Seminal is a 2008 American Supernatural Slasher Horror film written and directed by David O. Russell starring Emmy Rossum, Armie Hammer, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Ryan Kelley, Anna Camp, Ryan Coogler, Charlyne Yi, Amber Riley, Dreama Walker, Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, Jamie Bamber and Susan Downey.
The film was pre-screen success at the Los Angeles Film Festival which it opened to critical praise on September 9th, 2008 and then theatrically September 11th, 2008 in which it was met with much box office success.
Seminal was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Radar Pictures.
It is rated R for Strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content, grisly images, male rear nudity and language.
It was awarded the Saturn Award nomination for Best Horror Film 2008 but lost out to Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy Sequel: The Golden Army.
The film has garnered a cult following and has been held up with iconic horror movies Scream and the later following Cabin In The Woods as the best metafilm horror films in the archives of film history.
It however unlike Cabin In The Woods and Scream is the first Metafilm horror film of such commercial and critical praise to not have secured the year's Saturn Award.
The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 24th, 2008.
Summary
A group of senior high school students are taken on their school's annual camp up to the remote Virginian Mountain ville where at a place called Camp Charm all manners of hell is about to come down upon them.
For one among them is in secret is possessed and is planning to kill of all fellow 12 individuals over the twelve hours of the 12th day so as to bring about the rising of Samhein, and then the apocalpyse.
The possessed killer among them has the power to conjure any monstrosity it sees fit and decides to sick upon the other twelve individuals an assortment of monsters which are takes off some of the past horror film's most infamous cinematic villains.
Plot
The film begins with three Sacremento State freshman high school students hiking along the Virginian Appalachian Mountain way overpass discussing the horror film An American Werewolf In London.
They are waiting on their friend to arrive whose gender and name is undisclosed by the group.
Strange noises abound which scares the two girls Camilla (Alexis Knapp) and Melissa (Carly Schroeder) but provokes the boy Josh (Josh Blaylock) into foolishly like a cliched male character in a horror film to investigate intent on proving it is nothing.
They uncover a wolf which seems to be running away in fright and brings comfort to Camilla and Josh who then dismiss the noises they had heard as the wolf had they had just uncovered, where as Melissa begins to ask as to why the wolf was fleeing in the opposite direction and not fleeing from them.
They eventually come to the rest stop they were meant to meet their friend at but their is friend is nowhere to be seen.
Camilla states she needs to use the bathroom and asks Melissa to accompany her as Josh himself comes into the men's toilets.
Smashing through the ground in the men's room comes a werewolf which lunges at Josh and evisorates him.
His yells and screams are faintly heard by Melissa and Camilla and Melissa completely freaks out as Camilla with her flare gun steps outside a little to investigate.
Smashing through the wall then comes the werewolf which bites into Melissa's shoulder and is then fired a flare upon by Camilla.
Camilla seizes a bleeding Melissa and the two flee the rest stop heading outside over a hill back to their broken down jeep.
Camilla makes it half-way to the jeep before Melissa collapses with her vision becoming blurred and obscured.
The werewolf runs after them at a fast speed and as it comes to the location Camilla whispers into a drousy grounded Melissa when she has the chance to limp her way back to the jeep and take the first aid kit in the glove compartment, then when she gets the chance she takes the rest of the flares in the jeep and keeps running till she reaches someone.
Camilla then slips Melissa the flare gun and screams out for the werewolf to come and get her.
Melissa slides underneath a rock crevice on the hillside and the werewolf comes to appear behind Camilla surprising her and then killing her almost instantly by snapping half her head from her neck on the left side.
The werewolf then cries out and takes off in search of Melissa.
Melissa stays traumatized and still bleeding with disorientation in spot.
She limps her way down to the jeep and as she comes to load up the flare gun is attacked by the werewolf which knocks her to the ground and causes her gushing wound from her neck to split further open and bleed out as the werewolf reverts to a human form unseen by the audience.
The title and opening credits of the film then appear as we are taken to Sacramento State High where the graduating class of 2008 are seperating into four groups covering four prestigious camps of the Virginian Wilderness.
It is assigned that the group led by professors Russell Cairns (Jamie Bamber) and Elizabeth Halton (Susan Downey) will be staying at the historical Camp Charm in remote West Virginia.
The camp is the least popular of the camps and is referred to as the "Wrong Turn, rape me like a pig and then butcher me friday the 13th style camp."
News reports the day before the group's departure inform of the discovery of the corpses of Sacramento State youths Camilla Brewster, Melissa Douglas and Josh Letterest which raises concern as wether the Virginian wilderness graduation celebration camps should go ahead.
The principle insists so as to maintain peace and tranquility among the already shocked students.
A memorial assembly is held for the three youths discovered on the Mountain Pass and the senior students then prepare for their departure to their respective outdoor camps.
Mr. Cairns and Miss Halton lead their group out to West Virginia to Camp Charm where they settle in and are assigned cabin mates.
Despite being told there is to be no drinking or illicit activity on camp the group proceed to do so anyway and spend a night out on the town where they run into trouble with the locals at a bar, who warn that Samhein one of the devils of hell will arise on the foundation to which Camp Charm lays upon should their young innocent blood be spilled, as it is the hallowed ground and centre marker of the state's pentagram of Lucifer.
Mr. Cairns has his drinks spiked and ends up in a frenzied state having to be taken care of by Miss Halton and responsible youth Juliet (Emmy Rossum) who escort him back to his room along with party girl Jane (Anna Camp), shy guy Victor (Ryan Kelley), Juliet's boyfriend Yearns (Armie Hammer) and Jane's Varsity Jock ex-boyfriend bully Jordan (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).
Jane's more responsible party girl bestfriend also fellow cheerleader Mieke (Dreama Walker) calls upon the group for a night of setting up an old television her, Blayton (Daniel Sharman) and Gordon (Ian Harding) found in a storage shed.
She sets up her USB and drinking games commence as they begin to watch a collection of horror films stemming from Friday the 13th to Halloween.
Eventually half the group comes to pass out apart from Juliet and Yearns who did not proceed to partake in the drinking games, Jane and Jordan who are arguing outside, Victor who stumbles down upon a book hidden beneath a cabin floorboard and passive aggressive girl Ruth (Mindy Kaling) who stormed off after an argument with Jordan as he slept with her whilest in a relationship with Jane which broke them up.
Ruth who is taking an angry, upset stroll around the camp's perimeter comes to be advanced by a Michael Myers figure which brings a large butcher's knife upon her and as she turns to run slices her across the back multiple times.
She knocks him down and he vanishes in an explosion of black ink as a bleeding screaming Ruth then begins to stumble away.
She eventually reaches Jordan and Jane, Juliet, Yearns, Victor and Mieke who are gathere outside over Jane and Jordan's argument.
She collapses and as the group rushes forward with the exception of a petrified Jane the Michael figure re-materializes and brings down the butcher's knife again into her back which kills her and then explodes into black ink like himself as he is advanced by an enraged Jordan.
The rest of the youths then come outside to see the scene and then Juliet, Jane, Yearns and Victor rush to Miss Halton who still by the bedside of a still passed out Mr. Cairns.
She comes to the scene and everyone attempts to call the authorities with their mobile devices to no prevail.
Miss Halton states they are to lock themselves in Mieke's cabin whilest she barricades off Mr. Cairns' and her cabin as she will head into town and contact the authorities.
The youths discover that the death of Ruth caused by the Michael Myers figure happened for real untill a possesed Mieke attacks the group with a scythe but they escape with a wounded Jane who has her arm slashed by a scythe wielding Mieke.
Meanwhile, Miss Halton has her throat slashed by a Ghostface figure while driving to get help and the car crashes, killing her while the Ghostface figure vanishes into an explosion of blue ink.
Meanwhile, bookish girl Yuki Tashi (Charlyne Yi) is assuming the camp is haunted with ghostly horror villains but Jordan denies it and says that they are all being pun'kd untill a scream is heard from Professor Cairns room where Yearns witnesses him being dragged into his bed by a Freddy Krueger figure and he comes out as a geyser of blood, drenching a screaming Yearns in his blood.
Immature racist Perry Whitmore (Aziz Ansari) and his sexy popular girfriend Claire Danewell (Amber Riley) rush out of the room to see the aftermath of Mr. Cairn's gory death and they inform Yearns to take a shower while he and Claire get help on foot.
Meanwhile, Jane and Jordan reconcile in their room and they begin to have sex, much to Jane's delight.
Alone and far from the safety of the camp, Perry and Claire who are tired and hungry, they begin to argue about how they got lost during the journey to the ranger's station, but their argument was cut short when they come face to face with a Norman Bates figure who stabs Perry through the eye temples with a butcher knife, killing him in front a bloodied and screaming Claire who runs back to the camp in a frightend haste while the Norman Bates vanishes into semen colored ink.
Back at the camp, Yearns tells everyone to stay in their rooms untill Perry and Claire with help. In one of the rooms, Yuki tries to contact Miss Halton but phone lines were already cut. Suddenly, Yuki hears a rumble in her closet, when she opens the door a Dracula figure kills her by ripping her head off with a single bite and the Dracula figure disappears in green ink.
Meanwhile, a severely traumatized Claire is running back to the camp in a frantic haste due to Perry's frightening death but she runs into the still possesed Mieke and a Leatherface figure who attack her and she tries to escape the assault but the Leatherface figure dismembers her with his chainsaw and explodes into orange ink in which the ink enters Mieke's body and she transforms into the demon named Judas.
Meanwhile, Yearns and Juliet are talking about the pentagram of Lucifer in which she then realized that Lucifer is using classic horror films as a tool to unleash the apocalyspe by possesing one of their friends into killing the others. Victor comes out of his screaming when Judas throws the pieces of Claire through his bedroom window.
Meanwhile, Jane and Jordan are attacked by a Jason Voorhees figure during the attack, Judas bursts in through the window and drags Jordan out of the window and rips him apart while the Jason Voorhees figure cuts Jane in half with his machete and the Jason Voorhees figure blows up in pink ink.
Victor blows up Judas with a molotov cocktail after witnessing Jordan's gnarly death and runs back into the cabin.
As Victor tells Yearns and Juliet about Jordan's death, a Candyman figure pops up out of nowhere and disembowels him with his hooked hand.
The Candyman figure fades away into turquoise blue ink as Yearns begins to transform and grow into a giant monsterous demon named Samhein, begining the apocalyspe.
In the final battle to the death, Juliet makes a huge bow and arrow after Samhein breaks her leg by stepping on it. Juliet shoots the giant arrow through Samhein's heart, presumably killing him. Samhein's body reverts back into a bloodied and naked Yearns while Samhein's spirit comes out of Yearns and fades away into the sunrise, stopping the apocalyspe for good (due to Samhein falling on the pentagram and crushing it).
Juliet is cradling a bleeding Yearns and they head to the car to take Yearns to the hospital.
In a post credits scene, the crushed pentagram opens up and frees the tortured angel, Lucifer who turns to the audience and tells them to fear the wrath of god and breaths fire at the camera as the film ends.
Cast
- Emmy Rossum as Juliet Snowden
- Armie Hammer as Yearns Danson/ Samhein
- Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Jordan Folley/ The 10th Sacrifice
- Ryan Kelley as Victor Hampton-Welles/ The 12th Sacrifice
- Anna Camp as Jane Derby/ The 11th Sacrifice
- Daniel Sharman as Blayton Trestle
- Ian Harding as Gordon Leverick
- Ryan Coogler as Reginald Coleman
- Charlyne Yi as Yuki Tashi/ The 8th Sacrifice
- Amber Riley as Claire Danewell/ The 9th Sacrifice
- Dreama Walker as Mieke-Potter Davis/ Possessed by the demon Judas
- Aziz Ansari as Perry Whitmore/ The 7th Sacrifice
- Mindy Kaling as Ruth Blethford/ The 4th Sacrifice
- Jamie Bamber as Mr. Russell Cairns/ The 6th Sacrifice
- Susan Downey as Miss Elizabeth Halton/ The 5th Sacrifice
- Alexis Knapp as Camilla Brewster/ The 2nd Sacrifice
- Carly Schroeder as Melissa Douglas/ The 3rd Sacrifice
- Josh Blaylock as Josh Letterest/ The 1st Sacrifice
The Ritual Of Samhein
The ritual depicted in the film to raise the devil Samhein from Hell who in turn can bring about the Apocalpyse and open the bottomless pit which contains the tortured angel Lucifer:
- There must be a sacrifice of 12 individuals, every hour on the hour leading up till midnight on the 12th day and night of the 12th month of Samhein's 1,200th massacre anniversary
- The sacrificing of the individuals must be done by one containing the powers of a subterrestial being, in this case Mieke summons into her the demon Judas to carry out the Ritual Of Samhein
- A doll representation of each of the 12 sacrifices must be made and as they are sacrificed their doll will burn and wilt away
The following is the order of the sacrifices and the conjured creatures used to carry out the offer:
- Josh Letterest: Killed by a werewolf conjured monster based off the werewolf seen in An American Werewolf In London, Mieke and Yearns' favourite werewolf horror film along with Josh, Melissa and Camilla's. Killed via having chest ripped open.
- Camilla Brewster: Killed by same werewolf monster conjured which killed Josh. Killed via having right side of head ripped partially off neck
- Melissa Douglas: