Oh, the joys of VHS hunting at the thrift stores. Just look at that cover. “Root of all Evil…” Pfffft.

Seed People starts in a hospital with geologist, Tom Baines. Tom is rushed into a room with a head injury, spouting about some unknown entity that has to be stopped. From there, Tom narrates the story about his role in what happened in and around Comet Valley.

Three days prior Tom arrived in Comet Valley looking for…comets. Go figure. While he’s there he notices that certain people are starting to act sort of strange. He’s not the only one to notice, either. His ex-girlfriend’s niece is walking around, freaking out about how the maid, and even her father, have been taken over or hypnotized. Then she starts talking about monsters. He doesn’t think anything of it at first, until he gets a shocking surprise when he opens the door to his room one afternoon.

Pizza delivery!

Turns out all those comets he was looking for were actually seeds, and in those seeds are the beginnings of an evil alien plant race bent on taking over the world (Because of course it is). Our poor little geologist has gotten way more than he bargained for. To make matters worse, the only bridge connecting the town to the rest of civilization is out of commission for three days, leaving Tom to try to convince the few people left in town who haven’t been infected to help him stop the spread of the evil Seed People.

But we’ll need evidence first. So be sure to sneak around with this bulky, unassuming video camera at all times.

Seed People is a weird combination of Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Critters, except without the added benefit of Critters hokey humor. It’s also a strictly by-the-number B-movie through and through. It’s got the satisfactory, but kind of corny alien costumes, the plucky science guy who tries to bring everyone around, an ex-love interest for the hero, a kid who tries to warn people even though no one believes them (and apparently has the shoulder strength of a linebacker with the way she carries around that damn video camera), the skeptical, hostile authority figure, and a plot that probably could have been completely avoided if that one guy hadn’t poked that ‘strange looking thing-y’ with a stick.

Look at me! I’m so brilliant! Surely nothing bad could possibly come from this…

Hell, they’ve even got the prerequisite expert who’s the only person around who knows what’s really going on. Because, of course, in every small town of less than 200 people there’s always a convenient expert available who just so happens to live down the street. That he’s known around town as being bat-shit insane is just icing on the already gooey cliché cake.

Hello, sir. Do you have a minute to talk about our lord and savior, UV Lightsimous? Wait, before we talk, please put on this tinfoil hat…

The special effects of Seed People wind up being about what you would expect from a B-movie from the early 90’s. The creature costumes don’t look half bad (and yes, they are costumes, not puppets. There are actually people in those little suites), but everything else is pretty dated and a low budget affair.

Great, not only is he floating 2 inches off the ground, but it looks like he’s farting fairies.

It’s is a bit gorier than Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but those moments are few and far between and any blood used is used sparingly.

I’m also 99% sure it’s some sort of jam.

The acting in the film is pretty good. Most of the characters are likable and the crazy doctor is actually very amusing. There are no standouts, either good or bad, so there’s nothing condemn or praise worthy to look forward to here. So basically the acting is pretty much “average.” The shocked facial expressions, however, are exceptional.

In the end, it’s kind of hard to complain about a movie like Seed People. I mean, with a title and cover like that you should sort of know what you’re getting into. It’s a typical B-movie that steels plot elements from better films yet somehow still manages to fall just short of ‘good.’ There aren’t really any surprises, and you’ll be able to spot the ending within the first 10 minutes, but I found it to be an enjoyable little low-budget flick. If you like quirky B-movies with low budgets you might find something enjoyable here. At the very least, it’s not a bad way to spend the afternoon.

Seed People is available to rent on Amazon, and available for streaming on Tubi TV.

It is also available on DVD.