'Seance' Review: No Respectable Ghost Would Bother Haunting These Boring Prep School Girls

Arlington TX

30 September, 2021

7:49 PM

Description

By Joe Friar, Fort Worth Report September 29, 2021 Simon Barrett wrote "You're Next," two of the "VHS" films, plus "The ABCs of Death" so it's surprising that "Seance" is an uninspired rehash that borrows from an assortment of horror films. The film opens with an ode to "Candyman" as a group of girls from the prestigious Edelvine Academy gather in the restroom at 3:15 am to conjure the ghost of a former student who is known to haunt the all-girls school. They stare in the mirror chanting "Edelvine ghost rise up to us" while holding candles in what should be your first clue that the next 90 minutes will be filled with familiar tropes. Too bad Tony Todd doesn't show up whispering "Be My Victim" but if he did, I get the feeling he'd be met with "Ooh, gross" and end up on TikTok. Suki Waterhouse ("Assassination Nation") plays new girl Camille Meadows who immediately bumps heads with mean girls leader Alice (Inanna Sarkis), the two get into it in the library leading to a Conor McGregor beatdown complete with martial arts sound effects. There is another MMA face-off during the climax which I have dubbed "Fists of Fluorescent Light Fixtures" as the ladies go at it mano a mano. When one of the students is found dead after the restroom conjuring, the girls believe they have awakened the Edelvine ghost, so they hold a seance in an attempt to contact their recently departed classmate. A cell phone case and lipstick are used as a makeshift planchette as the girls scribble messages from the other side on a Big Chief tablet. To read the full article, click here. Fort Worth Report is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that produces factual, in-depth journalism about city and county government, schools, healthcare, business, and arts and culture in Tarrant County. Always free to read; subscribe to newsletters, read coverage or support our newsroom at fortworthreport.org.