Stranger Things fans who are still languishing in the interminable gap before the fifth season will soon have something to tide them over.
The new MGM+ creepfest The Institute is vibes-wise on a par with the 80s shot of nostalgia over on Netflix – and the first two episodes drop this Sunday (July 13).
The eight-episode run is based on Stephen King’s 2019 novel of the same name and revolves around a shady government lab full of ne’er-do-well suits who are performing various horrible tests on children.
Think along the lines of the underground lab that traumatised Eleven. That is where 12-year-old brainiac Luke (Joe Freeman) is hauled off to. He’s kidnapped in the middle of the night, right before he had been about to leave high school to study classes at MIT.
The teen hostages he joins all have special abilities, which the scary higher-ups at the facility want to harness for their dastardly (if not entirely sensical) purposes.
The ringleader is one steely Ms Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), with her right hand man head of security Stackhouse (Julian Richings) never far and a head of science Hendricks (Robert Joy) to round out the testing ground staff.
That’s half the story. The other half concerns the local ‘night knocker’ Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes) who is essentially your friendly neighbourhood patrolman, having rolled into the quiet Maine town.
He starts to hear rumblings of not-good goings-ons at the supposed infectious diseases lab on the outskirts of the town. He’s the white knight that might be able to charge in and free the kids – if they can’t manage it for themselves first.
The reviews have already started rolling in for the show, which currently holds an 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Metro’s thoughts on The Institute
Senior TV Reporter Rebecca Cook shares her take…
Filmed in Nova Scotia and with MGM (owned by Mr Bezos) money doing the talking, the show looks excellent and has locked in performances. But you can’t help feeling it’s phoned in.
Plot points are seen coming a mile off and not enough work is done to get you to care much for the too-many characters – beyond the human impulse not to want to see children being tortured.
It might be unfair to lay all of this at the TV show’s feet, given that that reviews of King’s novel said it felt like he had tossed in a bunch of scraps from previous dishes (Firestarter, Carrie, Needful Things).
But you can’t help feeling disappointed given this is King’s work. Where are the bone-chilling creeps and fearsome embodiments of evil?
It’s a noble tale of how we don’t do right by kids and so are ourselves the baddies. You just wish it cared a bit more about teasing out the monstrosity rather than the message.
ScreenRant shared a rave eight out of 10 stars review, writing: ‘The Institute proves to be far more than an X-Men or Stranger Things clone, and instead a captivating ride from start to finish.’
Meanwhile, The AV Club labelled it a ‘compelling’ adaptation of the King novel. ‘The pulpy fun, with bouts of sentimentality, makes for an enjoyable summer horror viewing experience,’ the reviewer wrote.
The show was labelled ‘creepy’ – albeit ‘forgettable’ – in The Hollywood Reporter, adding: ‘But “creepy” is as far as Bender and his fellow directors ever get, never even approaching “terrifying” or “disturbing”.’
The Institute will premiere exclusively in the UK on MGM+ on the 13th July.
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