Summoning Sylvia

A silly little thing that all rightwing conservatives should view! Lol. I really thought this would be terrible, and it ain't art, but it was kind of fun in a nonsensical way with teachings about the rights and wrongs on how to deal with gay people, though in this case they are less gay and more like the queens of yesteryear. It is also, incredibly, eventually about acceptance all in 74 minutes! This is a film in which Michael Urie is ultimately the most masculine of the bunch and for those who know who he is, this will come as a surprise. Simple tale of four very gay guys renting a haunted cabin and having an unexpected straight man join the party. Some laughs, but mostly just silly.

Summoning Sylvia is a perfectly fine campy film of a gay supernatural story. It has all the elements that are needed: haunted house, spooky backstory, believers, and enough confusion that no one really understands what is happening.

Then, the mistakes start. The shrill stereotypes that are indicative of "gay culture" dominate the film. And they are so strong that even the "straight" character has to become the epitome of a ignorant homophobe with all the inkling of being a violent repressed soul. Ho Hum.

I want representation and love the ideas of what this film is trying to do. I'm frustrated that representation of gay has to be a certain way: shrill, effeminate, queeny, and all leading to a drag performance.

Do they know that there is a full range of gay men out there? Is Adam Pauley on Happy Endings one of the few images of a gay man I can somewhat relate to because he's just a guy who likes men?

I had written a whole different review and had to delete it. I watched this movie and it was a tad slow at one part and I fast forward. Then I watched again. I had rented it and had two days so I gave it a second watch and I have to say this. Hysterical.

The sets, the acting, all better than I expected. I like that they brought the gay community mainstream, I like the commentary and its usage.

This is not a horror movie, unless your gay and then your just showing the truth of your existence and how scary it can be.

Obviously it does get a little slow at one point and seem kind of pointless but KEEP WATCHING! It does pick up! I just wish they would have been more clear that it was JUST comedy.

This horror comedy is actually really funny but it's not scary at all, I doubt it would frighten anyone in an adult audience (and this is definitely not for kids due to explicit bachelor party jokes and nudity).

The horror themes in Summoning Sylvia instead are approached with a light, almost-adolescent touch, which is fine because the movie works well just as a comedy. The ghost story is also used as a plot device to carry the underlying message of the film.

I would definitely recommend this and potentially will watch it again. However I don't understand the 100% on Rotten Tomatoes which frankly seems inflated because the flick is so openly gay.

'Summoning Sylvia' is a very short movie (74 minutes) with a simple premise, so this is going to be a short review.

What's the movie about? About summoning Sylvia, off course! Larry is about to get married to Jamie, so his friends Nico, Reggie and Kevin throw him a bachelor party for the weekend at a haunted house. Story goes, years ago Sylvia killed her son Phillip and buried him on the grounds. Philip now haunts the property.

Further to the story, it is believed Sylvia killed her son because he was gay. I'm not going to ruin anything for you, so let's just say the film dishes up a few twists towards the end.

But let's not jump to the end yet. Nico decides to do a séance, joking that he would like to ask Sylvia what really happened. It's all fun and games for the friends until Jamie's brother Harrison uninvitedly shows up. Well, not entirely uninvited since Larry told Philip in a moment of panic it was ok for Harrison to join them. Oh, did I mention all the guys except Harrison is gay? This puts the guys in a bit of an awkward situation, resulting in funny moments.

But when Sylvia shows up, it's a different ball game altogether... I don't think I've ever seen a gay movie about a haunting. Uhm, or should that be a film about a haunting with gay characters? Well, however you look at it, this turned out to be very entertaining. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the setting in the haunted house, and I enjoyed the 'over the top' moments. This was a very different kind of gay movie and I liked it.