User reviews

The Institute is a thriller starring James Franco and Eric Roberts and had me bored, frustrated and simply not interested throughout.

Based very very very very loosely on a true story it follows a girl who commits herself into an asylum after a tragedy only to find out that nefarious dealings go on within its walls.

Franco not only stars but directs here and many don't realize he's been directing for over a decade now! I just personally don't think he's very good at it, and quite frankly I don't like seeing him in front of the camera either.

I get what the movie is doing and the concept is passable enough, sadly the execution is lacking and meanders through its 90 minute runtime at a grindy boring pace.

It has its moments and that finale was quite inspired but entertaining? Hardly.

I'm sure had we known the truth about what truth happened in the real Rosewood center that would have been for a more interesting tale.

The Good:

Decent finale

The Bad:

Simply unlikable

James Franco

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

I'll never understand why people adapt true stories and turn them into fiction anyway

I don't like James Franco's face

A pittyful effort of look smart and surprising, comes out as a leading disorientation and regret. I genuinely believe, Franco did this movie just to be more around half naked women. It may also be a result of beting between two buddies. No story, no continuity, no acting, no screenplay, no music and no nothing. Costumes are nice though...

Wow. For the life of me, I cannot find anything about this film I liked. With a cast that should have done so much better, we have to lay blame to the awful script and terrible direction. It looked like a made for TV film from the 80s with its soft focus and glaring backlight. It's apparent thriller theme was wanting and any mention of horror or scares is mistaken. I would suspect that this could be used for GCSE media students on how not to make a film.

This is my first review on IMDb, I created an account solely to vent about this movie. That's your first clue... As an avid fan of all things Horror, Thriller, Dark and Creepy, I was really looking forward to this film... however I was quickly disappointed. The concept of this movie is truthfully a good one, and it could have been great. It was however, poorly executed, the script was lifeless, boring and lacked any kind of depth. I was left laughing at certain points where they quite clearly should have been 'shocking' or 'creepy' but the whole thing felt a lot like I was watching a High School drama performance. The acting was mediocre at best and even with the big star cameos, it left a lot to be desired. The film was full of continuity errors, and generally easily fixed issues which would have added something to the non-existent atmosphere the film created. For example the film is set in the 19th Century, yet in a scene where the female lead is shown topless, you can quite clearly see her bikini tan lines. I'm not just talking a little, I'm talking she's just come back from a 3 week vacation. The 'climactic' scene left me laughing. All in all, don't waste your time - unless your looking for a film to fall asleep to or have a good laugh at then it'll be perfect!!

Hammy acting from renowned actors you'd expect more of. It wasn't laudanum they were ingesting but copious amounts of lithium to numb the brain thus restraining the urge to burst out laughing at every cliched, hackneyed and redundant theme in the plot line.

I hope I hammered that home.

If I had to guess, it is probably because James Franco fans watched it because he was in it, without knowing what to expect, and were unpleasantly surprised. It wasn't a terrible movie. It had been a while since I've watched it but the only reason I'm even on the IMDb page is because I was thinking about downloading it again to watch it with my wife (who doesn't like scary movies, but does like movies about crazy people, go figure) and she wanted to read some reviews. After reading the reviews, and then us downloading it and watching the movie anyway, I decided that I had to come back to let people know, I enjoyed it the second time, and my wife loved the movie (she wanted me to give it a 9) so I guess, make up your own mind. All I know is, the 4.0 rating doesn't do it justice!

Not sure what they hoped to gain from this movie. I'm surprised at how terrible it is considering the line-up. However, terrible it is, and I wouldn't recommend investing the time. James Franco should reconsider his decision to direct films.

The Victorians were renowned for institutionalizing their women for the slightest of reasons. The Victorian male's idea of equality was somewhat lopsided, to say the least. This film starts off as many in this genre, with a young woman going into an institute because of "nerves". Once there, she is subjected to a rather unorthodox treatment, the result of which culminates in far far darker and mysterious consequences.

The acting is good. The plot clever (if a little melodramatic). The characters believable. The film is more creepy than horrific, so no gore here. What it lacks in blood and guts, it makes up for in atmosphere.

I would recommend you NOT watch the trailer, as it does spoil the fun. The idea of the film is to lead you into the horror without you suspecting it. If you want a little something different to the usual stuff being churned out and called "Horror" these days, give this film a viewing. It is really quite enjoyable.

I am a little curious as to the incredibly low score for this film. It's a much better watch then the reviews would lead you to believe. It is a little muddled in terms of tone, it doesn't quite know what it wants to be, but in terms of its relevance I thought it rather good. During The Victorian Era it was quite commonplace for women to be placed in an Institution, for behaving in a manner that wasn't deemed 'ladylike.' The film is inspired by real life events, and it's definitely worth reading of the events that occurred at The Rosewood Center, which only closed its doors in 2009.

The acting was rather good, Allie Gallerani and Scott Haze, were both excellent I thought. It's almost impossible to spot Pamela Anderson, but she's there. The Nurse was great, so chilling.

Don't watch the trailers, ignore the bad reviews, and give it a chance, it's not brilliant, but it's certainly interesting. 7/10

Some of the worst acting I think I've ever witnessed.

Please don't waste 1hr 30mins of your life on this!!!!

I wanted to turn this film off after 30mins but my husband is the kind of person that when you start watching something he has to see it through no matter how bad it is!!!

The story, acting and filming of this was terrible!!!, I can't believe some of these actors actually took part in this disaster. It was slow and boring as hell, don't do it people!!!

The acting was inept, especially Franco. The writing was pathetic. The dialog was an affront to the ears. The plot was unbelievable from start to finish. The costumes were incoherent. The sets were dull. The photography was uninspired. The gore was sillier than the stuff you'd find at a child's Halloween party. The gratuitous nudity was... I don't know how you fail at gratuitous nudity, but this film found a way.

Unlike Showgirls, Eyes Wide Shut, or The Phantom Menace, this movie does NOT have cult classic written anywhere on it.

Set in the 19th Century, a young woman checks herself into an asylum for respite as she is labels by her brother as 'too curious' and 'melancholy' she soon gets sucked into a strange way of life and eventually cult that exists there. I created an account solely to vent about this movie. That's your first clue... As an avid fan of all things Horror, Thriller, Dark and Creepy, I was really looking forward to this film... however I was quickly disappointed. The concept of this movie is truthfully a good one, and it could have been great. It was however, poorly executed, the script was lifeless, boring and lacked any kind of depth. I was left laughing at certain points where they quite clearly should have been 'shocking' or 'creepy' but the whole thing felt a lot like I was watching a High School drama performance. The acting was mediocre at best and even with the big star cameos, it left a lot to be desired. The film was full of continuity errors, and generally easily fixed issues which would have added something to the non-existent atmosphere the film created. For example the film is set in the 19th Century, yet in a scene where the female lead is shown topless, you can quite clearly see her bikini tan lines. I'm not just talking a little, I'm talking she's just come back from a 3 week vacation. The 'climactic' scene left me laughing. All in all, don't waste your time - unless your looking for a film to fall asleep to or have a good laugh at then it'll be perfect!!

Is this movie for real? Couldn't bear to watch it until the end, that's how boring it is. But what really made me sit down and write this review was not its tedious pace, unoriginal storyline, unconvincing acting or hideous lighting, but the feeling that, at any minute, one of the actors (specially James Franco) might look right into the camera and say something like "are you still watching this?! You've been pranked!". Well, at least that would have been original and more in line with what I would expect from Franco, although I would feel like an idiot. But no. I don't think there must have been any reveal of the sort after I stopped watching. There is no explanation or excuse for how bad this movie is. I would feel even more like an idiot if I went on watching it any further.

What an absolute contrived pile of crap. Starts off cliched and predictable and gets full-on ridiculous very quickly. Some truly rubbish acting, all characters are totally one-dimensional, the camerawork is average and I turned this off around an hour in when my husband walked in and asked 'What's that total crap?' and I realised when answering that I didn't have a bloody clue, despite being over an hour in.

The Institute: A Gothic Horror film set in 19th Century Maryland. A young woman (Allie Gallerani) enters the Rosewood Institute, suffering from stress/depression following her parent's deaths. What appears at first to be a gentle regime soon turns strange and she is subject to an increasingly bizarre psychiatric regime by Dr Cairn (James Franco). There is also a sinister surgeon who carries out experimental neurosurgery.

Cults, Mind Control, a Marty Feldmanesque attendant, Ritual Sacrifice,The Institute brings both Get Out and A Cure For Wellness to mind. 7/10.

This piece of rubbish is absolutely awful from start to finish. I hesitate to even call it a movie. The acting is atrocious,Franco is as bad behind the camera as he is in front of it,and once again Roberts proves he will do anything for a dollar. Seriously people do yourselves a favor and avoid this rubbish at all costs, I hope I have saved some of you from the misery of this tedious piece of crap.

The Institute could have been so much more If only the story had more clarity. The elements were all there to make this a gripping, and memorable tale.

There are also some alluring references to Poe, with the pendulum and the pit in this gothic horror set in the Victorian era

Loosely based on true events this story gives more attention to the real institute for the feeble-minded, which in itself is interesting, and can immediately make you want to learn more about its history.

Unfortunately, the plot is very patchy. It can be a little confusing to follow, and I can't help but feel it could have focused more heavily on the human side of compassion, deceit, and blackmail, which would take you on more of an emotional journey.

We are presented with a potent theme that has relevance today. As the film is set in a time when the men used their power to control women, who had not yet captured their independence.

I strongly believe James Francou was the wrong choice for the part of Dr. Cairn. In some scenes, he was reasonable enough, but in others felt overacted, he sounded gruff but lacked influence. I think this particular role should have been performed by someone with a little more authority. Take Ben Kingsley, Patrick Stewart, or even Ian Mckellen for example.

Unfortunately, there is a severe lack of flow to the story. I didn't fully understand the concept of mind control or the different role-playing scenarios with the patients. Unless it was an experiment to damage their already frail minds, and then auction them off as slaves under a new identity?

The cult aspect involving the upper elite was fantastic, however, and I would have loved it to go into more depth. I think they could have made a stronger focal point of the women being sold into slavery, along with the drug abuse, and how the hospital staff was obtaining, and administering the poison to subdue their subjects.

The Institute has many solid ideas. Unfortunately, it just can't put them together for a highly diverse movie. I've already given my thoughts that the casting was a little off, and the story needed to divulge, and flesh out some deeper character emotions.

Sometimes basic explanations and simple storytelling can be the most powerful to engage with your audience. Alas, the Institute delivered an incomplete plot, devoid of human compassion, scrambled with weird ritualistic sacrifices, which just added deeply to pandemonium.

5/10.

Seriously, do not waste your time watching this trash. It only has gore & horror in it. There is no redemption at the end, there is no healing - only some twist in the plot. Do you think this woman came out betterafter everything she went through? NO! YOU WILL NEED THERAPY AFTER WATCHING THIS FILM!