Things Heard & Seen is a movie about ghosts that isn’t a horror film (to its credit). It IS a suspense/thriller about a marriage falling apart, lies, deceit, and the slow unravelling of truth. It just happens to be set in a slightly haunted house.

The film is about a married couple and their daughter moving out of NYC to a small upstate town for a professorship gig. The wife (Amanda Seyfried) feels isolated and alone in this new town. The husband is chuffed with his new gig… and with the cute young things in his class who adore him. Slowly the history of the house is revealed, the daughter senses the presence of a ghost, and various truths about the couple are revealed.

This isn’t exactly the fastest paced movie and some may find it a slog. I didn’t… I was weirdly engrossed and fascinated at how it slowly peeled back the truth. And how seemingly nice characters can slowly lose their luster. I think it’s well acted and has some nice side characters in F. Murray Abraham and Natalie Dyer (amongst others).

The final act does lose a little steam. It needed to start rolling a little harder, maybe get more paranoid or more wicked/sly. And the final moments might be, shall we say, more abstract that expected. I wanted a little more catharsis as a film watcher… but it’s not bad and its at least a little daring.

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. Good actors doing solid work in a magical realism setting. It’s a story about ghosts that isn’t exactly a ghost story and that’s kind of interesting. Maybe not one for everyone, but it worked for me.

Score: 81