Saturday, February 04, 2012

Séance and Keeping Your Chin Up: A Movie Review

*full disclosure: a DVD screener of this film was provided by director Nathan Hill.

Director: Nathan Hill.

Writers: Nathan Hill and Simon Salamon.

Creating an indie horror or thriller film must be extremely challenging especially when you have no money to make the film. The Australia shot and set Séance is a film that is quite dreary in subject matter and quite slow in pacing. The film left this film fan with a bad taste in the mouth and this is an independent thriller that is more about following a depressed lonely man moping about than offering any horrifying thrills.

Based on a true story, Séance almost completely focuses on the protagonist Bill (Daniel Rankin) who has recently lost his fiancé through some sort of tragedy. For the first twenty minutes of the show, viewers will see Bill sulk about a seaside cabin as he tries to deal with the grief and her loss. The only lines of dialogue come from this character talking to himself. Apparently this film is going to be a psychological test and that test is placed on the viewer; can you sit through another sixty minutes of this? Later, Bill is invited to a party where he continues to act sullen while an impromtu séance begins to spell his late girlfriend's name (Theresa), but then ends in "the devil." As Colonel Kurtz would say in Apocalypse Now: "oh the horror!"

But there is little horror here and this film might be seen more as a drama or a psychological drama in genre. There is just too much time spent on Bill with no other central characters and few peripheral characters. You are basically left in a room with Bill as he has a psychological breakdown. He hears voices and this reviewer was hearing a voice too that said: "turn this film off." Moving along, the closest secondary character that director Nathan Hill introduces is Sam (Piers Cunningham), Bill's friend. He tries to help him, but his efforts go unrewarded. Two other female characters are only in one or two scenes and their presence is not tantamount to this production.

So, the tone of this review has been set. However, in order to really grind the point home, Séance's plot is not one of excitement or of interest, at least to this reviewer. As well, the acting in the film is described well by Valkor at The Other View "(it) is a bit stiff." Set decorations are minimal especially in the final scenes. The sole or secondary prop of a gun will tip you off as to where this film is going. And this film element is difficult to put into words; however the film did not feel meaningful. Perhaps not being able to fully empathize with a haunted man made enjoying this film difficult to enjoy and the film could definitely have been improved with more resources both in budget and in cast.

There have been a few indie films that this reviewer has seen recently that still did well with a small budget including another film called Séance starring Corey Feldman and Jason Horton's recent Monsters in the Woods. These films are a little more horrifying and focused on action elements and thrills. The supernatural element is also a little more active in these films. Nathan Hill's Séance is just not a very good weekend movie where you are expecting something a little more fun and less suicidal.

Overall: 6 out of 10 (a strong premise, so-so acting, too few characters, sparse dialogue, depressing).

Another review of this film is available at The Other View (Valkor):

Séance Reviewed at The Other View

 |  |  | 

Advertise Here - Contact me Michael Allen at 28DLA

Subscribe to 28 Days Later: An Analysis Email Subscription

0 comments: