‘Down a Dark Hall’ offers up atmospheric chills
“Down a Dark Hall” boasts troubled teen girls, a spooky boarding school and an imposing headmistress. If you threw in Susan Dey, you’d have the makings of a pretty good ABC Movie of the Week circa 1975.
But this isn’t the ‘70s, and this supernatural chiller is a delightfully sneaky surprise. It’s a smart, wellcrafted tale that is thoroughly contemporary, yet somewhat old-school in that it doesn’t go for cheap shocks. Instead, the emphasis is on mood, atmosphere and some sharply etched characterizations.
Kit (the excellent AnnaSophia Robb) is an angry, wisecracking teen
who is getting bounced from school after almost burning a building down. With her frustrated mom running out of options, Kit winds up at Blackwood
Academy, an isolated school for girls in a remote countryside.
Headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) — cool, sophisticated and just a tinge “off” — takes Kit and her mother on a tour of the school, which is housed in a building that would dwarf Downton Abbey. Everything is dimly lit, but “you’ll get used to it,” Madame Duret reassures. And, of course, there’s a hallway that students are not allowed to venture down.
Things gets weirder. First day of school arrives, and Kit learns there are only four other students. The girls must turn in their cell phones, as they are allowed only one call per term. The Internet is forbidden, too, so it’s basically just the young women and a handful of instructors. The staff includes Madame Duret’s hunky son Jules (Noah Silver from TV’s “Tyrant”), who teaches music and charms Kit with a accent.
The girls discover that they all are basically misfits back home. They also realize that they were all recruited for the school (”Did anyone apply?” one wonders). But the new setting seems to be helping. Kit begins to play piano like a master, while her classmates excel in their own areas. One student barely passed algebra and now is obsessed with solving complex mathematical equations. Another has a newfound gift for poetry. It’s bizarre and comical at the same time.
And, naturally, things start going bump in the night. Kit has nightmarish dreams and starts losing track of time. She sees figures in the halls — or does she? Director Rodrigo Cortés (he helmed the nightmarish Ryan Reynolds yarn “Buried”) gooses viewers with the kind of moments in which you think you see movement at the corner of the screen, but you’re never quite sure.
As the girls grow more obsessed with their newly-discovered talents, Cortés ratchets up the suspense and tightens his hold. He maintains a mood of spooky unease throughout, which keeps viewers on edge. But it works because we care about the people on screen, and writers Chris Sparling and Mike Goldbach have created teenagers who are surprisingly three-dimensional.
The students are given their own traits and personalities, and each actress gets a chance to shine. Victoria Moroles is particularly good as Veronica, who uses snap and sarcasm to hide her melancholy. Cortés is great with the character, who shows up on the first day of school dragging her clothes behind her in a garbage bag. It’s a funny visual gag, yet he also captures the pathos of the moment.
The movie is based on a memorable 1974 book by Lois Duncan. The author, who died in 2016, crafted a number of great YA suspense novels in the ‘70s, and the film carries a dedication in her memory. There’s another YA connection here, too. Stephenie Meyer of “Twilight” fame serves as one of the producers, but you shouldn’t hold that against it.