SEEDS
Starring: Kaniehtiio Horn, Dallas Goldtooth, Meegwun Fairbrother, Dylan Cook, and Graham Greene
Director: Kaniehtiio Horn
ADRIANO
Seeds is very messy. The movie attempts to comment on the preservation of reservation communities, but, instead, it winds up being as shallow as the Gen-Z archetypes the film is trying to satirize. The movie also can't pick a tone to save its life. I'm not saying I never had fun, but the movie never commits to the horror aspects while a lot of the comedy just falls flat. On top of that, a lot of the flashy concepts are underdeveloped to the point of being nonsense. The ending does leave the film on a high note, but it's an overall mess.
PRESTON
Seeds is a unique horror film in that it is a Native American/First Nations celebration, specifically of the Mohawk people, with a focus on their history, culture, and values. The lead actress, Kaniehtiio Horn (Ziggy), also happens to be both the writer and director while displaying extremely capable acting skills. However, the movie is a mildly masked but searing attack on the Monsanto corporation that lies somewhere between the border of conspiracy theory and absolute absurdism, and when coupled with the implausibility of the injected “thrill” and the ridiculous cat attack (no, seriously), it made the journey more than regretful for me.
QUENTIN
Writer-director-star Kaniehtiio Horn (Tanis, to the Letterkenny fans out there) seemingly has no idea what she is doing with Seeds. Granted, a lot can be blamed on its low-budget, campy Canadian trappings, but for a movie billed as a horror comedy, there is very little comedy and almost no horror. I also can’t tell if this is meant to be a commentary on influencer culture, a home invasion movie, an exploration into preserving Native traditions, or a takedown of corporate farming and agricultural biotechnology. It truly is all over the place, both tonally and in story, which is only amplified by the short 82-minute runtime.
This film was reviewed by Adriano as part of Bitesize Breakdown's coverage of the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.