Overrated

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

EVIL UNLEASHED: THE SEANCE HOUR is a slow and boring addition to the 'psychic phenomena' genre of horror filmmaking. Shot on an indie budget, this is slow beyond belief, concerning a TV crew who accidentally unleashed some very real spirits, but barely anything happens and there's little in the actual way of horror content. Instead this is a slog-fest throughout, grainy and cheap-looking, not found footage, just amateurish. Aside from a few ominous moments the only thing that happens is a cheesy 1990s-era sex scene that looks like it belongs in one of those late night Shannon Tweed thrillers.

Oh, this is so very bad. In every possible way. It is obviously low budget. The effects are really cheesy. One of them is shot from so far away you can hardly tell it is a rubber doll that is being dismembered. But not quite far enough away. It is still a rubber doll.There are no "name" actors in this at all. Never mind big name actors. This C movie has a bunch of acting school rejects. In fact, there are almost no actors in it at all of any sort. There are people in the shots but they are not actors. The director was obvious not on set during the shooting. The reaction shots are so very bad. The actor's reactions are usually not relevant to what just happened. In one shot, a guy is murdered on the other side of a glass from another member of the crew and the person who saw it from a foot away just walks away without any obvious effect on him. I would be quite affected by something like that. This guy was not. Bad!! The motivations are all wrong too. Too bad the director was on vacation during the shooting.The script is not horrible. It is merely bad. At one point, a fellow drools blood down his shirt. In subsequent shots, it is wet but not red. And his shirt is blue. It would certainly show red blood poured down it. Someone forgot to put a notation in the script that the previous scene involved drooling blood.Don't expect much from this stinkburger and you won't be disappointed. The print I saw looked like it was shot on stock from the mid 60s. Bad color rendition, too contrasty (poor set lighting helped the poor rendition) and just generally horrible. The sets looked like some bad detective show from the 60s, too. Or worse... The sets stood up but I was waiting for them to fall over.Oh, well, what do you want for a $2 budget??? Exactly what you get in this ... what? Can't think of anything else to call it. Hardly a movie.NEXT!!!

With low budget films you have to cut them some slack and not compare them to big budget films that rely on special effects to cover up their inadequacies. So, yes, this film has inadequacies and the budget isn't enough to cover them up. But, and this was a surprise to me, this film definitely delivers on plot, gory ways to die, and delivers some very tense moments.The film is set in a warehouse that's been converted to a TV studio that is used to film a cheap 'getting in contact with the dead via a seance' programme that's entirely fake. The producer of the programme is thoroughly unlikeable, as are a few of the other characters, but most characters are just normal people.During the filming of the latest episode of the series actual spirits descend on the studio and proceed to trap all the humans in the building before eliminating each person, one at a time, in a different and suitably horrible way. Some of the deaths are not shown on screen, saving on the budget I'd guess, but those you get to witness are quite well done - I particularly liked the screwdrivers in the door sequence.For a low budget film, some of the effects are pretty bad, particularly those that rely on CGI, but the physical effects are all very good, if not particularly new. The blood is suitably dark and oozes rather than runs like coloured water, and the use of filters to show the viewpoint of the spirits is a good contrast to reality.Sadly, the acting isn't quite good enough to carry the film, but there's usually another death just around the corner to distract you from wooden performances or badly delivered lines.If this film had been released in 1978 instead of 2008 it would be a much loved cult classic. Sadly, in today's crowded market, it will probably slip under everybody's radar. However, if you do get a chance to see this film, you won't be disappointed, and the ending wraps things up neatly, which is so rarely true of many horror films these days.

Each week on her local cable show "The Seance Hour," medium Madame Camille holds a séance with guests from her viewing audience but it's a sham. Special effects, smoke and mirrors. Everybody behind the scenes knows it - including Camille. What none of them realize is that Camille's psychic powers are REAL. Her séances actually do open a door to the other side and connect the living and the dead. Tonight the show's producer has booked a controversial guest to boost the ratings. A guest whose past holds a dark, horrible secret. Tonight when their hands are joined to form the séance circle and the door to the other side is opened ...Evil will be unleashed.And you'll be bored to tears way before that happens!The movie isn't badly acted, it's just slow beyond belief!Half way into the movie and you're still waiting for something to happen. And when it finally does, you wish they go back to boring you because the FX are cheesy.