Genre: Horror/Mystery
Director: Neil Burger
Writer: T.F.W. Hallowayne
Based on the novel by Madeleine Roux
Cast: Finn Wolfhard, Mackenzie Foy, Charlie Plummer, Ryan Lee, Barry Keoghan, Ryan Potter, Ben Barnes, Jack O'Connell, Nathan Fillion, Claire Foy
Plot: Dan Crawford (Finn Wolfhard) arrives by taxi at New Hampshire College. The driver takes him to Brookline, the building that houses the dorms for the New Hampshire College Prep program Dan is there to participate in. Dan is excited to participate in this program because he feels he might have a better chance of meeting like-minded kids as opposed to the kids at his high school who are there more to socialize than to learn.
Dan finds his room in the dorm and discovers that his roommate has already arrived. As Dan unpacks on his side of the room, he finds a disturbing picture of a man whose eyes have been scratched out.
Dan’s roommate, Felix (Ryan Lee), comes into the room. Dan tells him about the picture and Felix tells him that there is an old office on the lower floor that has similar photos in it. The two then decide to go to the ice cream social to welcome the participants. Dan finds Felix’s company to be annoying, so he is happy when Felix wanders off. Then Dan begins to feel faints and is rescued by a beautiful young girl who introduces herself as Abby Valdez (Mackenzie Foy). They talk for a few minutes and seem to hit it off. Abby then introduces Dan to Jordan (Charlie Plummer), a young man she met on the bus to the college. The three of them begin to talk and the conversation turns to Brookline. Dan tells them about the pictures Felix told him about. Abby, an artist, is immediately interested and convinces the boys they should check it out.
Dan leads his new friends to the room Felix told him about and is surprised to discover it is locked up. Jordan picks the lock. The trio make their way to the back of the reception room and enter what appears to be the warden’s office. Inside they find a great many photos that are unsettling. When Abby finds a picture of a sad little girl, she decides to take it despite the fact that Dan and Jordan try to talk her out of it. Finally, Abby leaves the photo in its place on the wall.
Dan returns to his dorm room, but he does not see his room but a dirty cell. Dan closes the door, checks the number, and opens the door again. When he does, his dorm room has returned. Later, Dan cannot sleep so he does some research about Brookline on the Internet. Dan finds a website that talks about the history of the asylum, but the only new information it offers Dan is the fact that Brookline once housed a notorious serial killer known as the Sculptor. This man, Dennis Heimline (Jack O'Connell), is thought to have died the day the asylum closed, but his body was never found.
Dan has breakfast with Abby the following morning. As they go to sign up for their courses, they decide the three of them should take a few classes together. Afterward they go to orientation.
Dan has a nightmare and decides to go outside for some fresh air. Dan finds Abby sitting on the steps outside. Her family is in turmoil as her parents fight over her father’s career ambitions. They talk for a while before returning to their rooms.
Dan attends his first class, History of Psychology. Afterward, Dan approaches the professor to ask about a possible extra credit project she jokingly mentioned. Dan wants to do research into Brookline. The professor seems passionate about Brookline, mentioning that the locals want it torn down despite the history of the building, but reminds Dan that they are not earning credit for the courses.
Dan, Abby, and Jordan spend a great deal of time together of the following few days. Dan wants to ask Abby out, but lacks the courage, especially when Felix suggests Abby is out of his league. However, Dan finally finds the courage and asks Abby to have dinner with him.
Dan is very nervous about his date with Abby, especially since he is not really sure it is a date. This nervousness turns to annoyance when the counter guy at the diner flirts with Abby. In a lull in the conversation, Dan tells Abby about a mystery email he had in his sent folder that disappeared. Abby finds it amusing and teases him.
Dan and Abby return to Brookline where they find Jordan waiting in the hall outside Abby’s room. Jordan is mad because Abby is late for their standing study date. After some conversation, Jordan forgives them. They discuss Dan’s mystery email and Jordan suggests it might have been a data ghost, something he saw on Dr. Who.
The trio decide to go into the basement again. Jordan once again picks the lock and they reenter the warden’s office. Dan discovers a hidden doorway behind a file cabinet. Through the doorway they find a file store room and stairs into a deeper level. Abby and Dan descend the stairs while Jordan remains in the file room. Dan and Abby find multiple patient rooms, another file room, and another office. Dan is fascinated by the pristine condition of the office. Jordan calls to Dan and Abby. They go back to the first file room and discover the cabinets are filled with admittance cards for the patients.
Dan, Abby, and Jordan are caught in the file room by hall monitor Joe (Barry Keoghan). Dan quickly snatches the admittance card for Dennis Heimline before Joe escorts them out.
Dan looks at the admittance card for Dennis Heimline once he got to his room and is surprised to see it indicates that Heimline was recovered at some point. Dan then looks inside an envelope he took from the pristine office and reads a note that appears to be a doctor’s ruminations on insanity and its possible cure. When Dan finally falls asleep his has a nightmare.
Dan meets Abby and Jordan in the dining hall, but accidentally angers Abby for unknown reasons. Dan goes to class alone and then returns to his room where he finds an envelope waiting for him containing a disturbing note.
Dan asks Felix about the note, but Felix appears clueless. Dan decides to skip his next class and go to visit the man who wrote the website about Brookline. When Dan arrives, the man, Sal Weathers, welcomes him inside and introduces him to his wife. However, when Dan tells the couple his name, Sal kicks him out of the house. Dan returns to campus and goes to the dining hall. When Jordan and Abby join him, Abby tells the boys that she found an admittance card in the basement for her aunt, Lucy Valdez.
Abby explains to Jordan and Dan that her aunt was a difficult child. For this reason, Abby’s grandparents sent her away, but no one knew for sure where. Abby once found letters from her grandfather to her father that suggested he visited New Hampshire often in those years. For this reason, Abby thought there was a possibility Lucy had been sent to Brookline, so when they found the admittance cards, she looked for her aunt’s name and found it. For this reason, Abby wants to go into the basement again, but both Jordan and Dan refuse to go with her.
The following day the participants in the program are required to pick new classes. Dan is saddened that he, Abby, and Jordan do not pick any classes together. Later, Jordan sits at dinner working a mathematical problem that is supposed to be unsolvable that he has decided to solve. When Abby arrives, Jordan admits that he has been having nightmares since going into the warden’s office, explaining why he does not want to go in there again. At the same time, Dan discovers that Abby has been drawing pictures of the little girl whose photo she saw in the warden’s office.
Dan goes to check his mail and finds an odd letter marked with only his room number.
Inside the odd letter is a quote about insanity by Ray Bradbury. Dan decides he has to go back into the basement to get answers.
Dan passes Joe as he heads down to the basement. He waits a few minutes to make sure Joe will not catch him. In the basement, Dan finds a music box with an engraving that makes him think it belongs to Lucy, Abby’s aunt.
Dan returns to the pristine office and finds a set of stairs that go lower under the building. At the bottom of the stairs, Dan discovers an operation theater. Dan passes out and has a vision of a man beginning an operation in the operation theater. Abby finds him. Then Abby rouses Dan.
Abby and Dan come out of the basement to find chaos in the lobby. Joe has been found dead by Felix. The police are there and they question everyone, forcing Abby and Dan to come up with a lie to cover the fact they were in the basement.
In his room, Dan finds some papers in his pocket. Dan reads them and realizes they are notes written by the warden suggesting he was experimenting on the patients. Dan is shocked to see the warden’s signature as they have the same name.
Dan calls his parents the next day to find out if he could be related to the former warden of Brookline, but they are less than helpful.
Abby is concerned about Jordan, so she sends Dan to check on him. When Dan arrives, no one is in Jordan’s room, but Jordan’s side of the room is covered in mathematical equations. Jordan arrives and demands Dan leave for invading his privacy.
Dan goes back to his room and takes a nap. He has a nightmare. When Dan wakes, he heads downstairs to meet Abby and finds Yi (Ryan Potter), Jordan’s roommate, unconscious on the stairs. Dan calls for help and is interrogated by the police.
Abby and Dan hang out with Jordan afterward in his surprisingly clean room. Abby tells them she learned her aunt stayed in the area after the asylum closed. Dan then tells them about the Sculptor, Dennis Heimline. They encourage Dan to tell the cops, but the officer he tells, Officer Teague (Ben Barnes) is not impressed.
Dan has trouble sleeping, so he goes down to the vending machines. Jordan shows up and tells Dan that Dan had sent him a text to meet there. Dan insists that he did not, but the text is on his phone. Dan returns to his room to find Felix gone. Dan gets a text asking him to go to the fifth floor. When Dan arrives, he finds Felix unconscious and a large man standing over him. Dan and the man fight. The man hits Dan on the head and flees out the window as the police arrive. The police do not believe Dan's story.
A cop follows Dan to his classes the next morning. Afterward, Dan discovers his parents have flown in. Dan, his parents, and the police talk. Dan’s parents reveal that Dan has had some mental difficulties in the past and is seeing a therapist.
Dan returns to his room that afternoon and discovers he has written some odd things in his notebooks in someone else’s handwriting.
Dan goes to the church where Abby learned about her aunt to ask questions of his own. Dan learns that Daniel Crawford (Nathan Fillion), the warden, grew up in the area and had two brothers who lived there. After the asylum was shut down because of Crawford’s experiments, Crawford was placed on trial. Crawford killed himself in jail, and his brothers fled town. On the way back to campus, Dan finds Sal Weathers’ dead body.
Dan returns to Brookline and learns that Abby has told her father about her aunt. Abby’s father did not react as she had imagined he would. As Dan consoles her, someone shoves a note under the door that invites Dan into the basement.
Dan decides to go to the basement despite Jordan and Abby’s arguments against it. Abby insists on going with Dan while Jordan stands guard in the warden’s office. As Dan and Abby make their way through the basement, Dan sees evidence that someone has been there other than them. Then, Dan is attacked from behind.
Dan wakes in the operating theater. Felix turns out to be his attacker. As Dan engages Felix in conversation, it becomes clear that Felix is not himself. Felix admits to being the one who killed Joe and injured Yi. Felix even admits to killing Sal Weathers. Dan tries to escape and is helped when Jordan suddenly comes into the room. Together Dan and Jordan are able to knock Felix out. They put him on a stretcher and Dan picks up a scalpel to kill him. There is some consciousness inside Dan that wants to kill Felix, but Dan manages to gain control of his own mind and body.
Dan, Abby, and Jordan carry Felix, stretcher and all, to the stairs. As they go up the stairs, the cops arrive. The trio explain to the police what happened. The police are skeptical, but they seem to believe most of the story. Mrs. Weathers (Claire Foy) tries to attack Dan in the courtyard, but the police subdue her. Abby then shows her the music box from the basement of Brookline. Abby explains that she believes that Mrs. Weathers' forehead scar proves that she is Abby’s Aunt Lucy.
Dan packs up to leave with his parents. Abby comes by to say goodbye. Dan hopes Abby will come to visit him because Jordan is coming to live with Dan and his adoptive parents. As they leave, Dan finds a note tapped to his door that says, "I’ll be seeing you real soon." It is signed by Daniel Crawford.
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