However it happens, the story will end up twisting and turning its way to the main point, the seance, which will be used to contact a spirit, presumably one that died within the school since it’s apparently trendy to contact dead people, kind of like the latest TikTok trend, since the implication is that nothing will happen and it will be one big goof.
#Seance movie movie#
What happens up until that point is a great deal of filler that can go directly into the plot of the movie or can detail the various antics that happen within the school between the students. Eventually, events will happen that will bring about the necessity for the seance, which will be the main part of the movie. She might be a bit odd, a little awkward, but she’s confident enough in her own sense of self, even if this causes her to be picked on by the resident bad/popular girls that will attempt to put the young woman in her place. Already the trailer to Seance makes it apparent that the movie will begin with the admittance of a young woman to a top-notch boarding school. Now playing in theaters, available on demand and on digital platforms.There are plenty of movies that feel as though they’re bound and determined to follow a set formula while trying to embellish just enough to give the feeling that they’re new and exciting, but there is some comfort to be had in the idea of following that set formula, since it’s familiar and can be plotted from point A to point B. The characters are in search of a spirit from the great beyond "Seance" is in search of a voice to call its own. “Seance” may play easier for audiences unfamiliar with some of the horror movies it’s referencing, or maybe those viewers who don’t mind watching more of the same kind of stories, but the movie lacks a certain sense of personality or signature, be it from the director or the main star. It's like an erratic shakeup that distances the viewer from the movie itself. The fisheye lens is also not consistently used at certain points or from certain perspectives, like if it were a ghost watching over the scene. Some shots seem unsteady, some look a touch out-of-focus. But what we really lose are the details in the image, like different aspects of the characters, the production design of the academy, and even some of the action sequences. There’s a fuzzy quality to some of the images, and a messy use of a fisheye lens to create some sense of distortion. The academy is always under-lit and most scenes take place at night. Unfortunately, Karim Hussain’s dark cinematography offers no bright spots either. There’s no stakes in this for her until an impossible and convenient explanation at the end which also deprives the story from a shot of much needed tension. While others in the group are varying degrees of hostile towards Camille or even switching loyalties, her unfazed stare and cold presence adds nothing to the mix. Her emotionless reactions and mumbled lines linger over scenes like a dark cloud, never raining or clearing, just hovering. The same goes for Waterhouse’s wooden performance, which much of “Seance” centers on. Inspired by so many suspenseful and original scripts from other directors, it’s strange that Barrett’s feature debut feels so hollow. Even the movie’s title and credit front brings to mind the pink scrolling type used for Sofia Coppola’s “ The Beguiled” remake. The movie even spends a few minutes in a haphazard dance class led by a stern teacher who could fit in with the coven of Dario Argento’s film.
The academy itself seems like a sketch drawing of the dance academy in “Suspiria,” where young women also have a tendency of disappearing and meeting violent deaths. It later uses the masks in a somewhat similar fashion to the animal masks in “You’re Next.” The mysterious Camille also shares some similarities with Erin ( Sharni Vinson), the main character of “You’re Next,” in that she too can fight back against mysterious masked strangers. During “Seance,” the audience is treated to one class lecture to explain the girls’ fascination with Japanese Noh theater-inspired masks. Barrett, who broke out writing " The Guest" and incidentally " You're Next," either doesn’t mind or doesn’t think the audience can spot the similarities. The movie relies on referential and in this case self-referential callbacks. Its main characters are underdeveloped, reducing the school girls into mean girl tropes, being mean just for the sake of being mean.
“Seance” channels the spirits of “ Suspiria,” “ Mean Girls,” and “You’re Next” but never seems to become a monster with its own identity.
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