Boarding School

I didn't know what to expect going into this movie. Watched solely based on Dr. Shock's recommendation on Horror Movie Podcast. The premise was promising if a bit vague. Turns out the movie was great, and kinda weird. With the protagonist dressing in his recently deceased grandmother's clothes and the mysterious school he's sent to, with a small class of outcasts and only two odd characters running the place, it seemed like a set-up for a ghost or demon movie. Don't want to give anything away but it's actually something more sinister. Quite disturbing actually. And sad.

There's a lot going on, from Jacob's strange connection to his grandma, an apparently difficult woman he didn't know, a Holocaust survivor willing to do whatever it took to survive. There's the odd assortment of kids, some with extreme disabilities (disfigurement, Tourette's, intellectual disability), some who just don't seem to fit in. And while there's tensions between them, they develop a camaraderie that's touching. Though you see their darker sides too, especially as the sense of being trapped at the school grows and events spiral out of control.

Definitely recommend, especially before you make your top 10 of 2018 lists.