After suffering a tragic loss, 16-year-old Beckett Warner (Sophie Curtis) and her father Miles Warner (Linus Roache), move from their beachfront home to Manhattan, N.Y. to start a new chapter in their lives. What Beckett and her father will soon realize is that Hamilton Preparatory School, where she will be attending, has some very dark secrets.
When Beckett witnesses fellow classmate Sunday Wilson commit suicide, she soon begins seeing apparitions of past Hamilton Prep girls and wonders if there is a pattern to their deaths. Pamela Hamilton (Kelly Reilly), the school’s nurse and relative of the founder of the school, takes Beckett under her wing after the incident, but not without trying to seduce her father in the process.
Beckett befriends the “token” alternative girl, Jen Dunham (Sarah Sutherland) and attempts to lead a normal life in the midst of all the mystery and horror going on around her.
One of the head women’s sons, Toby Crawford (Graham Phillips), and Beckett become very close after she does some investigating. This soon becomes a problem to many of the head women at Hamilton Prep.
The film follows Beckett’s search to uncover Hamilton Prep’s secrets, while also keeping a watchful eye on Pamela and the rest of the women who work at Hamilton Prep.
While some of the acting came short-handed at times, and some parts were a bit slow, the movie was overall pretty entertaining.
Curtis brings the right amount of innocence and sweetness to her portrayal of Beckett, but some parts lacked the believable amount of emotion someone would have when going through similar situations. There is only so much of the quiet, out-of-it character an audience can watch without seeing any significant growth. Thankfully she cracked out of her shell a bit more towards the middle of the film.
Reilly embodied the perfect amount maliciousness and sweetness that you would want in a female villain, making her a very enjoyable antagonist to watch. Like any good anti-hero, Reilly has the ability to make one’s blood boil on cue.
Loud noises and random apparitions were the main sources of thrill. The director, Hilary Brougher, even threw in the cliché “something’s in the mirror” trick –those are usually always a fun scare.
If you like suspense films, then Innocence wouldn’t be a bad one to put on your list. Is it in the summer’s top 10? No but it’s one of those Friday night movies you can enjoy with friends that might make you jump enough to be an entertaining and scary film, with a story line that isn’t half bad.
