*This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!*
“What do you want?”
Things Heard & Seen is a horror thriller film that premiered on Netflix on April 29th 2021. The film stars Amanda Seyfried, James Norton, Rhea Seehorn, and Natalia Dyer. It runs for approximately 120 minutes.
Based on the novel, All Things Cease to Appear, the film centers around a couple who relocates to the Hudson Valley. Their house has a lot of history in it as a darkness emerges and secrets are revealed in their marriage.
Here is the trailer:
Things Heard & Seen has a lot of unsettling horror sprinkled throughout the film, but it does have a very familiar premise that may seem overdone. Does the film do enough to earn a watch? Let’s find out…
The Pros:
Images courtesy of Netflix
Amanda Seyfried puts forth a valiant effort.
I’m already a fan of hers, but I think she was born to be in horror films. There is just something really magnetic and believable about her. Throughout the film, her character deals with a lot of terrifying ordeals. Her marriage is not what it seems and the house she has just moved into clearly has something lurking in its walls and yet she still manages to think things through rationally which was really refreshing to see.
Moves away from tropes.
This film could have very easily fallen into many of the familiar tropes and plot devices we see in these types of horror thriller films and yet it decided to do thing differently which was really refreshing.
We didn’t have the typical jump scares and slow-moving walks through the dark. Rather, an unsettling terror built up as Amanda Seyfried’s character handled things as a normal person would in real life. She investigates different things in the house but in a smart and practical way.
When she discovers that some kind of spirit might be in her house, she looks into it without skipping a beat.
I also thought the ending was unique and I liked how the evil actions in her everyday life overshadowed the supernatural presence.
The Cons:
Images courtesy of Netflix
Slow pace.
This movie really didn’t need to be two hours long. I thought the pacing was really slow and it prevented this movie from reaching its full potential. It just felt like so much was dragging and I stopped paying attention during several scenes because I just wanted to figure out what was going on at the root cause.
Nothing truly extraordinary.
The film made an effort to do things differently. Its ending has a lot of meanings embedded in it and I think it had a great cast to work with even though I absolutely hated James Norton’s character.
We had glimmers of real potential throughout the film, but I’m not sure it reached its full potential and things took way too long to unfold in the end.
So am I in or out?
Images courtesy of Netflix
I’m 50/50 on this one.
I’m in for Amanda Seyfried, but I’m out on the overall slow and boring pace of this film. This watch was kind of frustrating because I thought that the film really did make an effort, but if it had gone a little bit further with some other tweaks, this film could have actually been really eerie and thought-provoking.
I loved the idea of women coming together to finally be heard and the focus on the horrors of the people who surround us rather than what we cannot see, but it failed to deliver in a lot of other areas.
I don’t think that you need to move this to the very top of your watch-list, but Amanda Seyfried’s performance is worth checking out if you don’t have much else to watch.
I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Things Heard & Seen in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!
Best,
Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl
DON’T TAKE THE JOB…
It was only supposed to be temporary…but when Olivia Crewe accepts a new position that seems too good to be true, she soon discovers that twelve other girls previously had the same job as her. Only none of them lasted for more than thirty days. No notice. Nothing…right before they mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
My supernatural thriller Girl Number Thirteen is out now! I hope you enjoy!
Girl Number Thirteen is available here!
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