Séance Games: Metaxu

When I watched this movie, it had a 5.1 rating on here. I agree with several other reviewers that the high ratings came from friends, family and crew, because it's awful. Not the worst I've ever seen, but an absolute chore to make it all the way through so I could fairly rate it and contribute to bringing it down to a more realistic score.

Firstly, I should have run when the description started off with, "Social media stars...," because that warns us of a cast of unlikable, spoiled twenty-somethings. I can think of only two positive things to say about this film. 1) It's not very long. 2) The music, while not great, does rise to occasion more often than not.

The bad? Well there's a lot of bad, but let me narrow it down. The worst offender is the really terrible acting. Even Eric Roberts-who seems to be doing anything for a buck lately, which is a shame-is offensively awful. The pacing is ridiculous, there are plot holes galore, and as in all shows about paranormal researchers, once they actually FIND something, they don't know what to do about it. Instead, the movie makes a sharp U-turn into arguing and drama. Badly acted drama. And what makes a person who has just broken free from the spawn of Hell to run to the front door the house in the middle of nowhere, yell for help, then basically shrug and go back inside? And then top it off with a stale thud at the end.

This is a dumb movie. Maybe with better acting it could've pulled out an actual 5, but how anyone can honestly rate this higher, well, I guess to each their own.

This is a 2024 supernatural horror flick, but it's as if I was watching a 20 yo episode of Dante's Cove, it's all SO out-dated, amateurish, silly and totally NON scary!! The whole (intended) supernatural part of the movie is filled with smoke, rattling doors, rolling eyes, badly faked gore, and an increasingly annoying, supposed to be suspenseful score. Among the ghosts that appear in the clouds of smoke are a lady with blown-up lips and a bad wig, a post 60's hippie mother with according lingo ("yeah man!"), and - scariest of all - Eric Roberts, earning one of his easiest pay checks ever, having 2 minutes screen time and 3 lines to say.

The story is nonsensical, something with two highly popular influencers competing for a million dollar prize, by starting a seance in a haunted house while their millions of followers are watching. The settings are unconvincing, the view on the house from the outside is as if it was cut from a magazine and stuck on cardboard.

The only thing just a little bit bearable were the scenes and dialogues that concerned the relational problems between the characters. In my humble opinion Andrew James Ferguson and especially Madison Taylor are seriously good actors, but totally wasted on this ill fated project. Avoid, I would strongly advise (and don't believe the several raving fake reviews!).

Participating in a viral challenge, a group of influencers arrive at a remote house in the middle of nowhere to undergo a special livestream challenge performing a specific seance, but when they release the spirit of a figure trapped inside must try to get out of the house alive.

This was a decent enough if somewhat flawed genre effort. Among the better features here is the impressive setup that plays quite nicely into modern influencer culture with how they get into the game and how it takes place. The arrival at the house and meeting up with the secondary group that's also attempting the same thing offers the kind of worthwhile starting point that's based quite nicely on how typical youth in this style start behaving. With a rather creepy, mold-covered house that has the traditional unused-for-years look and aesthetic that tends to play perfectly for the type of challenge being attempted here, it serves the film perfectly with the actual seance that takes place here as this sets the final half on a wild path once the group starts to succumb to the ghostly figures in the house. That's where the film works the best as the paranoia on display and wild revelations that come about during a series of brutal-by-comparison sequences give the film some positives. There are some big issues present that bring this one down overall. The biggest drawback with the film is the utterly uninteresting group of characters we're forced to follow as the typical means of modern youth and their actions are brought to full force here. The usual assortment of antics here involving the group being completely inconsiderate and only thinking of their followers despite what would be scenarios that demand more attention to their surroundings or sympathy for others is on display throughout here as the group spends the majority of the first half going through their follower numbers than anything more endearing which makes the group difficult to deal with. As well, once the film does finally get going and the bodies start dropping it's done without much in the way of thrilling sequences or intense confrontations so it's really hard to care at this point in the film where it's getting going. It's the main thing holding this one down among its other factors.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and a clothed sex scene.

This was an enjoyable watch with some tense scenes and funny moments. The actors did a great job and there was a real chemistry between the cast. I think they found some real up and coming talent and it will be cool to see what they all do next. I also thought it looked good for a low budget movie with some cool locations and impressive practical effects. Some parts were intentionally a little bit goofy whereas others were more emotional and impactful. I don't watch a lot of horror movies and I didn't find it overly scary, so as long as you're remotely interested in horror I think you will be fine to watch it.

You know how it is, scrolling through Amazon Prime, looking for something to watch and most times you're really playing movie roulette. Will it be good, or meh? I saw SEANCE GAMES listed, a new horror movie starring Eric Roberts, and I thought, why not? Very glad I took the chance. A lot of these movies tend to be very claustrophobic, which is a reflection of budgetary constraints. This movie opens with great scope, and becomes a very refreshing take on the haunted house story, upgrading it with Internet and social media elements. Very interesting take and well acted by some young newcomers and of course, Eric Roberts brings class and sophistication to his role. A great feature film directorial debut from Tane' McClure, and I look forward to seeing future projects from her and the rest of the cast!