“Summoning
Sylvia”
Movie
Review
'Summoning Sylvia'
is a film written and directed by Wesley Taylor and Alex Wyse, starring Travis
Coles, Frankie Grande, Troy Iwata, Noah J. Ricketts, and Nicholas Logan. His
three closest pals have kidnapped Larry for a weekend trip to a spooky home.
The companions tell the story of Sylvia, a wicked mother who murdered her kid
and buried him beneath the house's floorboards, as they make their way through
the dusty hallways. Larry then recalls that he was meant to spend the weekend
getting to know Harrison, his enigmatic prospective in-law. Larry asks the
hetero, army-uniformed Harrison to join his gaggle's glycation without
consulting his companions, horrified at his lapse. The group finds up having
more houseguests than they anticipated as they conduct a jocular séance to call
the evil Sylvia.
Michael Urie and
Larry (Travis Coles) are getting hitched. But before that can happen, Nico,
Kevin, and Reggie, three of his buddies, abduct him for an unexpected bachelor
weekend. The weekend takes place in a lovely, historic, and naturally haunted
home.
Reggie has a
to-do list, but Kevin has a surprise in store. He's brought his equipment and
wants to conduct a seance in order to contact Sylvia, who passed away at the
house after killing her son. But that's not the only unexpected thing. The
weekend was meant to be spent by Larry getting to know Harrison (Nicholas
Logan), his definite heterosexual brother-in-law. He secretly invites Harrison
to join them in an effort to salvage the situation.
Summoning When
the buzz-cut, camouflage-wearing Harrison shows up, Sylvia is a part camp
comedy with music, dance, and eyeliner, part fish out of water comedy, and part
haunted home comedy when the seance actually works and Sylvia, still murderous
after all these years, presents herself. However, it really isn't much of a
horror film, despite the fact that there are some genuine horrors, such as
Sylvia's first appearance and some of the flashbacks to her story.
Wesley Taylor
and Alex Wyse, a writing, directing, and acting duo who previously worked together
on the television series Indoor Boys, have created a fast-paced comedy with a
concept that will resonate with one audience while having the exact opposite
effect on another. It's flagrantly flashy and extravagant. Additionally, it has
at least one scene that could cause it to be X rated or prohibited in Florida
and Tennessee.
The movie has
the good fortune to be released at a time when AI, algorithms, chatbots, and
misinformation are in the headlines since one of its greatest subplots is one
of the guys struggling to cope with the discovery that their online interest
was actually an AI bot designed to disenfranchise LGBTQIA voters.
The majority of
the jokes in Summoning Sylvia are less current and range from comical scenes in
which terrified persons are yelling or arguing about who is to blame for the
situation to more somber analyses of Harrison's response to Larry and his pals,
especially Nico, who is plainly upset. This then adds to the crazy storyline
concerning Sylvia's comeback and raises the stakes.
A twist that
occurs at the conclusion is likely to not surprise anyone and would have been
better if it had been presented sooner. Then, with the audience knowing the
truth but the characters not, it may have been employed as a plot device.
Instead, it simply receives a "Saw that coming" response and falls
flat. Fortunately, it's one of the few errors in Summoning Sylvia.
Directors are
able to tread that narrow line between genuine camp and the forced
outrageousness that far too many movies ultimately choose for. Additionally,
they are able to address potentially controversial topics like violent
homophobia without inciting uproar. Summoning Sylvia, in all honesty, won't be
appealing to everyone due to its subject matter or usually ludicrous tone.
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