Theatre-trained Kim Stanley commands the screen with her precise and chillingly "reasonable" portrayal of a medium who henpecks her husband until he helps her pull off a terrible crime.
Seance on a Wet Afternoon: Quietly Terrifying
Stanley's Myra Savage is a two-bit medium who yearns for more fame than her parlor-room seance sessions currently garner her. Richard Attenborough, inexplicably wearing a prosthetic nose, plays her husband, Billy, a man who looks as if he bears the weight of the world on his shoulders. Both are master actors and this haunting, small-ish film would fall apart without that high degree of skill both seem to easily manage.
Husbands and Wives: Motivations Diverge
In both the original and remake, Seance, the husbands are more interesting to me. They each are mild-mannered to the point of milquetoast tropes and each strive to just give their wives what they think will make them happy. Happy wife, happy house. Koji Yakusho, as Sato, gives us his usual competent and earnest work. He seems almost bewildered that his wife might be unhappy or feel unfulfilled as surely what life they have built is enough.
In Kurosawa's hands, the wife, Junco, doesn't feel as unhinged or layered as Myra in Bryan Forbes' original. And here is where the films diverge.
Myra has a heartbreaking backstory which is slowly revealed as the film progresses. You feel like you are absolutely watching a mystery unfold in real time. She isn't necessarily sympathetic but you understand where her desire originates. Junco, played with quiet intensity by Jun Fubuki, however, doesn't seem driven by the same motivation. Her efforts feel 1. spontaneous, as if she never considered anything like this before and 2. simply greedy. Myra, for all her awful planning, at least has a reason behind her mad scheme.
Seance as Horror
I wouldn't place Seance on a Wet Afternoon in the Horror category. It's more of a psychological drama or thriller, intense and definitely creepy. Yet since Kiyoshi Kurosawa is known for his horror films like Pulse and Cure as well as dramas like Tokyo Sonata, he is able to bridge both genres and give us something new.
Looking for more?
If Asian Horror is your thing, check out our #31DaysofHorror watchlist for some ideas as well as try your luck at the newest horror quiz to drop on the Nerd Quiz Night channel.