Seance

Started out good. Decent acting. Seemed like a senior filmmaking project for college. The story was good, but became rather stupid two thirds the way through. There are murders/accidental deaths with no investigators in the movie. The ending is beyond unbelievable and stupid.

The only thing that made this watchable was Suki Waterhouse. It's an average teen mystery of the horror genre. I wasn't bored, it was a watchable time passer for a Sunday night. Held my attention. I did find some of it predictable, I predicted the reveal, maybe others won't. Was it scary? No. Was it intriguing? Yes. If you like this type of thing and have nothing else to watch, stick it on as an okay time passer.

Girls in a haunted dance academy are dying or being murdered in alarming numbers in this carefully calibrated movie by Simon Barret. When a student in Edelvine academy apparently commits suicide by jumping out her window after a prank gone bad, her replacement Suki Waterhouse is plagued by ghostly sightings. The girls conduct a seance and a ghostly presence emerges. Pretty soon, the body count starts climbing. Pic seems slack on the atmosphere and chills, despite it's "suspiria" inspired setting. Suki Waterhouse gives a sly performance (all deadpan line deliveries) , and the dreamy synth like score adds to the odd, off-kilter atmosphere. But viewers patient enough to sit this through will be rewarded by a great ending - when everything finally makes sense, especially Ms Waterhouse's cool performance.

I really can't rate this movie very high. It's about a girls' school where unusual things are going on. Is it haunted? Who is this new girl? What about the strange history of the school? It seems to have the right ingredients, and for a while, I was invested in it. It turns out there is a ghost, but that is not what is causing the string of deaths. It was one of the students who did not want to get caught plagiarizing the essay that is her ticket to college. And the headmistrisses' son is involved. The characters weren't that interesting and the ending was a let down. As far as spooky movies go, I would say look for something else a little better.