Down a Dark Hall

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Kit Gordy (played by AnnaSophia Robb) is a troubled girl who regularly acts out after the death of her father. She is sent to an all-girls boarding school run by the enigmatic Madame Duret (played by Uma Thurman). At first, it appears as though Duret wants to bring out the best gifts that these girls potentially offer. However, Kit begins to suspect that the headmistress may have more serious ulterior motives than she is letting on. The performances by Robb and Thurman are easily the best in the movie for very different reasons. Robb works because she has to play this teenage girl who can be incredibly unlikable at times, but actually has understandable reasons as to why. Uma Thurman works because she gives a relatively hammy performance (something that actually feels right when it comes to her character). The boarding school actually looks pretty decent. I can't say it's anything remarkable, but it doesn't look bad by any means. There's a scene near the end that I legitimately think is the best scene in the movie. Without revealing anything, there are two ways that it could have. Honestly, I think both of them could be seen as bittersweet. It' works for me because I think it's a solid moment of character growth for our protagonist. Something I do have to wonder is if this movie could have benefitted from the running-time being a little bit longer. There are things that kind of feel like they should have been explained a little more, or in some cases, just explained.  I also feel like we never really got a great  hero vs. villain moment in this movie. There's something that is kind of there, but it didn't feel like it was really enough for me. They could have either expanded a little bit on the scene we got, or just brought it back a little bit in a later scene. The character development could have been a little bit stronger in some cases as well. The protagonist, Kit, is really the only one who feels fully realized. We know what Madame Duret can do. It feels like we're only given half of the explanation as to why she does it. There is a scene that explains why the other four girls are troubled, but it never really explores them any deeper. The best way to describe Down a Dark Hall as a movie is standard. It isn't bad, but it isn't really anything all that special either. It's a background-noise type of movie. It shows up, does its thing, and leaves without leaving with any real major impact. It's a perfectly serviceable movie in the long run.

6 / 10