Séance

(2006) Séance HORROR

Written and directed by Mark L. Smith directing a straight to rental but interesting idea about blond teenage girl, Lauren (Kandis Erickson) who decides not to visit her folks for the long holidays, decides to seance (waking up ghosts) with her friends in the student dorm instead, for the purpose of getting rid of a repeated dream of a little girl whose always haunting this particular person, we don't know how or why this little girl is haunting her. Upon the seance, also brought to life in ghost form, the person who killed the little girl, who eventually set out to kill remaining people still hanging around in the building! There's some interesting stuff said about myths about ghosts, but with higher production values this film could've been decent.

I picked this up because Adrian Paul (The Highlander) was in it, and I'm glad I did. I thought the movie was scary and fun. I love horror films, but they often disappoint me because they go for gore instead of suspense and tension. But this one has a spookiness that builds right from the opening ( I hate creepy little girls) and as soon as they have that first séance it really gets scary, with Adrian and that little girl wandering around the halls. But if you're looking for loads of blood this isn't the movie for you. The characters were all fun and seemed like real students instead of 30 year-olds trying to act like teens. The acting was much, much better than most lower-budget films, especially the Diego guy. The special effects weren't the best, but it's the kind of movie where that doesn't matter so much. Just turn down the lights and enjoy the scares. Overall I give it a 7/10

This was one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. Aside from the technicality of the use of the word Seance to give a "point" to the movie, the rest of it was utter bull. From the way the actors "acted" to the more than lack luster (or is it less than lack lu.. nevermind) stage design, this movie had awful written all over it. A review? This movie isn't even worthy of such. This is more of a warning than anything else. You may enjoy this if you like cheap laughs and a few jumps (and that's only if you have a weak heart), but aside from that this really isn't worth it.

The only reason I gave 2/10 is that I wanted to be "nice".

During holiday break, girls in an empty dorm building hold a seance to contact the ghost of a little girl that haunts their room. Unfortunately, they also bring back a murderer who lived in the building, too.

For the most part you can forget any comments about this movie being creepy. (Reviews from someone involved in the production?)

It has a few lackluster moments, and it tries, but ultimately fails. Mostly because scenes that are supposed to be set in the dark seem to have as much ambient light as your average daytime soap opera. And the slow fade effects of the ghosts are more cheesy than spooky.

The actors playing the students all are very good, with A. J. Lamas a notable standout. Kandis Erickson is also a more than capable lead. Bridget Shergalis is a good silent ghost. Unfortunately the ghostly whistling maintenance man killer is about as scary as a carton of oatmeal. (i.e. not at all scary. Maybe partly due to the overstrong lighting and sometimes laughable fade effects.)

This film could have been so much more if only better choices had been made in respect to lighting and special effects.

...because I was tempted to switch over when this was on my TV.

From the opening credits I was convinced this was a made-for-TV movie from the US. For a good 45 minutes in, it wouldn't have been out of place on Nick at Night. It has the look and feel of something filmed in one studio over the course of about 3 days.

The actors are serviceable, but nothing outstanding. The production design can barely be commented on other than "rooms and corridors". Special effects and any kind of gore appear for about 5 seconds and aren't very effective. I laughed when they probably intended me to go "Ew!" It was only when we saw a nipple and someone said 'F***' that I realised this may not be made for TV (HBO or Showtime wouldn't let something this cruddy be made). Something extremely rare happened - I actually fast-forwarded through some parts. Pointless dialogue mainly.

I don't think I've given such a low rating to a film on here yet, but this only gets a 2/10. I couldn't wait for it to be over.