Seed is a prime example of what happens when a horror movie is too good at its job. Every fright flick should be able to scare its viewers, but I've found it's even better if the movie includes a little something extra. Even the darkest of horror films, from Saw to Hostel, contain some underlying theme that helps alleviate the tension and comes across as a bit more well-rounded than the rest of the pack. Otherwise, you'd end up with something like Seed, which drowns itself in so much death and despair, it almost seems to punish you for renting it. 

In the tradition of Jason, Michael, and Leatherface, Seed boasts its own masked maniac as the central villain: Max Seed (Will Sanderson). After claiming the lives of 666 victims, Seed has at last been captured, thanks to the efforts of the determined Detective Bishop (Michael Paré). Needless to say, Seed's trial ends with a death sentence declared, sending the hulking killer on a one-way visit to Ol' Sparky. But even the electric chair is no match for this sicko, for Seed easily makes it through a few nasty jolts with his life intact. Under state law, any prisoner who survives three zaps from the chair must be set free, but the warden (Ralf Moeller) and his cronies have other plans. Rather than be allowed to roam free and kill again, Seed is buried alive, only to emerge mere hours later and start a brand-new killing spree, leaving Bishop racing to stop the monster before more suffer at his hands.

Most horror fans will recognize Seed as the latest ordeal from notorious director Uwe Boll. It's his first non-video game adaptation since 2003's Heart of America, though the change isn't likely to deter those who've thoroughly criticized his past cinematic blunders. Still, Seed is probably the man's best movie to date. It may be a waste of celluloid with a pile of flaws as big as K2, but compared to Boll's past, sloppily-made ventures, this outing emerges with quite a bit of polish to it. As much as I hate to say anything positive about Boll, I have to admit he nails the film's atmosphere perfectly. Seed flat-out looks creepy, with Boll doing a great job of playing around with darkness and, impressive considering what a modest budget he probably worked with, glossing the film over with an effective sheen. Plus, dialogue is scattered sparsely throughout, allowing the story to get down to business rather than waste its time with characters who are only able to speak in cliches.

My few kind words should not send you looking for signs of the impending apocalypse. Seed may be Boll's finest hour, but it manages to achieve a whole new level of badness. His Alone in the Dark and House of the Dead were terrible mostly because they were just badly-made, but Seed runs into trouble more with its content than its quality. It's one of the most relentlessly grim genre pictures I've seen in a long time. The movie amounts to 90 minutes worth of gore for gore's sake, as the violence factor skedaddles right past "freaky" and settles down around "disgusting" (culiminating in a gross, single-take scene too disturbing to describe). 

Boll tries to justify the gory sequences -- as well as some early, ghastly footage of animals being killed --  with a paper-thin message about the death penalty. Despite that attempt and the great look of the film, Seed is a disheartening affair.  

MY RATING: * 1/2 (out of ****)

(Released by Universal Home Entertainment; not rated by MPAA.)