• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Political Humor
  • Technology
Movie Review: Seyfried lends grounding presence to campy thriller

Movie Review: Seyfried lends grounding presence to campy thriller

May 2, 2021
Micro Market Vending

Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

August 27, 2025
Corporate Catering

Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

August 27, 2025
music downloader

Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

August 26, 2025
youtube downloader

The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

August 26, 2025
y2mate

Download YouTube Videos Easily: Top 5 Free Online Tools

August 26, 2025

Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

August 26, 2025
mp3 juice

Top 5 MP3 Downloaders You Can Use on Any Device

August 25, 2025
Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

August 22, 2025
youtube to mp3

The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

August 21, 2025
Ivermectin 3 mg

Ivermectin 3 mg for River Blindness: A Trusted Preventive Treatment

August 14, 2025
TikTok Video Downloader

Fast and Free TikTok Video Downloader – No App Needed

August 12, 2025
ERP for Manufacturing

ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

August 8, 2025
  • About
  • NewsTalkFlorida
  • SportsTalkFlorida
  • FeedBox
Sunday, August 31, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Inside The Nation
  • Daily Buzz
    How To Insulate External Doors: A Simple and Effective Guide

    How To Insulate External Doors: A Simple and Effective Guide

    Door-Rain-Deflector

    How an Exterior Door Rain Deflector Can Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal

    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates

    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates

    NFL Network analyst Marc Ross rips Giants: “They’re a mess!”

    The Commanders lost to the Eagles but won back their fans

    NFL Network analyst Marc Ross rips Giants: “They’re a mess!”

    With Super Bowl LIX around corner, which team gets most action?

    Leading US-Bred Dirt Horses Have Excellent Chance at Dubai World Cup

  • US News
    • All
    • EDUCATION
    youth life coach Austin

    The Inspired Minds Approach to Helping Teens Navigate Life with Strength

    non denominational church

    Discovering Spiritual Growth at Plano’s Non-Denominational Churches

    Succeeding in NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 3 and 4: Elevating Your Nursing Practice with Data and Leadership

    Succeeding in NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 3 and 4: Elevating Your Nursing Practice with Data and Leadership

    teen confidence coach

    Your Teen Deserves to Feel Confident—Let Austin’s Top Life Coach Help

    electric panel repair

    Top Signs Your Home Needs Electrical Repairs

    How Tutoring Services Can Benefit A Child’s Education

    How Tutoring Services Can Benefit A Child’s Education

  • Politics
    • All
    • international News
    10 Reasons You Need a Firearms Lawyer for Gun Ownership Rights

    10 Reasons You Need a Firearms Lawyer for Gun Ownership Rights

    The Rays and the A’s future remains in flux

    The Rays and the A’s future remains in flux

    Harris Shines In Her Debate With Trump

    Harris Shines In Her Debate With Trump

    Look For Shapiro To Replace Blinken As Secretary Of State In A Harris Administration

    Look For Shapiro To Replace Blinken As Secretary Of State In A Harris Administration

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    Live Video Coverage Of The 2024 DNC: Gov. Tim Walz Gets His Night To Shine

    Live Video Coverage of the Republican National Convention

    DNC 2024 The Obama’s Rock Chicago, While Pelosi Handles Protesters

    Live Video Coverage of the Republican National Convention

    Live Coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention: “Thank You Joe,” It Is Biden’s Night

    Biden Accomplished More Than Any Other President Since FDR – But Harris Has The Roadmap To The Future

    GOP Attacks on Harris and Walz are just wrong and misleading

    It’s Harris-Walz 2024: The Minnesota Govenor Wins The Veep Stakes

    It’s Harris-Walz 2024: The Minnesota Govenor Wins The Veep Stakes

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    • Political Humor
      youtube downloader

      The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

      Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

      youtube to mp3

      The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

      How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

      Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

      How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

      How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

      Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

      The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

      The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

      Digital physiotherapy

      How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Business
    • All
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    Micro Market Vending

    Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

    Corporate Catering

    Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

    music downloader

    Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

    Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

    Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

    ERP for Manufacturing

    ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

    End-to-End IDO Development Services: What to Look for in a Technology Partner

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    The Ultimate Guide to Travel Agencies in London

  • Entertainment
    music downloader

    Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    mp3 juice

    Top 5 MP3 Downloaders You Can Use on Any Device

    TikTok Video Downloader

    Fast and Free TikTok Video Downloader – No App Needed

    ERP for Manufacturing

    ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Cannes to Host D-Day Film Festival Honoring Joséphine Baker and Transatlantic Heritage

    Cannes to Host D-Day Film Festival Honoring Joséphine Baker and Transatlantic Heritage

    yt1s

    Yt1s – Download YouTube Videos & Music in Seconds

    mp3juice

    Free YouTube to MP3 Downloader – You Should Try Now

    download youtube videos in mp3

    Download YouTube Videos in MP3– Free & Easy

  • Environment
    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

    youtube to mp3

    The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

    How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

    Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    Digital physiotherapy

    How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Health
    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

    youtube to mp3

    The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

    How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

    Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    Digital physiotherapy

    How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Our SItes
    • FeedBox
    • NewsTalkFlorida
    • SportsTalkFlorida
No Result
View All Result
Inside The Nation
No Result
View All Result
Home Entertainment

Movie Review: Seyfried lends grounding presence to campy thriller

The Netflix thriller will get you

by Jim Williams
May 2, 2021
in Entertainment
0
Movie Review: Seyfried lends grounding presence to campy thriller

This image released by Netflix shows Amanda Seyfried in a scene from "Things Heard And Seen." (Anna Kooris/Netflix via AP)

500
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Hollywood thrillers in which sophisticated, attractive city folk move to creaky old country homes and experience scary things are a dime a dozen. Less common is when those Hollywood thrillers are based on the theology of 18th-century Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg.

But here we are — a Swedenborgian thriller — and thus it’s not a bad idea to read up a bit on the man, by which we mean to Google him, before diving into “Things Heard & Seen,” a well-cast and often entertaining but campy and sometimes obvious thriller starring Amanda Seyfried and James Norton.

What you’ll learn is that Swedenborg believed (among other things) that death was just a continuation of life — and that people lived on, in the spiritual world, past the expiration of their physical body. For the film’s purposes, we’ll boil it down for you: Ghosts!

In fact the film, based on the novel “All Things Cease to Appear” by Elizabeth Brundage, begins with a Swedenborg quote: “Things that are in heaven are more real than things that are in the world.” So even if you’ve skipped your theology homework (tsk tsk), this should alert you to a spectral influence in the story — maybe even a seance or two.

We begin in the winter of 1980, when a perturbed-looking George Claire (Norton) drives up a snowy road to his isolated home. Immediately, it’s obvious something terrible has happened.

Flashback to the spring before, in a Manhattan apartment. George and wife Catherine (Seyfried) are celebrating the fourth birthday of their daughter, Franny. George — handsome and chiseled, with the kind of tousled hair that looks breezy but you know he works on it — has an announcement to make: Not only has he completed his Ph.D in art history, but he’s found a teaching job upstate. “Oh, at Bard?” asks a (snobby) friend. No, he replies, at a a place called Saginaw.

Nobody is impressed, but Catherine, despite having no desire to leave her coveted job as an art restorer, feels the need to support her husband. For one thing, she tells a friend, they need the money — his wealthy parents have finally cut him off. The friend warns Catherine she’s giving up a lot to go live in a place filled with “rich horsey weekenders and full-time rednecks.”

But move they do, to beautiful Hudson Valley (writer-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini draw out both the charm and the isolation of the place) and their chosen town, which is ominously called … Chosen. (Certain things are unabashedly telegraphed in this film. Then again, sometimes they’re red herrings. Maybe? Why is Catherine bulimic, for example?)

The house George has found, on an old dairy farm, is huge and creaky and needs work, but Catherine launches into the job. Soon, however, it becomes clear the family is not entirely alone. As happens in haunted house movies, there are strange noises and strange voices and dodgy electricity. There are also historical hints sprinkled through the home, suggesting past trauma.

Catherine is much more attuned to these than George, who’s spending most of his time trying to curry favor with colleagues in his art history department, including the chairman, Floyd DeBeers, who has a fascination not only with Swedenborg but his influence on prominent landscape painter George Inness (DeBeers is played by a deliciously august F. Murray Abraham.)

Catherine also develops an affection for two brothers, Eddy and Cole, who live next door and offer to do odd jobs. As we suspect early on, there’s more to these brothers and their connection to the home than meets the eye.

What’s most interesting, though, is not all the sometimes ridiculous plot twists and hints of dark motives and impending doom. It’s the relationship between Catherine and George, who may not know each other as well as they thought. Well … they definitely don’t. Seyfried in particular is a grounding presence and a wonderfully empathetic performer. As for Norton, he does a nice job keeping us wondering (for a bit) whether he’s simply a good-looking social striver with designs on more than his talent deserves, or something worse. Also, this British heartthrob nails the American academic vibe.

It all comes hurtling toward a strenuous conclusion, and you can bet those aforementioned ghosts get their moment, too. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you want to know why, you may want to ask Emanuel Swedenborg.

“Things Heard & Seen,” a Netflix release, is unrated by the Motion Picture Association of America. Running time: 119 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Comments
Jim Williams
Website |  + postsBio

Washington based CEO & Founder of LJC. Media covering politics, sports, & entertainment A seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director, and podcast host. Digital Director and Washington Bureau Chief at News Talk Florida & The Daily Cable

  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    The Commanders lost to the Eagles but won back their fans
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    With Super Bowl LIX around corner, which team gets most action?
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    Leading US-Bred Dirt Horses Have Excellent Chance at Dubai World Cup
Tags: “Things Heard & Seen”Amanda SeyfriedNetflix
Share200Tweet125Share35SharePin45
Jim Williams

Jim Williams

Washington based CEO & Founder of LJC. Media covering politics, sports, & entertainment A seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director, and podcast host. Digital Director and Washington Bureau Chief at News Talk Florida & The Daily Cable

Plugin Install : Widget Tab Post needs JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Hitman shoots husband and kills son of Judge overseeing Deutsche Bank Epstein trial

Hitman shoots husband and kills son of Judge overseeing Deutsche Bank Epstein trial

July 20, 2020
Tanzanian President Samia’s trip to Europe Is a Strategic Move

Tanzanian President Samia’s trip to Europe Is a Strategic Move

February 18, 2022

The 4Rs of Tanzania President Samia

October 7, 2022
The Role of AI in Human Resources

The Role of AI in Human Resources

1
Girl with Shopping bag

8 Super Effective Shopping Tips to Save More Money in Chandigarh Malls 2023

1
Bubble-Wrap-For-Packing

The Benefits of Using Bubble Wrap for Packing

1
Micro Market Vending

Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

August 27, 2025
Corporate Catering

Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

August 27, 2025
music downloader

Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

August 26, 2025
Inside The Nation

Copyright © 2020 Inside The Nation.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • NewsTalkFlorida
  • SportsTalkFlorida
  • FeedBox

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Daily Buzz
  • US News
  • Politics
    • Political Humor
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Our SItes
    • FeedBox
    • NewsTalkFlorida
    • SportsTalkFlorida

Copyright © 2020 Inside The Nation.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In