Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Seance

Play trailer 2:01 Poster for Seance R Released May 21, 2021 1h 33m Horror Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
48% Tomatometer 65 Reviews 28% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Camille Meadows is the new girl at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls. Soon after her arrival, six girls invite her to join them in a late-night ritual, calling forth the spirit of a dead former student who reportedly haunts their halls. But before morning, one of the girls is dead, leaving the others wondering what they may have awakened.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Seance

Seance

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Writer-director Simon Barrett has a certain filmmaking flair, but it isn't enough to raise Seance above its somewhat pedestrian story.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (65) Critics Reviews
Leslie Felperin Guardian You want to give them the benefit of the doubt that they were deliberately trying to make this look like a cheap Italian horror film. Rated: 1/5 Sep 29, 2021 Full Review Angie Han FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) It's really silly, but I think that's it's saving grace. Jun 3, 2021 Full Review Randy Myers San Jose Mercury News A genre treat. Rated: 3/4 May 27, 2021 Full Review Nuha Hassan The UnderSCENE The third act combines everything into one piece and finalises the brutality and the consequences of the ritual, and also, the twist that no one saw coming, but disappointing. Jul 20, 2023 Full Review Jenn Adams Rue Morgue Magazine SEANCE’s premise is more exciting than its execution. Barrett steps into the role of director resulting in a vaguely entertaining, if slightly lifeless supernatural slasher. Rated: C Feb 18, 2023 Full Review Joel Fisher Battle Royale With Cheese Seance is not good on paper and even worse on screen, perhaps Barrett should stick to just doing what he does best. Feb 16, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (22) audience reviews
Bruce Gutterman Considering it was produced on a small budget, had no known actors, and little or no publicity, it was a surprisingly good little horror film! There was just enough action and killings as well as the mystery as to who was the killer to keep one interested. Once the killings began it got pretty gory, which I like, but moviegoers who don't like that kind of thing should not see this movie. Sometimes when you expect a movie to be a bomb and as in our case, just see it because there is little else playing in the theaters that I haven't seen, many times you might be surprised to find a movie that holds your interest. This one did, at least for my wife and I. I would imagine it will go to cable or OD soon since it won't be a big box office attraction, so save your money and wait for it to be on pay per view or even Netflix. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/24/21 Full Review Audience Member Overall, it has a great setup with many mysteries introduced that carry the entire film. It's a basic yet effective horror and thriller combined, and the finale was rewarding and generally unpredictable. The film is dark in tone, which is fitting, and the locations are also great to see. The lead character and selected side characters were certainly the film's biggest drawback and were either bland, dull or childish. Still, there's plenty of fun to be had here, and it's a wonderful achievement from the director and writer Simon Barrett. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/11/23 Full Review avindu g It's not a super convincing story. But Seance seemed to me, reaching it's goal as a worthy contender in both Slasher and Whodunit genres. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Oh boy, where to start. The movie keeps trying to make the "supernatural" angle seem important while everything in the film clearly points to a typical slasher film. Then theirs the characters who in no way believe in the supernatural until suddenly a scribble on a paper has them ready to call the cops, like that's actual evidence. This film is trying so very hard to be cerebral and you can almost hear the director chanting "must….subvert….expectations" while he goes from one nonsensical scene to the next in a desperate attempt to make the movie make sense. The final "reveal" comes, then the movie fails to end and shambles on trying to beat you over the head with the reveal as if asking "do you get it?" Over and over. Hard skip Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Más caca no pudo vee cido esto perdida de tiempo . 💩💩💩 Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member "And then they start to show the picture, and step by step, step by step, I became happy, because the picture was awful! It's a failure! It's a human reaction, no? It's not beautiful but I have that reaction." - Alejandro Jodorowsky, explaining his thoughts on David Lynch's Dune. That quote by the great Alejandro Jodorowsky is exactly how I felt about "Seance", holy hell was it awful. I'll admit I was entertained but in the "how much worse will it get" sort of intrigue, one of the major "twists" I saw coming like a giant asteroid far in the sky and it lacks PERSONALITY as a film, no soul or artistic merit to it whatsoever. No wonder Simon Barrett's frequent collaborator Adam Wingard is off doing much bigger and better things like Godzilla vs. Kong, because clearly without Wingard, Barrett's creative direction sinks worse than the Titanic on it's worst day. No memorable shots or cinematography, terrible script that loves to TELL and not SHOW, and which makes the actors/actresses forcefully give lifeless performances plus a seemingly non-existent soundtrack. What offends me most of this picture, is that it's filmed where I live, further giving my city a worse reputation than it already has. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Seance

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Men 69% 39% Men Watchlist TRAILER for Men Children of the Corn 11% 38% Children of the Corn Watchlist TRAILER for Children of the Corn The Beast Within 40% 53% The Beast Within Watchlist TRAILER for The Beast Within The Seventh Day 13% 17% The Seventh Day Watchlist TRAILER for The Seventh Day Satanic Hispanics 90% 53% Satanic Hispanics Watchlist TRAILER for Satanic Hispanics Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Camille Meadows is the new girl at the prestigious Edelvine Academy for Girls. Soon after her arrival, six girls invite her to join them in a late-night ritual, calling forth the spirit of a dead former student who reportedly haunts their halls. But before morning, one of the girls is dead, leaving the others wondering what they may have awakened.
Director
Simon Barrett
Producer
Russell Ackerman, Isaac Clements, Tomas Deckaj, John Schoenfelder, Alex Mace, Matthew Baker
Screenwriter
Simon Barrett
Distributor
RLJE Films
Production Co
Dark Castle Entertainment, Ingenious Media, HanWay Films
Rating
R (Some Drug Use|Language|Bloody Horror Violence)
Genre
Horror
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 21, 2021, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 29, 2021
Runtime
1h 33m
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
Most Popular at Home Now