency room, where his medical care is forcibly interrupted by an FBI agent. Via a flashback, Tom recalls giving a presentation about meteorites to the townspeople of Comet Valley, where he soon becomes stranded because the only bridge in or out of the town is closed for maintenance.
Tom stays at the bed and breakfast run by his ex-wife, Heidi (Andrea Roth). In the meantime, Heidi’s daughter Kim (Holly Fields) is using a camcorder to try and prove the existence of alien invaders…
Reviews:
“Everything cliché about monster movies and paranoia is thrown in here. We even get the predictable love triangle aspect! The film also rips off Invasion of the Body Snatchers so much that it even has the people taken over show no emotion. Come on! You might as well called it Body Snatchers Cash-In for Christ sake!” Blood Brothers
“All in all it’s pretty predictable, but it’s good fun and is the sort of charming, schlocky monster movie they don’t make these days, apart from maybe Slither. Plus it’s nice to watch a horror/sci-fi movie where at least some of the characters are actually quite likeable.” Blueprint: Review
” …sort of plods along with the audience way ahead of the script (the flashback structure, the narrations, and the cuts back to the present kill whatever momentum the film might have had). John Carl Buechler‘s monsters are silly (and not in the entertaining way they usually are) and the gore is well within R-rated standards of the nineties…” DVD Beaver
“Witless yet harmless, it’s a patch of hydroponic hysterics tended by the fun-to-say Peter Manoogian (The Dungeonmaster), a staple of the Band payroll, such as it is.” Flick Attack
“Alas, Seedpeople fails to work as a body snatchers story simply because the goo and slime effects is the only level that the film works on. Peter Manoogian is either unable to or disinterested in evoking any of the paranoid atmosphere and the shock of dehumanisation themes that the genre thrives on – he seems only interested in pop-up effects.” Moria
” …what’s different about Seedpeople is that it remains pretty engaging, even when the rollie pollie monsters aren’t on-screen. The film has a lot of early ’90s charm, and the script backs it up with outlandish characters and occurrences.” Silver Emulsion Film Reviews
“As an unabashed riff on the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, director Peter Manoogian’s Seedpeople isn’t the worst film of its kind… but it’s an incredibly lackluster and go-nowhere sort of picture, one which promotes complacency, as opposed to the sort of fear and anxiety reserved for the truly successful sorts of horror films.” George Pacheco, 10K Bullets
” …Seedpeople never looks chintzier than when its monsters are onscreen. These creations by John Buechler, who usually does better on his low budgets, are among the most laughable movie monsters in recent years, rendering the film more reminiscent of From Hell It Came than the intended inspiration.” TV Guide
“This has all been done before and has been done better but I still can’t say that I hated this movie […] While not on the same level as more popular titles as Puppetmaster or Trancers series, this was still a silly yet uninspired outing from the folks at Full Moon.” The Video Graveyard
Cast and characters:
- Sam Hennings … Tom Baines – Night Angel
- Andrea Roth … Heidi Tucker – The Collector; The Untold; The Stepdaughter; The Club; The Psychic; The Hitchhiker TV series; Friday the 13th: The Series; The Jitters
- Dane Witherspoon … Brad Yates – Asteroid
- Bernard Kates … Doc Roller – Robo Warriors; The Outer Limits TV series
- Holly Fields … Kim Tucker
- John Mooney … Frank Tucker
- Anne Betancourt … Mrs. Santiago – The Atticus Institute; The Strain TV series; Jack’s Back
- David Dunard … Ed Busta
- Charles Bouvier … Thurman Rudd
- Sonny Carl Davis … Burt Mosely
- J. Marvin Campbell … Deputy Fraser
- Matt Demeritt … Shooter
- Debbie Lee Carrington … Tumbler (as Debbie Carrington)
- Michael Gregory … Agent Weems (uncredited)
Filming locations:
- Crestline, California
- Lake Arrowhead, San Bernardino National Forest, California
- Paramount Ranch – 2813 Cornell Road, Agoura, California
Technical credits:
87 minutes
Audio: Ultra Stereo
Film Facts:
Director Peter Manoogian was first assistant director on The Slayer; Parasite; The Seduction; Galaxy of Terror and Doctor Heckyl and Mr. Hype.
Trailer:
YouTube review:
