Down a Dark Hall Dvd

Down a Dark Hall is an American-Spanish supernatural horror film directed by Rodrigo Cortés and written by Chris Sparling and Michael Goldbach. It is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by Lois Duncan.

The film was released on August 17, 2018 with a limited release in theaters and a direct-to-VOD, by Summit Entertainment.

Plot

Kit Gordy (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School when her delinquent behavior becomes too much for her school to handle. When she arrives at Blackwood, Kit meets eccentric headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and the school’s only other students, four teenage girls with similar behavioral problems (Veronica, Ashley, Sierra, and Izzy, respectively). Technology is rarely used, and the girls can only phone their families in the domineering presence of the headmistress. The girls attend a variety of creative and intellectual classes, which begins to draw out unknown talents in the girls.

Sierra is the first to show a troubling obsession with her work, losing sleep, refusing to eat, and going into odd trances while creating amazing works of art. Ashley writes beautiful poetry and stories that deeply disturb her. Kit and Izzy slowly begin to experience the same bad side effects, saying it was like someone else was using their bodies. Only the belligerent Veronica shows no progress, much to Madame Duret’s annoyance. During art class Kit notices that all of Sierra’s paintings are signed “TC” and searches the school’s library for answers. She realizes that Sierra is recreating paintings by the deceased artist Thomas Cole, and that the others are producing work from other dead genuises.

Kit convinces Veronica to search the restricted areas of the school, where they come across old student records and more information on the people possessing the girls. When Madame Duret discovers Veronica alone she chains her up in an unused part of the school, explaining that the students are not merely vessels for the dead, but donors, unknowingly sacrificing themselves to be used to continue the careers of famous minds, whom she is able to commune with and channel into the girls’ bodies. Kit calls the police and confronts the headmistress about everything. By now Sierra has already died from overwork, and Ashley jumps to her death to stop the possession taking over completely.

While struggling to free Veronica, Kit knocks over some candles, and fire quickly spreads throughout the old building. Izzy succumbs to the beauty of the flames, leaving only Kit and Veronica to escape. Madame Duret is eventually possessed by her former pupils and consumed by the fire. Kit passes out and meets her deceased father, who convinces her to stay and live. She wakes up in the back of an ambulance by her mother and stepfather.

Cast

AnnaSophia Robb as Catherine “Kit”
Julia Stressen-Reuter as Young Kit
Uma Thurman as Madame Duret
Victoria Moroles as Veronica
Noah Silver as Jules Duret
Isabelle Fuhrman as Izzy
Taylor Russell as Ashley
Rosie Day as Sierra
Rebecca Front as Miss Olonsky
Jodhi May as Heather Sinclair
Pip Torrens as Professor Farley
Kirsty Mitchell as Ginny
Jim Sturgeon as Dave
David Elliot as Robert Gordon
Brian Bovell as Dr. MacMillan
Ramiro Blas as Disfigured Man
Josep Linuesa as Wilhelm Kestler