Seed

Max Seed grows up as a reclusive, antisocial resident of Sufferton, bearing a severe disfigurement from a school bus crash. The incident leaves him isolated and scarred by violence. This childhood trauma foreshadows his later horrific crimes.

In 1973, Seed begins torturing and murdering people, filming some victims starving to death in his locked basement. The macabre recordings, and the basement confinement, mark the start of his long killing spree. By the end of this period his tally would creep toward 666.

In 1979, Detective Matt Bishop leads a siege that ends with Seed's arrest. The operation costs the lives of five of Bishop's fellow officers, highlighting the danger Seed represents.

Seed is sentenced to death by electric chair and incarcerated on an island prison. He remains a model inmate until he lashes out by killing three guards who attempt to rape him.

On his execution date, the chair fails after two shocks and Seed survives. To avoid release under a state law, prison staff bury him alive in the cemetery.

Seed digs out of his grave hours later and returns to the prison. He dispatches the executioner, a doctor, and a warden, then swims back to the mainland.

The following day, Bishop discovers Seed's cemetery plot is empty, confirming that Seed has survived and escaped. The discovery triggers a renewed manhunt and suspicion that Seed is still at large.

Over several months Seed continues killing dozens of victims in ways that broaden his reach. A long shot shows him beating a bound woman with a lumberjack's axe for five straight minutes, underscoring his relentless brutality.

A videotape showing Bishop's house is mailed to the detective's office, signaling Seed's intent to strike at his family and forcing Bishop to race home. The taunting message confirms Seed's willingness to target loved ones.

Bishop arrives to find his wife Sandy and daughter Emily missing. The bathroom holds the dismembered bodies of four officers guarding the house, showing Seed's reach and the danger to Bishop's family.

Bishop drives to Seed's old residence and is lured into a basement room containing a TV and a video camera; Seed locks him inside, turning the space into a trap. The screen plays footage of Seed taunting him with Sandy and Emily.

Emily explains that Seed wants Bishop to shoot himself, while Sandy urges him not to—claiming Seed will kill them anyway. Bishop wrestles with a deadly choice as the pair confront him through the video.

Seed does not relent and kills Sandy with a nail gun. Believing that a self-inflicted shot will force Seed to release Emily, Bishop shoots himself in the head.

Seed takes Emily to the room containing her father's corpse and locks her inside, leaving her to die as the two bodies lie nearby. The tragic moment marks the culmination of Seed's escape and the start of a new chapter in his spree.

With Seed free, Emily is left to endure a deadly future as Seed continues his killing spree unsuppressed. The film closes on the killer still at large, with no apparent end in sight.