Down a Dark Hall

Kit, a troubled teenager, is sent to Blackwood, an exclusive but foreboding boarding school that promises clarity through study. There she joins four other girls who have earned a place in the school’s tightly curated program, overseen by the enigmatic headmistress Madame Duret. The campus is pristine on the surface and claustrophobic beneath, with hidden wings and whispered rules that press on every choice. As the girls begin to learn what are billed as the four pillars of knowledge, strange occurrences accumulate: a locked corridor, cryptic messages, and a growing sense that something darker is binding the curriculum. Kit looks for answers while keeping her own past in the shadows.

Directed by Rodrigo Cortes, the film adapts Lois Duncan's 1974 novel Down a Dark Hall with a screenplay by Chris Sparling and Michael Goldbach, featuring AnnaSophia Robb, Uma Thurman, Isabelle Fuhrman, Victoria Moroles, and Noah Silver.

Reception was mixed, with reviewers noting the film's moody atmosphere and strong performances from Robb and Thurman, while some critics found the plot predictable. It probes power dynamics in adolescence, the pull of secrets, and the toll of coercive authority on young minds.