Moon-drenched lighting, vibrant satin fabrics playing in direct contrast to swaying chandeliers, and shifting shadows disturbing the room’s intricate cobwebs.
Séance certainly looks the part of a gothic thriller.
Set in 1892 California, this haunting seaside tale begins with the unexpected reunion between Emma Strand (Scottie Thompson) and her first husband George (Jilon VanOver). Emma, now married to painter Albert (Connor Paolo), meets George’s new wife, Lillian (Vivian Kerr) and is deeply unsettled by the woman.
However, when a storm pauses their travels, Emma and Albert accept an invitation to stay at George and Lillian’s mansion, where they learn that the death of the couple’s child isn’t the only tragedy haunting them after a botched séance.
The perilous evening is brimming with treacherous gothic tricks.
At the center of the levitating tables and creaking floorboards is a terrified damsel clinging to the flickering candle in hand as she descends further into the night’s madness. Gorgeous gowns cascade down staircases that groan in protest, and milk-white skin reflects translucently as a ghost in the threatening strikes of lightning.
Séance Director Vivian Kerr’s vision devours the pre-Edwardian parlour tricks with a thrilling practicality. Through Emma’s logical gaze, we struggle to understand how these paranormal incidents could plague a mourning mother in earnest.
It creates a languid horror that constantly slips from of our fingers and lingers just far enough into the shadows to keep the audience stumbling forward for answers.
The marriage between Séance’s cinematography and costumes is the film’s greatest trick up its sleeve.
The outfits are understated elegance, dripping in texture and beautiful detailing that establishes the film’s place in the Victorian era. Even the evening shawls and floral lace parasols tie together the illusion of order before all societal dressings are discarded in haste.
The time spent on the grand staircases and wallpaper-laden hallways of the manor is especially delicious, embracing the typical visuals of a haunting gothic tale.
Unfortunately, the meat of the film isn’t nearly as easy to devour as the dressings.
The performances ring hollow all too often. Whether it’s the dialogue or the stinted delivery, it very much feels like these characters are going through the motions of the performance. While the hysterical melodrama and almost satirical approach can work for gothic thrillers, the tone of this project is too serious to suggest the ensemble’s offbeat exchanges are a byproduct of such attempts.
It is a struggle to connect with any of the characters on a deeper level, and their constant over-the-top exchanges threaten to break the trance the sights so carefully curate.
Additionally, the plot feels muddled in its attempts to establish a winding mystery that is part misogynistic villainy, part tongue-in-cheek paranormal.
The film overcomplicates itself with the pre-established relationship between Emma and George that continously pushes to resurrect itself. Their weird off-screen history overshadows the main family dynamic between Lillian, George, and Hazel. It’s a struggle to understand how the couple operated in the aftermath of Hazel’s death before Emma entered the picture.
Despite those shortcomings, the film has its intriguing and intelligent twists that complement the beautifully tragic setting of a crumbling home on the verge of being swallowed by a sea of grief.
It never quite escalates the supernatural scares to a level that thrills. However, the moments of terror when Emma seemingly catches the couple in the act of pretending certainly make the heart beat faster.
Séance, similar to its namesake, offers an amusing evening of parlour tricks as long as the audience isn’t willing to peer too closely.
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Séance releases digitally on November 13, 2026.
