It’s these, rather than the muffled attempts at tonal changes, that really show off Barrett’s ambition. That said, Suki Waterhouse is strong and consistent as Camille, handling the film’s generic shifts well.

But most of Seance just feels like a teen slasher movie, and not a particularly dynamic or unusual one at that. Occasionally it lives up to that – the girls yelling “Fuck off!” in unison when their seance is interrupted is much funnier than it sounds. ( Uncle Buck and Home Alone, in case you were wondering) On paper, Seance‘s school setting moves him a little closer to Hughes territory, with a little of Heathers‘s bitchy black humour mixed in. Barrett is probably best known as a writer and co-producer on Adam Wingard’s films, two of which – The Guest and You’re Next – he describes as horror versions of John Hughes scripts. It also spends a lot of time explaining Barrett’s tonal choices, which unfortunately shines a spotlight on how rarely they register on screen. Every compromise, every corner cut, is explained, but the overall impression is that Barrett and his cast worked hard on something that they know isn’t perfect but they’re still proud of.

And it shows – at a point where more and more new films are being released either straight-to-streaming or on bare-bones discs, Barrett’s commentary is a fond but unsparing examination of the trials and tribulations of making a low-budget film. Barrett begins the director’s commentary with disarming enthusiasm, saying he’s always loved director’s commentaries and is excited to be providing his first one. It won’t be my favourite film of the year, but Acorn media’s Blu-Ray release of Simon Barrett’s directorial debut Seance contains an early contender for extra of the year.

Seance film