SEANCE (2021): A Review of Simon Barrett’s Boarding School Mystery.

Cinema Scholars’ presents a reviews of Séance, the 2021 supernatural slasher by Simon Barrett. This is Barrett’s feature length directorial debut.

Introduction:

Simon Barrett became a favorite of the festival circuit as a screenwriter. His most notable works include You’re Next (2011) and The Guest (2014). In his first feature directorial project, Séance, Barrett takes on a boarding school horror film that doesn’t pan out as strongly as his previous projects. It hits all the expected beats, but with little effect and just manages to lead you through the story adequately.

Synopsis:

Camille, played by Suki Waterhouse (The Bad Batch), nabs an opportunity to enroll in a very selective and prestigious boarding school, Fairfield Academy. This chance comes up when a previous student falls to her death from the dormitory window. The incident happened minutes after her school mates conducted a prank séance. As a result, Camille takes the open slot and joins the elite female student body.

On her first day, Camille crosses path with the snobby clique of girls who conducted the doomed séance. Alice, performed by Inanna Sarkis, rudely bullies Camille for their favorite lunch table, along with the other main characters. She is the bitchy spokesperson for the group. Alice leads a gang of bored and over-privileged teenagers, stuck within the walls of a boarding school. They prank and tease each other as an outlet for their boredom.

In a familiar cliché of new girl versus popular girls, Camille becomes their newest target, The newcomer, however, proves to be a tougher target than expected. She comes with a strong backbone and grit. Camille has her own agenda and secrets, although weakly developed in the film.

Séance starts as a haunted, boarding school film. Camille encounters strange phenomena from her very first night. But they have little impact on the story, as it turns out. The film pivots and to becomes a slasher/murder mystery with supernatural elements. The girls must work together to find out who is picking them off, one by one. Rivals form a tenuous alliance. The films uses tropes we’ve seen many times before and it’s easy to follow along.

Writing and Character Development:

The script lacks any kind of sharpness or hook. This is the biggest weakness in the film. The writing and plot are so bland that the characters are interchangeable and lack distinct personality. In place of character development, there is a painful vacuum. As a result, not much feels at stake and it’s hard to care who dies next. Thrills and emotional connection are missing. Thus, the plot has no clout over the audience and there is not a drop of excitement or anticipation.

Even the way characters are introduced is blasé. How many times has character tension been introduced with lunch table turf wars? And of course, Camille finds a sensitive ally in Helena, played by Ella-Rae Smith. She’s the kind one who accepts the new girl but isn’t as strong as the rest of the gang. We know these stereotypes in many teenage films. The beats are familiar, which isn’t the problem. The problem is that they lack originality.

Disconnect with Audience:

The girls are being mysteriously murdered in rapid succession. And yet, nobody panics or grieves their peers. The school headmistress, Mrs. Landry, played by Marina Stephenson Kerr, takes no action to protect her students. Terrified parents don’t pound down the doors. It’s business as usual, with dead teenage bodies piling up. The surviving friends speak in hushed monotone, discussing horrendous events as if they were a boring homework assignment. The effect, a painfully dull story that moves along perfunctorily. If the characters barely seem to notice the horrors around them, how can the audience do so as well?

There is a “twist” in Séance But it’s explained only through maybe 15 seconds of dialogue in the final scenes of the film. There are only two or three hints throughout the movie of this secondary mystery. The big reveal comes out in the wash, so to speak. It barely moves the needle for the viewer.

Scares and Murders:

The tropes used to create scares or moments of tension are generic. Haunted moments start with flickering lights. Well, okay, flickering lights are the only thing the ghost is capable of.  You could play a drinking game based on flickering lights and be smashed by the end of the film. This sadly makes the spooky moments monotone as well and dampens the creep factor.

In fact, there is a terrible lack of creep factor. All the murders happen off screen and are fully inferred. Resulting in further adding to the tedium of the film. A little intense gore would play beautifully against the underplayed theme of the rest of the movie. It would have redeemed the film and made it a play on style. Alas, this is not the case. It’s not clear how each murder happens. Add to that the lukewarm reactions of the other characters and it feels almost like nobody died. It’s bizarre and disconnected. Perhaps the intention was to be more mysterious, but that doesn’t work.

Cast:

The cast of Séance does an adequate job, but there is no shining star. The actresses are not given a script with gravitas. They do what they can with two-dimensional characters. The ensemble cast is talented as proven in previous works. Waterhouse was fantastic in The Bad Batch. None of that is showcased here. As a result, these ladies feels like they were chosen for their looks. And there is definite tokenism at play.

Technical Aspects:

The film boasts muted tones and good artistic cinematography. It’s pretty to look at and has a decent atmosphere to it. The blocking could be better during kill scenes, but as mentioned, those could have been fully revised for more effect. The filmmakers use subtle sound design tricks when the ghost is around. They are too subtle and easily missed without a quiet room for viewing. Again, this film seems to dwell in mundane waters. Maybe it was meant to be more cerebral and subtle, but it doesn’t tingle the spine as intended.

In Summary:

Séance is a generic, paint-by-numbers, wannabe genre-bender with no bite. To be fair, it’s not a bad film at all. It’s just a bland film. It’s perfect for those who don’t want their horror too scary, or too intense. As such, it is just okay, but we know that Barrett can do much better.

Seance released exclusively to Shudder Wednesday, September 29th.

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