The Institute

The Institute

Directed by Pamela Romanowsky, James Franco

Produced by Dark Rabbit Productions, Redwire Pictures

201798 min4.3 / 10

A dark, paranoia-soaked period thriller about a grieving girl trapped in a nightmarish institution where pseudo-scientific cruelty and mind control become instruments of psychological and physical torment.

In 19th century Baltimore, Isabel Porter, a girl stricken with grief from her parents' untimely death, voluntarily checks herself into the Rosewood Institute. Subjected to bizarre and increasingly violent pseudo-scientific experiments in personality modification, brainwashing and mind control, she must escape the clutches of the Rosewood and exact her revenge, or else be forever lost.

Questions people ask

  • Is The Institute scary? Yes, very. More frightening than 94% of films.

  • Is The Institute sad? Yes, very. More sad than 92% of films.

  • Is The Institute easy watching? Barely. Less comforting than 86% of films.

  • Is The Institute violent? Yes. More violent than 83% of films.

  • Does The Institute end with hope? Barely. Less hopeful than 80% of films.

These describe how the film comes across, measured across the whole film and compared with other well-known films. They are not a content list — nothing here was counted or checked scene by scene, so for age-suitability or specific content use a classification board or a dedicated content-warning service.

15/ 100

Cinnamon Score

How much this film gives you that nothing else will, and whether it delivers.

Conventional, and it does not land.

Rarity66

How unlike any other film this one feels

Surprise2

How much more it delivers than it promises

Love3

How much audiences actually like it

The highest scores in the catalogue →

Ensemble

Like The Institute

Nearest across the full emotional profile.

Same Mood as The Institute

Nearest on what's most distinctive about this one.

Like The Institute, But Darker

Similar, pushed toward heavier and more intense.

Like The Institute, But Lighter

Similar, pushed toward warmer and easier.

Like The Institute, But Less Popular

Same territory, far fewer people have seen it.

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