''The Institute'' is a 2017 American horror thriller film co-directed by

Pamela Romanowsky Pamela Romanowsky is a film director and screenwriter best known for her 2015 film '' The Adderall Diaries'', an adaptation of Stephen Elliot's memoir of the same name. Early life Pamela Romanowsky, a native of St. Cloud, Minnesota, attended Ne ...

and

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

. It is based on a true story of a young girl's treatment at The Rosewood Institute in

Owings Mills, Maryland Owings Mills is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Baltimore. Per the 2020 census, the population was 35,674. Owings Mills is home to the northern terminus o ...

, and stars Franco, Allie Gallerani,

Tim Blake Nelson Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor and playwright. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in '' O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in '' Minority Report'' (2002), Dr. Pend ...

, and

Lori Singer Lori Singer (born November 6, 1957) is an American actress and musician. The daughter of conductor Jacques Singer, she was born in Corpus Christi, Texas, and raised in Portland, Oregon, where her father served as the lead conductor of the Oreg ...

. The film was released on March 3, 2017.

Synopsis

Baltimore, 1893: young Isabel Porter checks herself into the Rosewood Institute, following the sudden death of her parents, and is subjected to extreme experiments in brainwashing and mind control by the insidious Dr. Cairn.

Cast

as Dr. Cairn *Allie Gallerani as Isabel Porter *

as Dr. Lemelle *

as Madame Werner *

Pamela Anderson Pamela Denise Anderson (born July 1, 1967) is a Canadian-American actress and model. She is best known for her glamour modeling work in ''Playboy'' magazine and for her appearances on the television series ''Baywatch'' (1992–1997). Anders ...

as Ann Williams *

Josh Duhamel Joshua David Duhamel (; born November 14, 1972) is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera '' All My Children'' and later starred as Danny M ...

as Detective *

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in '' King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes ...

as Dr. Torrington *

Melissa Bolona Melissa Boloña (born December 28, 1989) is an American actress and model. She starred in the films '' Acts of Violence'', '' The Hurricane Heist'', ''Malicious'', and '' Dog Eat Dog''. Early life and education Boloña was born in Connecticut, ...

as Trudy *

Scott Haze Scott Haze (born June 28, 1983) is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for his role in the 2013 film, ''Child of God'', where he played the role of Lester Ballard, sleeping in a cave for months and losing 45 pounds for his role in the adaptat ...

as Gunther

Reception

On review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a score of 0% based on reviews from 6 critics, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 2.50/10 rating. Both '' RogerEbert.com'' and ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...

'' gave the film one star out of four, with the later writing "''The Institute'' seems constantly on the verge of dipping into spoof, though of what exactly is difficult to say". Gary Goldstein of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' dismissed the film as 'silly' and added that "the mishmash of a script by Adam and Matt Rager is filled with arch attempts at period dialogue and much psychobabble. Franco and Romanowsky's unsubtle direction doesn’t help." Matt Donato of ''

Film Journal International ''Film Journal International'' was a motion-picture industry trade magazine published by the American company Prometheus Global Media. It was a sister publication of ''Adweek'', '' Billboard'', ''The Hollywood Reporter'', and other periodicals. H ...

'' also was not impressed with the film, criticizing the script, direction and approach to the material, saying that "watching ''The Institute'', you'll feel caught in a musty chamber with no escape, slowed by wolfsbane serums that beckon the deepest of sleep. No prescription will cure what ails this botched indie experiment".

References

External links

* 2017 horror thriller films American independent films American horror thriller films Medical-themed films Films directed by James Franco 2017 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films {{2010s-horror-film-stub