Film

Seance

Name: Seance
Genre: Horror
Released: 2021
Cast: Suki Waterhouse, Ella-Rae Smith, Madisen Beaty, Inanna Sarkis, Stephanie Sy

A locked-room supernatural thriller set in an elite girls' boarding school where a séance goes wrong and leaves the group trapped with an unknown threat. Suki Waterhouse leads an ensemble cast through escalating paranoia and dread. Tightly plotted, visually assured, and mercifully brief—the kind of horror film that trusts mood over jump scares.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like slow-building boarding-school dread where the scares grow out of teenage cruelty and secrets rather than jump-cuts, and a grim, ritualistic atmosphere that rewards patience.

Skip it if you need a tidy ghost story with clear rules, since its audience score of 5.6 hints that many viewers found its supernatural logic frustratingly vague.

What it asks of you: Ninety-three minutes, compact and unhurried at first, with the mood built from whispered friendships and mounting unease rather than set pieces; keep your attention on the faces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

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The Craft1996

Teenage girls discovering forbidden power in the form of witchcraft, with group dynamics that curdle from camaraderie into betrayal and something darker. Pure 90s mood with real bite underneath.

But Feels dated in ways that aren't always charming. The climax relies on effects that haven't aged gracefully.

Suspiria1977

A young dancer arrives at an elite academy hiding a terrible secret. Lush, disorienting, more interested in creating dread through color and sound than explaining anything. A masterclass in pure atmosphere.

But Deliberately obscure and slow-burn. If you need plot clarity and forward momentum, this will frustrate you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Seance

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Raw2017

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Hereditary2018

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But Deeply upsetting and nihilistic. Not a film that leaves you feeling cathartic; it leaves you shaken in ways some find pointless.

The Haunting1963

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Carrie1976

Teenage outcast discovers hidden power and the group that victimized her pays the price. Incredible final act that still lands as shocking. De Palma's visual storytelling is mesmerizing.

But The 70s aesthetic feels quaint now. Second half relies on kills that can read as exploitation rather than tragedy.

Saint Maud2020

A nurse obsessed with saving her patient's soul. Slow-burn psychological horror with ambiguity about what's real. Visually stunning and deeply unsettling in ways that stick with you.

But Deliberately opaque about its ending. If you need clarity or feel misled by unreliable narrators, skip it.

Insidious2011

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But Relies heavily on jump scares and CGI that weren't always convincing even in 2010. Can feel manipulative rather than earned.

The Killing2011

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A Danish crime series where a teenage girl's death in Copenhagen sets off an investigation that sprawls across class, politics, and institutional rot. Meticulously written, glacially paced, genuinely tragic.

But Forty episodes across four seasons. Structured deliberately to frustrate easy answers. Some find it exhausting rather than rewarding.

Mulholland Drive2001

Both use a locked group and a death as the engine to explore complicity, hierarchy, and what we're willing to ignore in people we care about.

David Lynch's Los Angeles nightmare about two women and power, ambition, and the dark machinery of dreams. Structurally fractured, visually hypnotic, and genuinely disturbing in ways that don't rely on genre scares.

But Nearly three hours. Deliberately refuses coherence or closure. If you need things to make sense, this is punishment, not pleasure.