“The Seeding 2024” takes inspiration from the lunar cycles, branding each chapter of its narrative with a distinct time stamp. As the moon shifts through its phases, the plot unveils new developments, heightening anticipation for the eerie unraveling of events yet to come. Alone in the vast expanse of the desert, a toddler navigates the barren landscape with a startling calm, gnawing intently on an object as the camera diligently crafts the film’s atmospheric backdrop.
Trees and dirt dominate the land in a sweeping aerial shot, underscoring the staggering isolation of the minute figure wandering amongst it. The camera narrows its focus with precision, homing in on the young boy, and in a climactic moment, we discover the chilling sight: what appeared to be a teething toy is, in fact, a severed finger.
Sturgeon Moon – The Seeding
We are introduced to Wyndham Stone (Scott Haze) as he drives alone toward the perfect vantage point to capture the perfect image of a full solar eclipse. As he packs up, a young boy appears motioning the man to follow and help him find his parents. As the light disappears, he tries to take them both back to his car so he can call for help. The boy turns on him and runs off into the darkness.
There’s something about being alone in the wilderness. It fills us with dread about unknown risks and peril. What or who could be lurking just out of sight? The desert is the perfect place to make bad decisions and panic in the worst possible way. While calm, Wyndham is lost, has no more water and the night sky is full of stars. He glances down into a canyon and sees a woman and a house. With help and rescue imminent, he climbs down a long ladder and knocks on the door.
Harvest Moon and Cold Moon
The obvious nature of the peril at play is what sets The Seeding apart from other films like it. From the very first day when the man wakes up and sees the ladder he used to climb down is gone, there is a conscious effort to exude that Wyndham knows he has a big problem. The woman, though welcoming and hospitable, doesn’t speak very much aside from telling statements every so often. Her silence is masked by intimate camera shots of the surroundings. There are descriptive drawings on the walls of the crater. Pointed out with no explanation, create a clear enough picture of future and past events. The Seeding takes its time to put the pieces together.
Allied with the superb cinematography, the focus shifts its view from above to below. Stray and vicious children and teens appear from time to time to deliver food and taunt the giant craters’ guests. They speak a strange language, but the woman speaks it too. Either she has been captured here for a very long time or she is one of them too. The Seeding is the type of horror movie that likes to play with its prey. But as the pieces begin to form into a very clear picture of what is in store for the pair, the predictability creates a windstorm of tension.
The Seeding isn’t heavy on violence and gore, but what it lacks in the common horror aesthetic of blood spray, it makes up for by being extremely unsettling. Scott Haze is the overarching highlight with his performance of a man trapped in a nightmarish hell. What might look like an implausible character arc to some, instead extends the notion that Wyndham knows early on what their fate will be. However, with every emotional trauma he receives, his character is required to ebb and flow along with it. And he does so in a very memorable way.
Blue Moon and Beaver Moon
Those looking for the excitement of unique slasher-type kills and hectic murderous action might be left disappointed with The Seeding. A slow-moving but overwhelming effective build-up of anxiety creates the perfect platform for what was a title that had me almost biting my nails.
The film opens theatrically and on VOD on the 26th of January 2024 (USA.)
Distributed by Magnet Releasing in the USA and Umbrella Entertainment in Australia.
The Seeding is rated
4 The chicken didn’t need a cage out of 5
Directed by Barnaby Clay (SHOT! THE PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL MANTRA OF ROCK),
The film stars Scott Haze (VENOM, JURASSIC WORLD DOMINION) and Kate Lyn Sheil (YOU’RE NEXT, V/H/S)
Where to Watch The Seeding 2024
The Seeding is streaming on:
