Down a Dark Hall

I'd never heard of this, but the moment I saw the cast I had to make it my bedtime movie and initially I felt happy about my decision. Sadly like most things, that didn't last.

Starring Uma Thurman, Isabelle "Orphan" Fuhrman and AnnaSophia "Bridge to Terabithia" Robb this is a teen horror with a great concept but weak delivery.

It tells the story of a group of "Bad" girls sent off to a mysterious boarding school run by Uma Thurman. There they are taught 4 core lessons, and take to each subject at alarming rates.

Now I have to speak of AnnaSophia Robb, when Bridge to Terabithia (2007) came out I saw big things in the girls future. I predicted that she'd have a great career, she was a solid actress for her age so she'd go far..........right? Well that didn't quite work out, I missed the mark on that one but I stand by her competence and it was nice to see her leading here.

The film looks the part, the setting is fantastic, the cast do a great job and I liked the ideas as they began to unravel but something wasn't quite right. The pacing? The finale? I think it was a concoction of these things and more, ultimately the film is filled with great ideas but the creators didn't know what to do with them.

Down a Dark Hall is an interesting movie and you can do worse with 90 minutes. Sadly like me you might come away thinking it should have been better when the credits roll.

The Good:

Great cast

Solid setting

The Bad:

Doesn't come together very well

Rushed finale

I had high hopes with the one after seeing the preview. The Flitting shadows that disappear had me intrigued. But no, it was not to be. There was a whole lot of movie, but really a whole lot of not much. When I rate horror movies I usually give a little leeway as there are so many bad horrors out there. Slowly but surely though there are so many horror movies entering the realm that are just nothing. P.S. Uma does a really annoying job at pretending to be a person pretending to be french.

Well I like the idea of spooky stuff going on in an old boarding school. I just didn't think this movie did it very memorably. Uma being miscast was distracting, although I thought Anna was likeable. The ending did have some level of satisfaction, but nothing that will stay with you. Just a cheaply made disposable horror that no one will find scary.

Troubled teen Kit Gordy (AnnaSophia Robb) is accused of a past incident and sent to a special school with other troubled girls run by Madame Duret (Uma Thurman). It's an old mansion under renovation.

Nothing happens in the first half. It's a little moody but nothing special anyways. Then everything happens in the second half and I'm not sure that I understand it all. It has some elements of a good moody gothic horror but it's not pulled together that well.

What annoyed me the most about this movie was the drab, very dark photography. There are lots of scenes where you can barely make out what is happening onscreen. It's fine to make a movie using only natural candles (and low light bulbs) as lightning, but it should be done professionally, and without everything looking gray and washed out.

The plot begins nice, moody and intriguing, but the minute Ms Duret is on the screen, it starts to border on the comical. Her flat character acts, talks, sounds and dresses like a cynical parody of a dumb, pompous headmistress who has no clue what she is doing, but wants to appear competent no matter what.

The script looses focus, basic reason and coherency in the middle of the movie, and it all pretty much falls apart in the end. The last scenes are very touching, but hardly make you feel satisfied or rewarded for watching a dark screen (with some fire and candlelight on it) and listening to Duret blabbering about being a Genius or feeling inspired. She is a deluded narcissist living in a dream world, but how she could ever establish & run this surreal, otherworldly school is another of the many questions the sketchy script does not care to answer.

The score is very classy and stylish though, unlike the rest of this forgettable production.