Horror Movie Review: Nightmare At The End Of The Hall (2008)

Looking and feeling like the TV movie it is, but being far better than expected, Nightmare at the End of the Hall comes from writer Nora Zucker and director George Mendeluk.

The story of Nightmare at the End of the Hall surrounds Courtney (Sara Rue), a best-selling novelist who has struggled to follow up her success and takes a job as teacher at the Douglas Academy boarding school. A school she went to and where her best friend Jane (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) committed suicide. It was this harrowing event that Courtney used to inspire her novel, even if it made her a pariah in certain circles.

She figures working at the school will help her come to terms with the death of Jane and the opportunity to give back to some young woman. Courtney has some things she needs to work through though. She’s on medication for panic attacks, unwilling to get close to Brett (Kavan Smith), the ex-boyfriend of Jane, and unnerved by student Laurel (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) who bears an uncanny resemblance to dead woman.

Then, she starts to experience paranormal events, including thinking that she sees Jane’s ghost. Is something supernatural actually going on? Or is it psychosis that is being unearthed now Courtney is back in the school?

It sounds like your run of the mill paranormal horror, and it is when it comes to the overarching story, but thanks to engaging characters and some excellent twists and turns, Nightmare at the End of the Hall ends up being a damn fine movie.

It’s a character-driven horror movie, where the writing wants you to care about the main players, something it manages nicely. Alongside that, it tells its story through two time-periods, both eventually coalescing to reveal the truth of what happened and what is going on right now. It will keep you hooked right up to the very end, and that end is extremely satisfying, if not a little far-fetched.

Oddly, the one area that Nightmare at the End of the Hall fails to deliver on is with the horror aspect. This movie works much better as a drama and a mystery, rather than a horror. Even when it does attempt to scare, those are lacklustre and uninspired ghostly things that fail to land. Obviously, this an issue seeing as it is supposed to be a horror movie.

Yet, it’s hard to be too harsh as every else Nightmare at the End of the Hall impresses. It’s not the best thing you’ll ever see, but considering the likely low expectations going in, it more than stands out for the right reasons.