The Seance

Well written and acted, with nice sets and sound design. The special effects aren't great, but the chemistry between the actors is. The dialogue is engaging but does get a little too cutesy sometimes, hence the 7. Not scary, but dark, atmospheric, nicely crafted and well worth a watch IMO.

I really wanted to love this movie, I'm a big fan of supernatural themed horror so the story appealed to me. The acting from the two main characters is pretty good, some of the supporting cast not so much, but as they are not in the movie too long it doesn't distract from the enjoyment. Some of the things that did distracted from my enjoyment were this.

During some scenes, the background music (mournful cello of course) is often overwhelming and drowns out the dialogue. The female lead is quite an obnoxious character, and it becomes tiresome listening to her constant attempts at debunking, disbelief and general rudeness. And the ending was a bit of a damp squib.

The movie does have its good points though. The dialogue between the two leads in mostly snappy and they have some good chemistry. The story is interesting, if not overly original, or perfectly executed, but I'm guessing from some of the "special effects" it was not made with a blockbuster budget. Overall I did enjoy it, and it made me wanting to keep watching to the end. And I do like the phrase "Portable Poltergeist Panic Room" for its alliteration.

I am not a writer by any means and am proudly left-brained, but the guy who did this is a natural for crafting dialogue. Any horror fan knows it's nearly impossible to have a completely unique idea within the genre, so other elements are essential to keeping your interest, and the conversation between the two heroes is witty, fleshed out, and most importantly, realistic (except one part). Even the science behind the happenings sounds reasonable enough to a layman like me. While you will likely get annoyed with the constant naysaying from the gal, it's obviously necessary to the plot so you just have to accept that. The horror elements in particular are REALLY good at points as you build emotional connections with the reason for everything as opposed to the norm of "me demon, me bad." When a person is going towards an area they probably shouldn't, you really feel it and the eerie elements are well executed, especially with the main villain who looks like something to truly fear.

That being said, once the side character supernaturals are revealed, you can sense the low budget nature of it all and it would have served the film better to just NOT show anything, or keep it as out of focus shots, as the "Shakespeare in the Park" vibes you get from the spirits dampers things. Another small offset is when the heroes are immediately resigned to doom and just start joking about it all. While the lighthearted banter is the solid backbone of the story, it needed to keep the stakes high at the appropriate moment.

All in all though the acting was spot on, the dialogue beguiles you, and the horror elements will meet 100% of your daily-recommended allowance. I really hope the writer continues in this field, but to be honest he would knock a rom-com out of the ballpark...just don't cast Jimmy Fallon for that one!

Side note: It's really aggravating there was a teen horror flick with a similar name released in the same year, making this nearly impossible to find via search engine. I hope this gets entered into some festivals and gains noteriety.

(I rate movies based on expectations. You can't put Sharknado on the same scale as Jaws.)

I liked a lot of "The Seance," but think it made a big miscalculation that hurt my connection to the film.

"The Seance" begins with Nate (Michael Minto" holding a séance. It's a good one -- lots of stuff happens, a family member of one the attendees appears to manifest himself. However, it turns out that one of the attendees is Andy (Miranda Skerman), who hosts a You Tube series where she debunks mediums, psychics, and the like. After all the other attendees leave, Andy sticks around and tries to figure out how Nate did everything, and get him to admit he's a fraud. But does he have a connection to the spirit world? Or is he perpetrating an elaborate hoax on not just his attendees, but Andy herself? These are the questions that will be explored over the course of the evening...

For a low budget film, it's a wonder. Great lighting, clear sound, and solid acting all around. Word of warning, there is a lot of talking and dialog. A lot. For the most part, though, I found it interesting and engaging, and I like that it plays its hand pretty close to the vest. At some point in the movie, what is going on appears to be clear but even so, there are little hints that maybe it's not what we think it is. I also like that we actually GET an answer to what's going on.

Where I think the movie makes a huge mistake is that when it gets to the most suspenseful part of the movie, what it's been building to, the tone of the movie all of a sudden shifts. The characters start making jokes and there is general goofiness. And it was jarring -- I'm thinking, "Hey, when did this become a comedy? Or was it always a comedy and nothing was funny until now?" Think The Three Stooges showing up all of a sudden during the climax of "Silence of the Lambs." So the suspense that was so carefully built was replaced with... goofiness. A very, very odd creative decision.

And what's even more confusing is that in the coda, it turns back to deadly serious at the end. If they had kept a consistent tone throughout the movie, it would have been more successful.

So I liked enough of it to mildly recommend it, but still...

..if you know what to expect. This is a comedy/dialogue driven drama/horror, like a stage play. Not as brilliant as "Sleuth", not as funny as Polansky's "Carnage", not scary or gory. Nevertheless, it is funny, enjoyable, some fresh ideas and the actors are really good. I wouldn't call it innovative or exciting, but this has a delightful plot, and as i said, if you know what to expect, you'll like it. 6.8/10.