I was at the movie store today and decided I wanted to watch something kind of scary.  Not gory and laughable, but something that would be suspenseful and thrilling. I thought I might have found the right movie when I picked up In a Dark Place.  I mean it stars Leelee Sobieski (A Glass House) and I have enjoyed her earlier work, so I thought it’d be a good one to watch.  I was wrong.  This movie tried too hard to be ambiguous.  Instead of building the suspense until the final moment, I was left wondering what I had just watched and trying to make sense of it all.

The movie starts as Anna (Sobieski) is let go from her job as an art teacher at a school.  The principal of the school finds her a new job as a nanny for two orphaned children who live with their rich, never-there uncle. Anna is in full charge of the children before she even meets them with only the housekeeper/secretary Ms. Grose (Tara Fitzgerald, Brassed Off) for help and company.  Soon enough Anna is hearing voices, and seeing the ghosts of two former employees of the house.  She swears that the children Miles and Flora (Christian Olson and Gabrielle Adam both in their debut performances) can see them too, although they never confirm or deny this.  Throughout the movie Anna has nightmares of her past sexual abuse, which may be bothering her more than she even knows.  She begins to think maybe the former employees sexually abused the children, and begins to feel that she must protect them at all cost.  But are the children really in danger of ghosts, or Anna herself? This is the question that must be answered.  

In a Dark Place was based on the Henry James’ novella “The Turn of the Screw.”  Having never read it, I can’t do much comparison, but I did read up on it and found out that the book is almost as ambiguous as the movie and has been debated about for years.  I don’t think this movie will have the same sort of debate, as it is pretty forgettable.  The acting did nothing for me.  Sobieski is nice to look at, and really flaunts that fact in this movie but she is at a loss to bring much else to the movie.  Her acting was forced, and when pressed to show emotion she over did it. Fitzgerald was somewhat better in her delivery and making her character believable, but not very likable.  And the kids? Well, I can’t say much for them either – but I suppose for child actors they did fine, especially for their first roles. 

Nothing really impressed me about this movie.  I’m just glad I only paid $1.00 to rent it and not more. Now, I’m not saying I’m against movies that leave the ending up to the audience, but I feel this movie left almost everything for us to decide because the writer (Peter Waddington) didn’t want to make the decision.  Instead he tried to make a movie that would please everyone, and failed miserably.  If you catch this movie late at night on a movie channel, maybe I’d suggest watching it just to see if what your opinion is on what happens.  Otherwise I suggest just reading the novella instead – which I intend to do sometime in the near future.  I’m sure it’ll be much more satisfying.  In a Dark Place gets a D+ from me, although it’s not the worst movie I’ve ever seen I still wouldn’t recommend anyone wasting his or her money (and possibly time) to see it.