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Carl Medland, the director of The Spiritualist (2016) guides the viewer through the supernatural with this film while also showing his acting abilities. He has appeared in Paranormal Farm (2017), The Adored (2012) and The Cost of Love (2011). After a long concealed illness Laura’s (Jasmyn Banks) mother (Julie T. Wallace) succumbed to depression and took her life. She tried so hard to maintain the relationship and took care of her mother but eventually the stress overpowered her and she relocated, which is when she met Jake (Judson Vaughan). The Spiritualist starts after Laura’s mother’s death where Jake and Laura move in to her parent’s gigantic house. Things start to differ once both of them are in the house, Laura starts to reminiscence and first start to go into a state of mourning. The cinematography in this film is marvelous and even though it makes use of a limited amount of outdoor scenes, the filming locations are exceptionally beautiful and the house itself gives a castle vibe.
As Laura starts hearing disturbing noises and encounters strange visions, she starts thinking that there might be company in the house. In her dreams she starts seeing things but did not maintain record of it which made her conclude that there was no chance she was the only person in there. But her suspicions point towards her mothers spirit torturing her. Her claims are significant because they relate too closely to the complaints made by her mother just before her demise.
Laura often recalls the instance when her father Ian Reddington was caught cheating, ultimately leading to their parents’ separation. Even during Lord Berrow’s death, she remembers her mother agitated and violent. Laura believes it is possible that her mother acted that way due to her medical condition, but she fears that she might have inherited it. Out of concern, Jake decides to invite friends over so that Laura can have a change in environment. Petra (Petra Bryant), one of Laura’s oldest friends, also proposes bringing a person she knows to Laura’s house. She believes that this spiritualist will assist Laura during the weekend. Though Laura opposes the idea of having a spirit medium in her house, she accepts the proposal of the weekend.
Arron Blake and Lee Knight also come over. Petra, along with her boyfriend Jody (Ross William Wild), invite them over for the weekend. Laura and her friend meet Jody for the first time and it’s equally purported that Petra has been dating him for a while now. Jody happens to be rough around the edges and carries his share of baggage. To Laura’s surprise, so does the Spiritualist (Caroline Burns Cooke) – she comes with a set of brutal secrets. One of them being that she is indeed blind. But in her defense, it is something she explains helps her communicate to the dead. This movie is obviously a relaxed one, but there are some moments of super high intensity which combine with the more subtle interactions, making it all look gorgeous. Most of the cast are great and dedicated to putting their best foot forward, even if some of their acting is very “extra”.
The Spiritualist asks the group of friends to join in with her during a séance to try to contact any spirits that may linger in the house. They do receive a response from a spirit but this really upsets Laura and she has to storm out of the room while everyone else goes to their rooms for the night. The special effects are simple yet effective. Things get pretty wild when someone or something starts hunting each individual in the house one by one.
The intensity and thrill that I was feeling during the final act of the film was so high that I honestly expected the pace to have picked up around 35-45 minutes earlier. The big reveal in my eyes is what has been happening to Laura that is also dependent on the family’s dark past and I think the movie would have made more sense than feeling so slow, and more entertaining in general, if they had not saved the last all of the intensity for the end.
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