Summoning Sylvia

I had never heard about this 2023 horror comedy titled "Summoning Sylvia" prior to sitting down to watch it. So I didn't know what I was in for, aside from what I read in the synopsis, and for it being a horror comedy. But of course I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

And as it turned out, then writers and directors Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse put together a surprisingly enjoyable and entertaining script and storyline. The narrative in "Summoning Sylvia" was really well-written, and the two writers managed to juggle elements of traditional, classic horror with elements of good comedy. And the movie turned out to be quite a surprise. I have to admit that I was genuinely entertained throughout the 74 minutes that the movie ran for.

The laughs throughout the narrative are plenty and good. I was genuinely amused by the comedy in "Summoning Sylvia", so thumbs up to writers and directors Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse for that accomplishment.

And I really enjoyed the way that the narrative unfolds, keeping the audience in the dark and speculating as to what is really happening. The movie has some rather great and unforeseen twists to the storyline, which certainly helped to make it all the more enjoyable.

The character gallery in the movie was good as well, because the characters were nicely fleshed out, with different traits and personalities. And I have to say that the writers really aced it here, because the characters were very likable.

I was only familiar with actor Michael Urie on the cast list. But I will say that they had a great group of actors and actresses for the roles. The movie was really nicely carried by Travis Coles, Frankie Grande, Troy Iwata, Noah J. Ricketts and Nicholas Logan.

There was a good atmosphere throughout the course of the movie, which implemented both traditional horror and the comedy nicely into it. And the effects in the movie were fair enough, despite it not being a movie that was heavily dependent on special effects.

If you enjoy horror comedies, then "Summoning Sylvia" is certainly a movie that I warmly recommend. I was genuinely and wholeheartedly entertained throughout the entire movie.

My rating of "Summoning Sylvia" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

This is a movie that I learned about when Justin Cook reached out about potentially watching the screener. I confirmed that I would when I saw that this was horror. I did read a bit of the synopsis ahead of it. Seeing that this was also a comedy made me wonder which genre this would fall more into.

Synopsis: a gay bachelor party turns spooky when sinister spirits are suddenly summoned.

For this one, we start with getting a brief introduction to the characters and the event that begins the haunting. Larry (Travis Coles) is getting married to Jamie (Michael Urie). Larry's friends kidnap him for a bachelor weekend that they've planned. Reggie (Troy Iwata) is the planner. With him is Nico (Frankie Grande) and Kevin (Noah J. Ricketts). An issue arises though. Larry promised he would take Harrison (Nicholas Logan) tuxedo shopping for the wedding. To make up for it, Larry says that everyone is cool if Harrison joins them. The issue here is that everyone on this trip is gay aside from him. Larry also didn't check either as he's a people pleaser.

Before Harrison arrives, they decide to do a séance to wake up the spirits of the house. It is haunted and that is why Reggie picked it. Nico fancies himself a witch and together they try to conjure up the spirits of Sylvia (Veanne Cox) and Phillip (Camden Garcia). She is thought to have killed herself and was then murdered in her home. Things might be as they seem. The night takes odd turns as this group tries to solve the mystery and not kill each other as things get revealed.

I decided to go a bit lighter on the recap as this is more about the characters than the actual haunting. Those elements are light to be honest. That doesn't necessarily mean it is a bad thing. This movie though is comedy first. It is hilarious at that. I'll come back to that shortly, what I think I should do is first breakdown the characters as that carries the movie story wise for me.

Now each of the characters have their character flaws. Larry is too nice. He is afraid to upset people so he goes with the flow. He avoids conflict. To be honest, I see myself there. He also seems to tone down who he is when Harrison shows up, since his soon to be brother-in-law is straight. Nico is a big personality. He won't tone it down and I appreciate him for being who he is. This makes for comedy as well. He butts heads with Harrison. Reggie is a meticulous planner and when things get disrupted, it annoys him. Kevin is a romantic who is interested in Reggie. Harrison is interesting as I said. He's a former military guy who has a bit of PTSD and maybe a drinking problem. The acting here is great from Coles, Grande, Iwata, Ricketts and Logan. They all play so well off each other as I was saying.

Then to shift over to the haunting. What I like here is that we get the lore of what happened. It is thought that Sylvia killed her son, Phillip. The group is hoping to bring them back to find out the truth. This is a section that we see more and more as the movie goes on and I liked that. What I didn't care for here is that it seems this will be a focal point, but its more of a McGuffin. It pushes the story along and there are reveals there. I'd say that Cox and Garcia are good in their roles here as well.

The last bit for the story that I want to bring up is the social commentary here. I think it is well done. It didn't feel in your face so you could enjoy this as a haunted house comedy. There is the element of Harrison being the fish out of water. What I love is the normalizing this group of friends and how they live their lives. Having more movies like this to make it the normal is good for cinema in my opinion.

Now I did lie. There is one other thing I want to bring up and that is the horror elements. As a horror fan and reviewer, I wish they would ramp this up a bit more. That is why I feel the subplot with Sylvia is a McGuffin. It moves the story forward, but that seems to be all that it is. The atmosphere is good at times being a bit creepy. This leans more into the comedy though which I'm not always a fan of.

All that I think that is left to go into would be with the filmmaking. I think that this is shot well. The cinematography and editing are good. I like how they will mesh different things together where a character will be doing something and then it will shift to another in the same position. I enjoy that. There aren't a lot in the way of effects here outside of that, but it also doesn't need them. Other than that, I thought that the soundtrack was fine. It fit for what we needed here, especially during a montage scene that was fun and another one where Harrison is trying to be 'part of the group'.

In conclusion, this a fun movie. This is more comedy than horror. That is something I want to establish. We have a great group of characters that feel like old friends. The acting fits perfectly there. The littlest things and the stress of the situation opens unresolved issues. I also think that there is a good message here with how things play out as well. Not sure I could fully recommend this to horror fans though. If you don't mind one that is more lighthearted, then this is for you. I had a blast here.

My Rating: 7.5 out of 10.

Getting together for a bachelor party weekend, a group of friends hopes to have a wild last weekend at a lavish remote mansion, but while the group partakes in their fun their absentminded decision to undertake a seance brings about a ghost that haunts the house and forces them to deal with it.

Overall, this was a rather fun and generally enjoyable effort. One of the finer points with this one is the rather fun setup that might not be all that original but manages to keep this one moving along quite nicely. The idea of the secret bachelor party weekend and getting everyone together for the trip is solid enough as this provides the opportunity to focus on the group and their relationships while still bringing about the weekend festivities ranging from joking around to choreographed routines and clandestine hookups. Even though none of this is all that creative beyond the idea of it being gay guys enjoying their friends' weekend and going through the motions of everything, it's good enough to give a great idea of who each of them is which also allows for a nice bit of comedy based on their interactions together. This carries over into the series of hauntings that emerge once they decide to conduct the seance and unleash the spirit. The atmosphere of the estate works quite nicely with the way it brings about the group's decision to summon the spirit and offers an enjoyable setup to the later antics when the hauntings start to occur. Keeping the kind of lighthearted tone that was established in the comedic build-up that sets everything going in the right direction toward the final half where the ghost's purpose is exposed to them during the seance that starts to bring about the wild attempts at figuring out how to stop the hauntings from taking place as the idea of what takes place here is quite fun giving this enough to like here. There are some issues here that hold this one back. The main issue with the film is the lack of genre thrills that take place in the first half of the film as it spends quite a lot of time on the interactions with the group of friends going through the business of the bachelor party with each other going around having fun, goofing around with their dress-ups, or having the secret hookups carry out behind everyone's backs which all play out in a comedic vibe before the seance takes place. This is all happening in the first half when that seance occurs so it takes a while to get to the horror elements and could be a slough to get through, especially at such a short length that this one has. As well, there's also the fact that the film's reliance on discussion more than anything else with its lighthearted attitude and lack of true genre content here might be off-putting which could all be enough to lower this one overall.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language and Mild Violence.

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?

'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.