It's 1893, in Baltimore. Isabel Porter (Allie Gallerani) is a wealthy young aristocrat grieving her recently deceased parents. Upon her doctor's recommendation, she checks herself into the Rosewood Institute, where the upper classes are promised R&R. But this promise is not kept. For on the watch of head physician Dr. Cairnes (James Franco, with a handlebar moustache that could make you think he's actually playing Lord Kitchener), young women are faced with strange and unorthodox procedures in mind control and personality changing, to instead satisfy the cravings of a dangerous secret cult.
This Gothic horror by directors Franco and Pamela Romanowski and writers Adam and Matt Rager may claim to be "Based on terrifying true events," but I found the end product about as terrifying as a basket of puppies. Maybe it's just my more contemporary horror taste, and to their credits the team here try hard to avoid resorting to tropes like jump scares, but the violence and suspense are simply spread far too far apart and revealed too subtly for me. Additionally, the Ragers' dialogue is thoroughly insipid and their plotting too by-the-numbers. Gallerani shows a bit of effort and range but all her co-stars look like they're just slumming it (even Franco). There is some attractive period design but on the visual flipside, the photography is focused much too glossily for this sort of material. There's also a very boring score. The Institute is more of an ordeal for the viewer than any of the characters harmed in it.
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