It's commonly known that Oliver Stone served in Vietnam and that his most acclaimed masterpieces, most notably "Platoon", are based on his own traumatic experiences and the agonizing real-life horror situations that he witnessed over there. Perhaps his Vietnam luggage turned him into one of the greatest directors of all times, but it also must have caused a bit of permanent brain damage, if you ask me! How else would you explain the madness of "Seizure"; his long-feature debut released not that long after he returned from his tour of duty? This is a truly bonkers horror movie, half brilliant and half unendurable, but fascinating and hypnotizing enough to keep you glued to the screen. Jonathan "Barnabas Collins" Frid stars as Edmund Blackstone, a writer suffering from recurring nightmares featuring the villains of the horror story that he's trying to finish. Nothing but a bad case of writer's block, you'd say, but when Edmund and his wife are hosting a party during the weekend and welcome several guests in their lakeside house, the trio of villains literally pops up at the dining room window! They are: the ravishing but deadly Queen of Evil, the black and heavily mutilated giant referred to as Jackal, and the viciously cruel dwarf named Spider. They start killing off the guests, which isn't a bad thing since they are truly horrible people, but poor Edmund can't seem to figure out if they are real or hallucinatory. Debuting director Stone generates a reasonably tense and mysterious atmosphere, and "Seizure" certainly contains a few strong sequences, but the film is overall too dull and far too talkative. Especially Edmund's "reflective" moments, guided by a voiceover, are immensely long and meaningless, but the Queen of Evil also jibbers too much and even the dwarf would have been far more petrifying if he shut his mouth a little more! As mentioned already, the supportive characters are downright nasty. You often see in horror movies that an alleged group of friends doesn't get along, but these people here are the most arrogant, selfish, treacherous and despicable trolls I've ever seen! There's not a lot of gore, obviously, but nevertheless a few efficient shock-moments and solid performances from Jonathan Frid, Joseph Sirola and the breathtaking Martine Beswick! The eviler she gets, the sexier she becomes! The finale is logical and effectively abrupt, but not exactly original. There's a certain horror milestone from 1962 that ended with a similar twist already.

The only movie I can think of that I like less than this movie is Tree of Life.How anyone ever thought this was worth making is beyond me.Right from the get go, we are introduced to the lead, who makes you want to turn the movie off from the start - he is gross to listen to, look at, and has no personality other than being scared.None of the other characters may as well exist at all either. None of them serve any real purpose or add anything to the story or make us feel anything. No comedic relief, no real horror, no characters or character development - just a non-threatening midget and a silent big black guy chasing a bunch of people around inside and outside of a house on a lake.Typically I am a fan of BIZARRE movies, and I at least will admit this is one of the more bizarre films I have ever seen. But it simply doesn't offer a single thing that is in any way slightly enjoyable. It is truly one of those films where you are just asking yourself "Why am I still watching this? How did this get made? Why does this exist?" the entire time.Mr. Stone has come a long way.

I've read that Oliver Stone has disowned Seizure. Understandable perhaps, unlike a lot of his later work its not a big film or a loud one, it doesn't declaim from on high on issues of society or politics. Rather its a small film, and a slightly pretentious one, not an important film and not the kind of pretension that can readily be spun to something greater. But its an interesting film, a decent little work of weird horror cinema, somewhat compelling and assured in its style. It tells of author Edmund Blackstone, writing a children's story but plagued by nightmares. His worries come to a head as he invites friends round for a weekend, when it transpires that three lunatics have escaped from an asylum, lunatics that mirror his imaginings and come to torment him and his guests with malevolent games. And as things go on it turns out that these aren't any ordinary escaped lunatics but something stranger, incomprehensible and unbound by space, an inescapable menace. The home invasion becomes fantasy, but what is really going on? It's an interesting set up and happily the cast is eclectic and well up to making it come alive. Jonathon Frid is the cold centre of the film as Edmund, Christina Pickles caring and affecting as his wife, afflicted more strongly by events. Joseph Sirola is a grand brassy grotesque as monstrous millionaire and cuckold Charles Hughes, Mary Woronov meanly spiky as his wife, Troy Donahue a suitably arrogant philanderer. Roger de Koven pleasant as the most likable of the characters, Ann Meacham his sadly disturbed wife good too. The villains really drive the film though, Herve Villachaize quirkily vicious as Spider, Henry Baker a strong and silent figure as Jackal, and best of all the alluring Martine Beswick black gowned as the Queen of Evil, her every word, every move dripping with cruelly regal poise. With all the cast gunning and sharing decent chemistry things can't help but grip, and a well handled pace ensures the films strong hold. The direction is quality too, freeze frames and snappily edited (Stone shares editing duties) close ups give violent scenes a punch, while rich and moody blues and oranges instill interesting atmosphere. Sadly there are notable flaws though. The film touches on an array of interesting themes, the isolation and arrogance of the artist, the notion of subconscious as ultimate judge, the enduring resonance of stereotypes in the imagination and more, but while such themes are a fun spice the film often tells rather than showing, with variously labored passages of writing. There's also an unfortunate lack of grue, with violent scenes either cutting away or having the nastiness just out of frame. Were the film generally saner and quieter this wouldn't be an issue but as is it comes across as pulling its punches. The ending is a tad off as well, a reasonable use of a slightly pat twist, but it doesn't really tie everything together and slightly exacerbates the problem of the aforementioned labored themes. Still, its a good little film. Creepy, well paced and engagingly weird, cult cast put to good use and passages of effective tension. Definitely worth a watch for enthusiasts of low budget 70's oddities and in general terms a worthy opus, but certainly flawed and no classic or anything

This is the type of movie that's just barely involving enough for one viewing, but I don't think I could stand to watch it again. It looks and plays like a mid-Seventies TV movie, only with some gratuitous sex and violence thrown in.I agree with several previous posters -- Herve Villechaize is NOT very menacing, and at times even comes off as unintended comedy. At least the other two villains make up for that. Also, it was jolting to see Jonathan Frid is such a pedestrian role, which definitely under-utilized his enormous talents.But I think the basic problem with "Seizure" is in the storyline. The evil trio that are conjured up from Frid's mind are seen too early and too often. They appear to everyone at once, and announce their (murky) plans too early in the picture. In fact, Stone takes this idea and literally shoves it in the viewer's face, with a series of challenges for the guests; challenges that it doesn't seem like they have any chance of winning, anyway. How much more effective would have been keeping the evil ones in the shadows, preying on each house guest in turn, sowing confusion and doubt among the remaining house guests, who don't know who or what is causing the carnage. By having the trio appear early on, to all the "assembled guests", and announcing their plan (confusing as that plan is), much potential for tension and suspense are lost.Also, a more gradual appearance of the evil ones would indicate Frid is slowing losing control of his subconscious. To have Frid subconsciously conjure up these baddies, because he's got hidden grudges against his wife and friends, would have been a far more logical plot device. Instead of having Frid play an intended victim from the get-go, it would have worked better to have him slowing becoming helpless to control the menace he's created, with mixed feelings of guilt and satisfaction as his shallow, superficial friends are killed off. The plot Stone offers up is confusing as to the origins and, most importantly, the motivations of the evil trio, and never gives any explanation why Frid, from whose mind they came from, can exercise absolutely no control over them. Confusing is the word that best sums up the whole picture, and the end feels like a total cheat. Better to have some great showdown in which Frid is finally able to banish the creations of his own tormented mind.Oliver Stone has done some notable work in his career, but sadly "Seizure" is not among them.