Blackwood, le pensionnat

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

The outcast troubled teenager Katherine "Kit" Gordy (AnnaSophia Robb) is invited to study in Blackwood and her mother and stepfather drive her to the old and isolated manor. She is welcomed by the headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) with four other colleagues and forced to develop their talents in mathematics and arts. Soon Kit realizes that supernatural forces are possessing them and increasing their talents. "Down a Dark Hall" is an almost good film with a promising and intriguing beginning. The storyline is good, but the screenplay is flawed after the confused ball in the manor. The performances are not bad, but Uma Thurman has a weird accent and AnnaSophia Robb does not convince as a seventeen year-old teenager despite the good acting. The cinematography is too dark and difficult to see. It is a pity since very few improvements would be necessary to make a great film. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

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.

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.

The premise is intriguing, and you can tell it tried it's darn hardest to be a successful supernatural, suspense drama/thriller, but this film just could not weave together these elements well enough to tell a captivating story. The actors were great, but the writing and character development was lacking. The cinematography and grand setting was beautiful, but was not accompanied by a well written story. The first act had promise, the second was questionable and then the final third just fell flat on its face. By not layering successful elements of supernatural horror in a consistent method, the final act's horror reveal, which should have been thrilling, just look plain weird. I was really looking forward to this movie, but it failed to deliver a decent film despite having all the right ingredients.