Uwe Boll's "Seed" mostly suffers from sameness. It opens with grisly PETA footage of animals being mistreated, then spends an inordinate amount of time in the dark following people with flashlights as they discover dead bodies. These are the handiwork of Max Seed, a serial killer of 600+ people who has survived death by electric chair. Although very handsomely photographed by Mathias Neumann, Boll's insistence on shooting almost everything hand-held kills any true suspense and becomes a visual irritant. One very disturbing and effective scene saves this film's bacon. It is a single, locked-off shot of the killer torturing and beating a woman tied to a chair. He starts off by tapping her skull with a hammer, then proceeds to smash it from every side until there is very little head left. This scene is a keeper, and comes way out of left field. It almost looks like it was added to the cut later because it is so stylistically different to everything else. The prison island location has a haunted quality, and special make-up effects are up to par. Michael Pare, looking terribly old and haggard, plays a weary cop (is there any other?) who has spent too much time focusing on Seed. The other actors give self-conscious performances. It is a feeble script that lets this puppy down. Still, it's worth catching for the hammer scene. Its bleak tone shows courage on Boll's part.
Review of Seed
