Since becoming a feature director in 2007, he’s explored the challenges of telling a gripping tale inside a confined space in the critically lauded Buried and the expansive tale of psychics and psychology Red Lights, both of which Cortés also edited.

Rodrigo Cortés trained as an editor, and by putting together stories for maximum effect, his sensitivity and instincts as a filmmaker became razor-sharp.

In order to bring Down A Dark Hall to the screen, it took a filmmaker who saw more in the story than just the jolts and jitters often associated with suspense. It’s a story perfect for the movies, as Cortés turns Duncan’s story into a metaphor-rich, gripping supernatural drama, from a screenplay by Mike Goldbach and Chris Sparling, stunningly photographed by cinematographer Jarin Blaschke ( The Witch ). Yet as Kit discovers the terrifying truth about the world they’ve walked into, Blackwood boarding school and Madame Duret’s malevolent intentions become a nightmare there may be no escape from. In fact, their abilities do not belong to them at all - the girls have a connection to another realm they could never dream of. While exploring the labyrinthine corridors of the school, Kit and her classmates discover that Blackwood Manor hides an age-old secret rooted in the paranormal.įeeling recognized in ways they never did previously when they were considered “troubled,” the teens begin to assert themselves in new ways. Once she arrives at Blackwood, Kit encounters eccentric headmistress Madame Duret (Uma Thurman) and meets the school’s only other students, four young women also headed down a troubled path.

Kit (AnnaSophia Robb), a difficult young girl, is sent to the mysterious Blackwood Boarding School when her heated temper becomes too much for her mother to handle. The shadows descend … the floors creak… a winding staircase bends … portraits breathe… and then, down a dark hall is where identity, passion, creativity and terror face off in director Rodrigo Cortés’ film of Lois Duncan’s iconic 1974 suspense novel Down A Dark Hall.

At the heart of the story is the cost of creativity, the desire for it - the dimension-crossing need for it, in fact - and the mysterious forces that may be part of tapping into it.

Down a dark hall book