Séance (2021)
I was sort mulling over what to watch after Tragedy Girls (2017), so I was just "channel surfing" through Shudder's various category lists, eventually landing on Séance (2021), capturing my attention because I have a soft spot for horror/slasher films The Craft-adjacent or The Craft-familiar. Even if they aren't considered highmarks such as 5ive Girls and Little Witches, but even before The Craft (1996), there was Heathers (1989). So I'm really a sucker for a poster that has student girls together supposedly against something (or someone) evil or themselves as a horror film description.
This film has some fun surprises I appreciated. It has the slasher formula of the body count where members of a particular group (Alice, Yvonne, Rosalind, Lenora, and Bethany) are messing around with a planchette and try to contact the Edenvile Ghost or a recent "suicide, Kerrie. New arrival, "Kamille" has a friend in the meek and shy Helina, who obviously seems to be sort of a longer among the school. Kamille isn't exactly as she appears, as evidenced by her abysmal ballet practice. Coming from "good standing" and "good stock", Kamille immediately has problems with Alice and her brood. Sitting at their table, Kamille isn't "persuaded" to leave despite their antagonistic ultimatum to do so. Punches traded, Kamille and Alice, and Alice's gaggle of tow-the-line girls, have to talk to the boarding school magistrate.
Kamille refuses to be intimidated by them. An ally in Helina doesn't hurt. I was wondering as I watched their relationship develop if that strong lesbian energy would pan out. At the end when they kiss, it just made sense. You could tell that chemistry was undeniable. But Kamille has an agenda ahead of her Helina (and us) aren't yet aware of. What happened to Kerrie is of definite interest to Kamille. The suicide is fishy since she was actually running out of a restroom after a Bloody Mary prank was pulled.
There are visitations. So not only is this a slasher film, there is a ghost (well, not just one) popping up every now and then. I really liked this one scene where Kerrie's arm pops up on the side of Kamille's bed and then turns her head towards Kamille under the sheets. There are these theater masks worn by the killers that I think really works, too. The violence in the beginning isn't as visceral and gory, but that is definitely made up for in the big finale. The use of a fluorescent light tube to the throat and a library shelf dropped right through a face certainly are the highlights. And there is this neat giallo homage where Yvonne is practicing her dance and is startled with a knife slice to the body....it is a quick skin slice with the opening flesh. But Kamille gaining advantage in a fight with one of the killers not anticipating her physical skills is especially a nice surprise. I do find a particular scene annoying where Kamille is clearly caught dead to rites and tied up with the killers going through their Bond Villain exposition and yapping when they would have killed anybody else besides her. Alice seems to be a real leader and most vocal member of her group but ultimately proves to be more of a rival to Kamille with no value in how the killers are taken care of at the end. Helina snaps out of her Xanax sleep to look for Kamille, not really much of a factor besides cutting off the lights and halting the killers' momentum.
Great looking movie, as attractive as the cast. Suki Waterhouse did have that sad presence about her, a kind of melancholy that seems to weigh on her face. She never smiles until the very end when revenge has been met and a kiss to Helina promises a future with her once everything blows over. The killers' reveal wasn't exactly woah but their psychopathy was punched home in the delivery and boasting. I didn't really consider the motives behind the murders all that impactful and I have just seen so many slashers, so I can't fault those behind the writing and twist too much since 40 years with the subgenre leaves very green left on the branch. Suki, though, just has it and really holds the screen well, even if a lot of her personality is muted and hidden due to her mission. Her chemistry with Ella-Rae Smith, it just felt right that these two would perhaps eventually satisfy what was clearly reserved until Suki's enigmatic character settled a score.
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