It’s almost tempting to think that Seance is deliberately setting the stage of the slasher formula in order to send up the genre, but this is no Scream, a film in which - in case you’ve forgotten - even cannon-fodder characters were at least given a handful of memorable one-liners before biting the dust.
On top of that, most exhibit a tendency to wander off by themselves, which invariably results in them adding to the academy’s rising body count. It’s the type of film where you’re always at pains to remember someone’s name since characters have no depth. None of the actors make a good impression, but this is a consequence of the writing letting them down in the first place. Sadly, Seance is fundamentally flawed as a murder mystery, with dull characters and uncompelling red herrings. The bigger issue is that it’s simply no fun to speculate about the perpetrator’s identity when most of the cast feels so interchangeable that it doesn’t matter if some characters die and others might have a hand in their undoing. Since Seance has little going for it beyond its intertwining mysteries - is there a ghost and/or are their killers on the prowl at the academy? - this review won’t spoil the finer details of the film’s reveals, even if most of them feel less like satisfying twists than as confirmation of what you’ve guessed all along.
What initially appears supernatural may be more grounded as the girls get picked off one by one and a serial killer’s foul play is suspected, by the viewer at least (the manner in which Seance’s police investigation drifts in and out of focus requires a colossal suspension of disbelief). Shortly after, Camille (Suki Waterhouse) transfers to the prestigious school and, following a brusque welcome at the hands of the local Mean Girls clique, finds herself participating in their seance to help uncover the truth. Or is there more to it than meets the eye? Things are off to a familiar start at the Edelvine Academy for Girls when a nightly summoning ritual intended as a prank seems to go wrong and actually conjures a spirit that kills one of the students.
Like his previous screenplays directed by Adam Wingard, Seance tries to tap into something creative by opening up a dialogue with the past, but Barrett’s debut is disappointingly undone by a farfetched story and flat characters, resulting in a genre film that mistakes outdatedness for old-fashioned fun. If You’re Next can be classified as a subversive reimagining of the final girl trope and The Guest was something fun along the lines of The Terminator by way of John Carpenter, then Seance, Simon Barrett’s first solo feature-length gig, could be described as a whodunit in the guise of a whatdunit: a film that channels slashers and throws in ghosts for good measure.