[usr 3]
A troubled teen named Kit Gordy is forced to join the exclusive Blackwood Boarding School, just to find herself trapped by dark forces around its mysterious headmistress, Madame Duret.
I have to give kudos to director Rodrigo Cortés, he most certainly knows how to make a good-looking horror movie. Utilizing an old Victorian manor in the middle of nowhere, “Down a Dark Hall,” based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan, has all the trademark requirements for a good scary feature. Creepy old manor? Check. Creepy old headmistress? Check. Creepy old headmistress’ assistant? Check. Things that go bump in the night? Check. Everything is in place for what should have been a truly magnificent scare fest, unfortunately, like most of today’s films in this genre, it all falls apart in the final act. While it is in no way an execrable disaster, it does leave one feeling disheartened, at what could have been.
Kit (AnnaSophia Robb) is your typical teenager who is constantly in trouble. Since her father’s death when she was 9-years-old, she has had trouble focusing and after she is accused of arson, instead of going to jail, her mother, Ginny (Kirsty Mitchell) and stepfather, David (Jim Sturgeon), decide to send her to Blackwood Boarding School, an institution that helps troubled teenage girls. She reluctantly agrees to go, considering the alternative, and when she arrives, along with four other girls, they are welcomed by the mysterious Madame Duret (Uma Thurman), the school’s headmistress. With only the five girls in attendance, they are informed that the smaller the number of students, the better chance they will have at learning.
They are introduced to their various teachers and over time, each student begins to exhibit talents they never knew they possessed. Kit always wanted to play piano but after her father’s death, she stopped trying. When Madame Duret’s son, Jules (Noah Silver), becomes their music teacher, he takes a particular liking to Kit and encourages her to keep practicing. Gradually, she finds herself being able to play piano concertos and has no idea where her ability is coming from. When she notices the other girls are becoming more and more reclusive, staying in their rooms all the time and hardly eating, she decides to investigate further. Entering a section of the manor she was told was off-limits to students, she unearths old files of previous girls who attended, and that each and every one of them either mysteriously died or went insane.
When she finally confronts Jules and demands to know what is going on, because he likes her, he tells her that the manor is haunted by tormented souls whose lives were taken far too young. Artists, painters, writers, musicians, people with great talents, and that for as long as he can remember, his mother has sought out young troubled girls who, unbeknownst to them, have the ability to connect with the other side. They, in turn, become vessels for the spirits to inhabit, therefore, allowing them to continue practicing their talent. Kit and Jules manage to track down the last remaining girl, Veronica, but before they can escape, they are confronted by Madame Duret’s assistant, Mrs. Olonsky (Rebecca Front). Preventing them from leaving, Kit gets into a physical altercation with her and accidentally knocks over a candle which quickly engulfs the entire manor. Kit and Veronica manage to make it out safely but both Jules and his mother perish in the fire, at the hands of the angered spirits.
The overall narrative is intriguing and there are a few genuine moments of terror and suspense but like the majority of most so-called scary movies these days, it succumbs to a plethora of jump frights and scary-looking creatures that appear unexpectedly. The acting is top-notch, even Uma Thurman’s overly exaggerated French accent is palatable but she brings a whole new level of fearful menace to her role, and seems to embellish it. AnnaSophia Robb, as the fierce and resourceful Kit, starts out with great contempt and hatred towards everyone and everything around her, mad at the world for her own mistakes, but gradually, she overcomes her fears to face them, and the manor’s ghosts, straight on. The movie’s finale goes down in flames, literally and figuratively, resorting to clichéd horror tropes, like the ghost of her dead father guiding her to safety, and the ghosts of the restless spirits, wandering the fiery halls, seeking vengeance for their own demise. A good film that could have been great, “Down a Dark Hall” has moments of praiseworthy inventiveness, sadly overshadowed by textbook storytelling.
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