Are we dealing with ghoulies and ghosties, or just unresolved family trauma? That’s the eternal question, and it’s the narrative backdrop of Seance. A stagey four-hander set in the midst of the spiritualist trend of the late 1800s, Seance cultivates a distinct sense of atmosphere, even if it’s occasionally let down by budgetary restrictions and narrative weaknesses. It works better as a relationship drama than a ghost story, but when it’s firing on all cylinders, it’s a great pick for a quiet, spooky night in.
Newlywed couple Albert and Emma, seemingly ill-at-ease with one another despite the fact that they should be in their honeymoon phase, are thrown for a loop while on vacation at the beach. They stumble upon Emma’s ex-husband (an unusual predicament for the film’s setting in the 1890s, when usually the only way out of a marriage involved a casket) and his new wife, who invites them over for dinner. Awkward, perhaps, but nothing to write home about. That is, until Lillian reveals the sad news that their daughter Hazel had unexpectedly died several months earlier, and she’s been hoping that the four of them might hold a seance in their appropriately spooky manor house. But their communion with the next world is counterbalanced by the many mortal concerns they each have – namely, their changing and uncertain relationships with one another.
The haunted house of Seance provides the perfect setting for the domestic drama that plays out between these four wounded characters, although it often seems torn between genres. Frankly, the elements of horror it half-heartedly incorporates leave little to be desired, cultivating a sense of atmosphere but never really committing to the build up and pay off that makes scary movies successful, regardless of their budget. The dramatic components are much more compelling, as is the historical context of the spiritualist movement, and how it relates to women’s changing role in society. The film features two very different women, but both would be considered outliers for the time – one who has taken the radical step of divorcing her husband for not supporting her writing career, the other whose belief in her daughter’s lingering presence is seen as indicative of a mental illness. But as with many of the themes in Seance, the film never quite explores them. It picks them up, inspects them briefly, and sets them back down without delving into them with any complexity. As a result, the actual story itself feels rather shallow, despite its strong premise.
From an acting perspective, the four-handed cast isn’t exactly balanced. But to be honest, it’s hard to tell if the disparity comes from the performances or the writing. Emma and Albert, played by Scottie Thompson and Connor Paolo, feel like full-bodied characters, and their relationship has a sense of realism that makes you buy into it immediately. Unfortunately, Seance stops short whenever it seems as though it’s going to really examine the nuances of both of these couples’ lives. For this reason, Seance never manages to meet the potential of its intriguing premise, although it does provide audiences with an atmospheric viewing experience with a tinge of period horror.
Directed by Vivian Kerr
Starring Scottie Thompson, Connor Paolo, Vivian Kerr, Jilon VanOver
Runtime 85 min
Language English