It is in these very moments that the ghost(s) seems to serve as some distraction from the situation, to derail an otherwise inevitable fate. Maybe it's the loneliness or the intuitive research Catherine conducts, but she begins to believe that the ghosts in her home are not evil spirits, but ones who yearn to help her with increasing instances where her husband grows more cynical or gaslights her. While the behavior could be attributed to her lack of nutrition or degrading husband, her additional tendencies toward self-inflicted isolation lead me to believe that when these secret residents begin to make themselves known, she’s already invited them. As dissociated as she is from her own life, besides her relationship with her daughter, Catherine doesn’t even bat an eye when she catches her husband cheating on her in their own home, nor does she seem to care about the helpful neighbors, and certainly not food or protein shakes. Except, of course, for the Clare family’s lack of access to technology, further heightening the sense of isolation and need for human interaction, especially from Catherine’s newly adopted, lonesome lifestyle of staying at home in a small town while her husband works away, leaving her no space or opportunity to make friends or become involved in the community.īefore Catherine witnesses the ghost(s) in their home, or sees her daughter’s lights flicker, and even before the smell of gas lingers unexpectedly in the master bedroom, I feel as though Catherine has already become a ghost of herself. For those of us who were either stuck at home throughout the COVID-19 pandemic or were house-hunting during a time when interest rates plummeted, the transition portion of the plot seemed almost relevant in that, if you were to end up in a haunted home, it was simply what you were stuck with, and even stuck in it. To make their move for George’s new position, Catherine quits her own job on his behalf-as a means to make sacrifices for her husband (as we are told, but not shown that he’s made sacrifices for her in the past)-to become a stay-at-home mom. Those same commitments were only further tested as the family changed their pace from the bustling city to a quiet farmhouse lifestyle. Unsure if they really loved one another and were unmoved to change, it would seem as though they instead, rushed into this life simply because it was the thing to do in the late ’70s and ’80s. While the two don’t seem to be your typical lovebirds-George secretly longs to be successful like his deceased cousin (going as far as to read his private diary and proclaim his left-behind work as his own) while Catherine suffers from an eating disorder that nearly everyone already suspects (only George knows the truth)-they’ve only pushed to keep their commitments to one another with the birth of Franny. Prior to moving to the small town of Chosen in upstate New York, where George recently accepted a full-time position at a private university, the Clares lived in New York City, where George had been attending school and where Catherine worked as a successful art restorer. While the house itself doesn’t make the husband George Clare (James Norton) go mad with murderous intentions, the fear of losing his status among fellow academics and the small-town community pushes his limitations concerning morality.īased on Elizabeth Brundage’s 2016 novel, All Things Cease to Appear, Things focuses on the Clare family, composed of George, Catherine (Amanda Seyfried), and their daughter, Franny (Ana Sophia Heger). And honestly, you wouldn’t be too far off. Now, one could be reading this and instantly making comparisons to other, similar films, such as Stuart Rosenberg’s The Amityville Horror (1979) or maybe even Mary Harron’s American Psycho (2000). Although this wasn’t entirely untrue, the movie seemed to be less about ghosts and more about a series of failed marriages and undoubtedly, murderous, psychopathic husbands. In watching one of Netflix’s latest horror movies, Things Heard & Seen (2021), I was under the impression from its talented cast and directors Shari Springer Bernman and Robert Pulcini-both known for their work on the 2007 film The Nanny Diaries-that the film might bring something new to the Gothic horror realm, along with a love of picturesque haunted houses.
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