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The Turning

A review by Brooks Rich
Oh God. Oh my dear God .... is this film bad. I've seen a lot of bad horror films released in January. But this film goes above and beyond. This might be the most bafflingly incompetent third act I have ever seen in a film. It's truly remarkable. This film just kind of gives up. Thanks for coming, that's it, make your way to the exits.

It's sort of remarkable. Let’s look at why,.

The Turning is a loose adaptation of Henry James 1898 masterpiece The Turn of the Screw. A young woman named Kate, played by Mackenzie Davis, doing what she can with the script she's given, is hired to become the live-in nanny and tutor of a young girl named Flora, played by The Florida Project's Brooklyn Price, (who is perfectly fine in this film), at a large gothic estate. Things seem to be going well until the arrival of Flora's older brother Miles, played by Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard. I'm not sure what he's doing in this film but, damn Finn, this script failed you. Miles is a downright creep and between his behavior and the ghosts that Kate keeps seeing, things are not okay at the mansion. 

“Really bad” doesn't begin to describe this movie. A couple of problems to be aware of should you decide to buck my advice and not waste your time.... the jump scares do not work, most of them are heavily telegraphed. And the director, while having a keen visual eye, comes across as pretentious. Yeah sure ...you can shoot a gothic manor well. Why don't you try telling a story? 

Biggest failure? The script! None of the characters are well written. Kate is the epitome of the generic horror movie protagonist. Ho-hum. Yawn, yawn.  But Miles is the worst character in this film. In the novel, Miles is the sweet boy who the governess has an unhealthy attachment to. The entire end of the novel is set around their relationship. In this film, Miles is written as this sort of burgeoning serial killer .... but instead of being unsettling, it comes across as either stupid or unintentionally funny. Finn Wolfhard is usually a very good actor but this film could hurt him. I hope Stranger Things season 4 and Ghostbusters: Afterlife are both good so he can put this film behind him. I wouldn't call his acting bad, but his character is the weakest in this film.

This film was already bad ..... and then the third act hit. Oh My God. I am not kidding when I say the ending makes no sense. Nothing is explained and the film commits an unforgivable cheap shot. I won't spoil it, but it's a sin that to me no film can come back form. I'm all for having some amount of ambiguity, especially when it comes to adapting an ambiguous novel like The Turn of the Screw. the story can be read in multiple ways: the two most common being there are ghosts, or the Governess is crazy. But this film just doesn't want to tell you anything. Plus it just ends. Final jump scare, cut to black, go fuck yourself audience, thanks for coming. The ending brings this film from bad to downright awful. Avoid this film at all costs. 

Rating: 0/5


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