The Haunting of Pennhurst [Tribeca Festival Review]

by Mike McGranaghan

The most disturbing film I’ve seen this year isn’t a horror movie, it’s a documentary. The Haunting of Pennhurst, which screened in the Escape From Tribeca section of the 2026 Tribeca Festival, takes a hard look at the troubling history and questionable present of a Pennsylvania institution for people with disabilities. As a PA resident, I had some prior familiarity with Pennhurst. It’s pretty notorious here in the state. Viewers from other places are going to be shocked by what they’ll learn.

Pennhurst opened in 1908 and closed in 1987. A group of investors purchased the campus and turned it into a combination haunted attraction and paranormal convention center. Performers with disabilities put on costumes to scare paying guests. Much of what they do involves recreating some of the unconscionable events that took place within the facility’s walls, whether exaggerated or not. There are rules. One is that they can portray patient-on-doctor violence but not doctor-on-patient. Another is that “the R-word” is forbidden.

Employees seem to take the job seriously. They make an effort to be respectful of the past residents, as well as to make visitors aware of the mistreatment those residents were subjected to. Because they have disabilities themselves, these individuals find something healing about their jobs. The film conveys their feeling of claiming power over how differently abled people are perceived. One young woman, who scares guests with contortionist moves, says, “Yeah, I’m called a cripple while I’m crawling, but who’s the one who just pissed their pants?”

Interspersed with the modern-day scenes are vintage photos and film footage detailing Pennhurst’s terrible history. Residents were restrained, beaten, sexually abused, and forced into unpaid slave labor, among other things. Directors Nathan R. Stenberg, Mike Attie, and Katarina Poljak utilize a stark, minimalist presentation style that avoids softening the institution’s reality. The sights and sounds - including an audio interview with a former resident - are a hard slap in face, just as they should be. The documentary goes a long way toward spotlighting how poorly intellectually disabled people were treated in the not-so-distant past.

The Haunting of Pennhurst additionally offers subtle criticism of its subject. When a paranormal convention is held, participants are told to “have fun” roaming around and attempting to contact spirits of the dead. Sure, the new Pennhurst management aims to educate about disabilities, but have they really come as far as they think by turning the dreaded institution into a playground? That’s another thought provoked by this provocative, essential film.

---