The Sisterhood of Night (2014)

Directed by: Caryn Waechter
Country: USA

Movie Review: This small-scale psychological drama about a sisterhood formed at NY’s Kingston High School, draws our curiosity at first, but soon falls in dramatic loops, wobbly twists and turns, and a pitiable apathy in its last act that completely disrupts our initial interest. Debutant director, Caryn Waechter, who had to resort to Kickstarter’s financial help in order to bring her project to life, sets the stage as a documentary-fiction hybrid. The plot, written by Marilyn Fu who also co-produces, centers on a handful of teen girls who roam the night as part of a secret society, apparently involved in a sex scandal and bizarre rituals. The cult founder, Mary Warren (Georgie Henley), acts evasively and encourages her group to take vows of silence when a former member, Emily Parris (Kara Hayward), decides to unveil what happened in her baptism of fire by publishing delicate content on her blog. While the case grows to bigger proportions, drawing the attention of the media, parents, and teachers, Waechter consciously shows how vulnerable and sensitive some of these girls are in regard to family. Taking advantage of this bleary state, the screenwriter still took some time to set up a flirting case between, Gordy (Kal Penn), an approachable teacher, and one of the students’ mother. The story remains meager and centered on itself, a sort of psychological limbo that ends up being a torture. It never turns into real horror or tries to surprise us somehow, what it does, is merely playing with truths and lies in order to create some more disarray. Manifestly aiming at teen audiences, “The Sisterhood of Night” could have been better if more creative in its ideas and less immature in its modus operandi.