Geez, you go out for groceries, and what do you know, James Franco has another movie on the way. In the case of “The Institute,” it’s a picture he not only stars in, but co-directs with Pamela Romanowsky (who he’s previously worked with on “The Adderall Diaries“), and the results are ropey as per anything Franco-related that arrives seemingly out of nowhere.
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Co-starring Allie Gallerani, Joe Pease, Scott Haze, Lori Singer, Tim Blake Nelson, and Josh Duhamel, the film is set in 19th-century Baltimore, where a young woman becomes subject of the bizarre and dangerous workings of the titular building. Here’s the official synopsis:
Set in 19th century Baltimore, THE INSTITUTE tells the story of Isabel Porter (Allie Gallerani) who, 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.
“The Institute” opens on March 3rd. [EW]
