Soon Sierra is painting lushly romantic canvases, Ashley is producing ripe poetry, and Izzy is solving difficult math problems.

On the surface it appears that the curriculum, combined with extra-individual mentoring, is a great success. Seeing to it that everyone behaves is the rather fearsome Miss Olonsky (Rebecca Front), the resident disciplinarian. Veronica is left out her specialty seems to consist of bullying the others, with a particular focus on Kit. All will be taught painting by the headmistress, Madame Duret (Thurman), music by her son Jules (Noah Silver), writing by Sinclair and math by Professor Farley (Pip Torrens), though four of the students will specialize, each under the tutelage of one of the teachers. Upon her arrival, Kit finds that she will be one of only five girls there-all with problems of their own-the others being fragile Sierra (Rosie Day), nervous Izzy (Isabelle Fuhrman), submissive Ashley (Taylor Russell) and belligerent Veronica (Victoria Moroles). Sinclair (Jodhi May), who emphasizes the curriculum’s emphasis on actual practice in the arts.

The setting is a sinister school called Blackwood to which troubled Kit (Robb) is sent by her mother (Kirsty Mitchell) and stepfather (Jim Sturgeon) after they hear the spiel from its recruiter Dr. Boosted by strong lead turns from AnnaSophia Robb and Uma Thurman and plenty of atmosphere (courtesy of stellar work by production designer Victor Molero and striking widescreen visuals from cinematographer Jarin Blaschke, who make expert use of locations in Barcelona and the Canary Islands), Rodrigo Cortés’ movie looks great for the most part (though the burning-building effects at the close aren’t remotely convincing), but grows more and more absurd as it wanders down that titular hallway to a predictably upbeat conclusion. The mood is agreeably creepy but the plot grows increasingly silly in “Down a Dark Hall,” a supernatural thriller adapted from a 1974 novel by the late Lois Duncan, a recognized pioneer in the development of YA horror fiction.

Down the dark hall book