By the time this premiered on VHS in 1992 we already had to two versions of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers in existence, one from 1956 and one from 1978, and currently being made was Abel Ferrara’s version simply titled, Body Snatchers, which would get released a year later. All three are based on Jack Finney’s 1955 novel. For some reason, I always tend to forget about Full Moon’s “unofficial” version, Seedpeople! Or, I guess, I should say, “heavily inspired by,” but it’s more than obvious, if you’re familiar with any of those previous movies, Body Snatchers was the template. Full Moon’s take on the material, though, kind of falls into two sub-genres: aliens and killer plants!

I remember watching this on cable back in the day, obviously discovering its existence from the pages of horror movie magazine, Fangoria, where they routinely ran full page ads (see the “poster” above) for Full Moon’s movies and/or covered them in articles. Seedpeople was never covered, only advertised. I thought the creatures on the “poster” were cool, which is what got me to want to watch it in the first place, but I came away not entirely impressed by the final product. It was mediocre at best, with some logic problems, but decent effects. I think I mostly remembered it for the alien effects, but until this blu-ray, I haven’t seen it since its cable debut back in ’92/’93, and I still feel it’s a mediocre entry in the “Body Snatchers” sub-genre, with the same logic issues that bothered me when I first saw it, but the creature effects still hold up. It’s a quick watch though, clocking in at only 1-hour and 21-minutes; shorter, I bet, if you discount the slow scrolling end credits, which independent filmmakers sometimes did to pad out the runtime.

The execution of Seedpeople very much feels like an ode’ to 50 sci-fi flicks, with the location being a town called, Comet Valley, because a lot of comets seem to touch down in this neck of the woods. The movie’s lead is geologist Tom Baines (Sam Hennings) who grew up in the town and was happy to leave it, and can’t believe he’s coming back. Ex-girlfriend Heidi Tucker (Andrea Roth) had turned her home into a Bed & Breakfast in the interim, which he’s staying at, but he’s made it in the nick of time, since the only way in to Comet Valley is a bridge that’s currently being closed down for a three-day repair job. So, that there is how our characters are confined with no way out, once the alien shit starts to hit the fan. Making things extra complicated for Tom is the fact he knew Deputy Brad Yates (Dane Witherspoon) before he was a cop and now he’s Heidi’s boyfriend, and they don’t like one another.

And the Seedpeople have already infiltrated the townsfolk, as 14-year old Kim Tucker (Holly Fields) is convinced their housekeeper (Anne Betancourt) isn’t normal, and in the tradition of those taken over by the Body Snatchers, a telltale sign is their inability to show emotion, and in this case the ability to read minds. Okay, so, here’s how you get taken over, which is how this killer plant subgenre vibe takes shape: a weird, and huge “plant” is found growing in an orchard, poking it gets our victim covered in a milky substance, after which a “seed creature” pops out, but this thing can shapeshift back into the human it’s taken over. There’s only three creatures featured in the movie, you can see all three on the “poster” at the top of this review. I can see why a reviewer likened this movie to a cross between Invasion Of The Body Snatchers and Critters (see the blurb on the back of the case below), for all three creatures are small, with the one that flies being the smallest, while the other are two are at most roughly four feet tall; one of them can curl into a ball and roll around, much like the krites in Critters (1986) can do. One of the problems I had with this flick is that when the alien creature in human form transforms back to its creature form, the human clothing it’s wearing changes with it. But these are supposed to be possessed humans, so the logic of that happening never made sense. Secondly, you don’t need to be covered in a thick blanket of alien jizz to be “infected,” we’ll see Heidi taken over, but the process never fully revealed, as it’s being seen by Tom through a window, and all we see is one of the things close in on her with a tentacle, then when Tom looks again, she’s emotionless and compromised.

There is a way to be un-infected—apparently, the aliens don’t like to be around UV lights, something crackpot scientist Doc Roller (Bernard Kates) learns, since we eventually learn he was setting up a lab to hatch some of the alien comets. You see, these huge comets are found that look like giant peach pits, but are actually alien seeds that crashed in this area millions of years ago, and it’s their recent discovery that’s triggered this new invasion. But, if, you expose an infected person to UV light long enough, I guess, it just burns out the infection. It’s never really explained, just shown.

Eventually, we get a scene similar to one in the ‘56 Body Snatchers flick where a lot of infected townsfolk are loading a truck with the seed pods; I don’t remember if the ’78 or ’93 versions had a similar scene, but I remember that vividly from the original black and white movie. This movie is being told in flashback, as it starts off with a hysterical Tom being treated in a hospital, and then being “interrogated” by an FBI agent as to what exactly happened. The movie returns every so often to this hospital/interrogation scene. Those three versions of Invaders Of The Body Snatchers have very downbeat endings, so when I first saw Seedpeople, I wondered if this version too would have the aliens winning, and it sure does! But, before that reveal Tom and Roller do manage to concoct a plan to get a lot of the townsfolk under UV lights and freed of infection, but you can’t leave just one of these things free, and it’s housekeeper Mrs. Santiago who managed to get away. and that will explain the twist ending of Tom being last human standing in Comet Valley.

I like the movie a bit more nowadays than I did, mostly thanks to the new transfer of this blu-ray, and the creature effects, I also still like the 50s’ sci-fi vibe in the execution of the script.

Full Moon has released and re-released Seedpeople (1992) a few times on DVD, but this blu-ray is its high definition debut, which you can buy now on Amazon, MVD’s Shop, and Full Moon’s site!

VIDEO/AUDIO/SUBTITLES: 1080p 1.78:1 High Definition Widescreen—2.0 English DTS-HD Master Audio, 5.1 English DTS-HD Master Audio—No Subs

The remaster Full Moon had done looks incredible! Colors stand out remarkably well! The best I’ve ever seen this movie look!

EXTRAS INCLUDED . . . 

  • Classic Videozone (9:54)
  • Full Moon Trailers (Bad CGI Gator, Aimee, Bring Her To Me, Doktor Death, Don’t Let Her In, Subspecies 5: Bloodstorm)

The Videozone making-of is all too short, but actress Holly Fields reveals she’s twenty-one and playing a character who’s fourteen! What?! Weirdly, she kind of pulls it off.

Remastered version of the trailer can be found on Full Moon’s streaming site here!