Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is 16 year old and still haunted by her father's suicide. Her best friend is her roommate Lucy (Sarah Gadon) at her boarding school. Ernessa Block (Lily Cole) is the new girl and she befriends Lucy to the dismay of Rebecca. The mysterious new girl somehow got friend Charley (Valerie Tian) expelled. After Rebecca and Dora (Melissa Farman) witness Ernessa do something supernatural, Dora is later found dead falling off a ledge. There is also a new teacher Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) at the school.This could have been a creepy Gothic horror movie. Mary Harron who made 'American Psycho' still pose the same problem to me as before. Her sparse style really stripes away the tension. She doesn't elevate the material and there is some good material here. More importantly, there are some great actors here trying their best. However, the movie never takes off. There is just a lack of tension. There is a lack of visual style. This is a bland execution. The female melodrama promises something that is never emotionally delivered. It's potentially an interesting horror but Harron doesn't know how to make one. Of course, this one doesn't have Christian Bale.

This movie is slow, predictable, & not in the least bit scary. It feels like a made for TV movie. Yet I still kind of enjoyed it! Lily Coles performance alone makes this movie worth watching. She's perfect in her part as the creepy new girl. The other lead actress isn't bad either. When it was over, there were still a couple of questions left unanswered. A really good movie will leave you turning things around in your head but in this case, once the main question is answered you just really don't care. In the end, not something to watch if you're in the mood for a good scare but not a total waste of time. I would rather see a movie like this one than a bloody gorefest with a crappy plot any day.

Much better premise than a generic vampire film like twilight. The remote feeling of the boarding school translates well, as does the dissonant relationship between Rebecca and pretty much everyone else at the school. The ambiguity of the supernatural element embodied by Lilly Cole in her role as Ernessa leaves the viewer questioning what she is, all the way till the very end. At the end of the film it is indeed up to the viewer to decide that for themselves but you definitely find yourself questioning what kind of supernatural agency you are dealing with. As far as the relationship between the Moths and Ernessa, that seems to be more of a poetic expression than an actual supernatural impetus, at least as far as this viewer is able to interpret. As a fan of TV shows like the X-files I appreciated the mysterious approach to that aspect of the story.The main gripe I have with this film is it is simply not long enough. Making it feel like an extended pilot episode of an abandoned TV show. A film like this could easily have expanded on its premise for at least 2 hours. But it shares this flaw with many modern films, I just found it frustratingly short. It doesn't even hit the hour and 30 minute mark, the screen credits begin to role out at about an hour and 18 minutes in. Ever have a feeling that a film just ends too quickly? That is the feeling I got from this one. A shame because it could have been amazing. Instead it was just a fairly good but short supernatural suspense/thriller or whatever. Something I may revisit at some point, but not feeling that extreme magnetic pull as with other films of this kind due to its shorter than average length.

Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) is suspicious of Ernessa (Lily Cole), the new arrival at her boarding school. But is Rebecca just jealous of Ernessa's bond with Lucie, or does the new girl truly possess a dark secret? I liked the look of this film, I liked the characters. I found Mr. Davies interesting -- his "Twilight" hair, and his creepy advances (not sure why a man is teaching at an all girl school). I feel like there was more to him than the film ever let on (should I read the book?).In fact, the film stumbles (in my opinion) because it has lots of loose ends, such as the scene with Rebecca's period (what was going on here?) and why does it matter that her father was a respected author? If the story had just been straightforward, it might have been able to explore more of the important themes rather than just showing girls playing video games.And I have to ask, is this a "girl" film or a horror film? I feel like that decision could not be made. It claims to be a horror film but has the tone of a girl party film. Why? I am all for mixing genres, but you have to have the right tone. Coming from director Mary Harron ("American Psycho") I expect better. Another reviewer suggested the film be called "pasty white female". I kind of agree.Lastly: Whoever wrote the Netflix summary is an idiot. They refer to Rebecca as a "college senior" (she is sixteen, in boarding school) and says that Ernessa may be a vampire -- she is not, nor does anyone ever think she is.