This was a film that intrigued me when I saw the title. I was able to get a screener from the Raindance Film Festival where it made its world premiere. The poster also caught my attention. It wasn't until after the fact that I saw it was inspired by Italian giallo films from the 1970s and that Claudio Simonetti did the composing. Knowing that this was a 2025 horror release was something that interested me to get more independent film exposure.
Synopsis: a newcomer to a prestigious boarding school comes to realize that the institution and its cruel headmistress are a front for something much eviler amid the disappearance of students.
We start this with a cold open. It is Virginia in the year 1979. There is a young woman who is wandering around a lavish looking school. We see a person in a white mask following her. She tries to pick the lock of a big door but hears something causing her to flee. The person in the white mask ends up catching her and hangs her with a mechanical pulley.
This then shifts over to Miriam Basconi (Sophia Anthony) who is in the back of a taxi driven by Brian K. Landis. He tells her about the city and the academy that she's going to. He talks about how it changed after the Civil War. She's annoyed and wants him to be quiet. I'll note here that Miriam lost both of her parents in a mysterious accident.
She then arrives and is shown around by the RA, Holden Sax (Dante Blake). He warns about the importance of being on time. The day starts promptly at 7 AM. There are punishments if the rules aren't adhered to. They then go upstairs to meet the headmistress, Ms. Hemlock (Velvet). It is here that we meet her roommate, Hannah Blankenship (Amariah Dionne), who is bullied by Kathleen Brooks (Maddie Siepe) and Nancy Miller (Morgan Messina).
Miriam immediately butts heads with Ms. Hemlock. Hannah is tasked with Miriam showing up on time to her fitting for the school uniform, but she's late. This results in Holden whipping the back of Hannah's legs with a riding crop. Miriam continues to test boundaries and it gets the other students to dislike her. This includes them not being able to eat for a day and half while she's given giant meals. She does befriend Hannah and Holden, who both warn her about what she's doing.
Our lead can only put up with so much. She goes to escape one night. This leads her to seeing a group of older men that come into the school. There's also this mysterious person in a white mask. Hannah goes missing and she's not the only one. Ms. Hemlock is harboring a dark personal secret, which explains why she enjoys torturing the students. There's something much darker hidden within the bowels of the school.
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the characters. Now I'm going to bring up that our writing team of Daniel John Lerch, Julia Nilsen and Darrell Szarka Workman had to be influenced by Suspiria. I put that in my notes. It wasn't until I settled in to write my review that I saw the blurb about this film that it was inspired by gialli. They even went and got Simonetti of Goblin fame to do the soundtrack. Another element that was borrowed would be Miriam coming to a boarding school like this, which feels like Phenomena.
Now that I've set that up, let's delve into what we're getting here. We have an interesting enough mystery set in this odd school. It is ornate and large. There's almost a surreal fairy tale feeling to it. I also got vibes here like from the film, Would You Rather? They aren't playing a game, but the punishments that are handed down aren't necessarily to you. Because Hannah was tasked with Miriam showing up to the fitting, the former gets punished for the latter teen being late. It is playing on humanity. With Miriam getting the large meals and no one else getting food, which turns the other classmates against her. They're being divided. This will then lead me to my next point.
The title is an interesting one. I had to look it up while crafting my review to learn that it is an ancient Roman festival honoring the god Saturn. This is Kronos in Greece. There's a good touch here that the wallpaper in Miriam and Hannah's room has the planet Saturn on it. When they're in the classroom, they're learning about mythology. I believe the first time is Saturn eating his children to prevent them from overthrowing him, like he and his siblings did to their father. That is an interesting duality to the punishments handed out. If the students banded together, then they could rise to defeat the headmistress, who is torturing them. Inside, they're bickering within. There is also an interesting reveal late that I wasn't expecting, so credit there.
Sticking with the inspiration, let's go over to filmmaking. The cinematography and framing are good here. The lighting is also giallo inspired. There are vivid red lights that are used, which was an interesting choice. Miriam continues to have these dreams and visions that are surreal. I don't mind it here since they look great. I thought for those, the lighting worked best. Other times, it felt like it wanted fans to notice. Moving to the effects, I thought what we got there was fine. They were limited but looked to be mostly practical. The opening kill was a direct homage to Suspiria. That was bloody and a good variation on it. Let's bring back Simonetti. This wasn't his best work, but it was still solid.
I'll then finish out with the acting performances. I don't think it is great but it isn't bad either. Anthony is a bit too abrasive. What is great there though is something that happens to her later that breaks it. I can see why she acts the way that she does to that point. Velvet works as this villainous headmistress. There is a reveal that feels too heavy handed but it explains a lot. Blake is fine as this RA who is torn between doing the right thing and the privilege given to him. Dionne was solid as the mousey roommate who is bullied. Siepe and Messina work as bullies. They do humanize Nancy, which I did think worked. The rest of the students were fine and the other cast members rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, this film was an interesting watch. I do like Lerch and the writing team wore their inspirations on their sleeves. Suspiria and Dario Argento are two things that I'm a big fan of. I just don't know if this does enough to stand on its own. I did enjoy the reveal of the truth of this odd school. The acting was solid across the board. This is done well enough with the cinematography, framing, lighting and effects leading the way. They do good things with the lighting, but it feels forced at times. I still thought this was an interesting enough watch and would recommend it as a variation on the deadly boarding school films.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
