Over the last few months Netflix have been churning out a host of female-led psychological thrillers, including Amy Adam’s The Woman in the Window and most recently Gina Rodriguez’s Awake. Kicking off this influx was Amanda Seyfried in Things Heard And Seen, a part gothic horror, part psychological thriller inspired by Elizabeth Brundage’s acclaimed novel ‘All Things Cease To Appear’.

The film begins with a flash forward that sees a man, George Clare (James Norton), arriving home to find blood dripping from the ceiling and his young daughter playing alone in the living room. Something horrible has occurred but the who, what and why remains a mystery.

Rewind to the previous spring and we see George and his wife Catherine (Seyfried) celebrating their daughter Franny’s birthday in their beautiful Manhattan apartment. Catherine, an experienced and respected art restorer and George, an art history professor – on paper they are a perfect couple but there are some early indications that the wedded bliss persona is only skin deep.

With the promise of a fresh start, George accepts a new job in rural New York and the family relocates to a gloomy 18th century farmhouse in need of its own restoration. As the family settle in to their new life, a lonely and isolated Catherine begins to suspect that the house harbours a sinister presence, a darkness that seeps into her marriage.

Initially quite likeable as the charmingly charismatic professor, the unravelling of George’s persona to the manipulative liar and narcissist underneath is interesting to watch and James Norton plays it very well. Conversely, we see Amanda Seyfried’s Catherine come out of her shell as the film progresses, bolstered by the presences she feels in the house. And whilst Seyfried is no stranger as the leading lady, this is one of her weakest performances that I’ve seen, although that is more due to a weak script and poor storytelling than a commentary on her acting prowess. Both Seyfried and Norton do what they can with what they have been given.

Directed by husband and wife team, Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, Things Heard And Seen has the bones of something quite captivating, unfortunately though the supernatural element failed to hit the mark for me, and wound up turning the whole viewing experience into a rather boring and mediocre disappointment. In my opinion, the film would have worked a lot better as a study on the decline of a marriage and the unravelling on a psychopath’s persona, in an Unfaithful meets Marriage Story kind of way.

Ultimately, despite some strong promise, the weakness of the film’s supernatural elements overwhelms the strength of the marital turmoil underneath and Things Heard And Seen fails to deliver anything particularly memorable. But don’t take my word for it, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure as they say, check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Things Heard And Seen is now available to stream on Netflix.