★
Newly appointed nanny Kate is charged with the care of two disturbed orphans. Quickly though, she discovers that both the children and the house are harbouring dark secrets and things may not be as they appear.
Classification: 15
Ho boy, where do we begin?
No seriously, if I had a nickel for every time I let out a despondent sigh during my viewing of this film, I probably could have recouped the budget of The Turning tenfold. Alright, a bit of an exaggeration but this slightly modernised adaptation of Henry James' The Turn of the Screw is a dreadful, lifeless, insult to audiences that would sooner induce a voluntary coma before any legitimate scare. Every issue that The Turning suffers from stem back to this horrendous screenplay from the Hayes brothers, who have penned other horror films including the successful Conjuring series but here they take the framework of James' novella and strip-mine all urgency, terror, and intrigue in lieu of nothing. What we are left with is a gothic atmospheric fog that director Floria Sigismondi attempts to cast over our eyes to hide the fact that none of this is leading to anything of value. But nothing can hide this film's failure as it becomes clear by the ending that no one had any drive or care to deliver a satisfying film for anyone.
The Turning is boring, and not even the lovely charisma of Mackenzie Davis can make it bearable as the drab, monotonous tone weighs everything down like concrete shoes in a river. Following the narrative premise to the source material, Davis plays Kate, a new tutor for Flora Fairchild who resides at Bly Manor, and after arriving at the ancient manor begins to experience upsetting hallucinations. Of course, it could just be cameras capturing Davis realising she's starring in The Turning but her performance as an unravelling woman is committed, trying to sell the disturbing adventure as Kate uncovers the dark secrets of the house. Mostly the story of the previous tutor Miss Jessel and the groundskeeper Mr Quint but it's all futile though as the atrocious script and confusing editing from Duwayne Dunham and Glenn Garland have the film going in circles, using the same tricks over and over and not answering any questions. When it seems some clarity may be offered, The Turning just resorts to another tepid ghostly jump scare and then forgets the plot thread it wanted to explore. There is no resolution to any element of the film and the "creative" detours the script and direction take just spit in the face of an audience that was unfortunate enough to try and invest in it.
Sigismondi and the production design team are sure to fill the film with all the classic gothic staples. Big creepy house and estate? Check, Ghostly Housekeeper with foreboding dialogue? Check, Mannequins, Double Check, Unsettling appearances from Finn Wolfhard, Triple Check. Wolfhard's performance in the film is much different from the young actor mostly because it is so damn uncomfortable as the film never makes clear what exactly he wants or does in the film also he's terrible. Simultaneously when goading or taunting Kate, it appears that his character Miles, Flora's older brother seems to want to kill Kate or fuck her, maybe both it's straight-up weird and the fact Wolfhard was fifteen when filming these scenes just makes your skin crawl. It's never revealed what Miles' goal is; is he possessed by Quint's ghost? What do the spiders have to do with anything? Why can't Flora leave the estate but Miles can? Are both children ghosts? Why did I watch this movie? One of The Turning's many failures is how it never properly determines the relationship between Davis or Wolfhard's characters making their rivalry and outcome in the upsetting third act (if it can even be called that) all the more confusing.
Stepping back and looking at the film the easiest way to describe it would be about a tutor or "governess" trying to connect to the children she's helping, a goal for any educator but the film doesn't have any pay off to that at all. Kate's connection to Flora, an orphan stems from her insecurities of growing up without parents but none of the horrors is cleverly connected to this plot thread. There is some exposition at the beginning of the film that Kate's mother has a mental illness that has her locked away in an institution and possibly fears her own mind turning against her. Basically, the whole film is Kate seeing creepy stuff in an old house while being harassed by Finn Wolfhard, then Sigismondi and the Hayes Brothers pretty much throw their hands in the air, give up when the ghosts show up and leave you high and dry. If you pay money to watch this film I'd equate viewing The Turning as an actual robbery, as you the audience are left with nothing, this film doesn't end, it just stops, like the editors thought no one would ever watch the whole film through and decided to go home early. It's a straight-up insult to the source material, the actors and audience and I couldn't help but laugh at how confused people were in the theatre because at that point I was just glad it was over, it was so stupid.
The Turning desperately wanted to be shocking, ambiguous and leave audiences guessing to the truth about what really what happened in Bly Manor but none of that is achieved by this crackpot "ending". The whole film is boring without a memorable scare to its name, and the audience is more likely to ask how much time is left in the runtime than any question about what reality Kate is experiencing. Don't waste your time, don't waste your money and don't even feel sorry if you were a fan of James' original text because let this tidbit of information make you feel all the better. Mike Flanagan is adapting The Turn of the Screw for the next instalment of his Haunting anthology on Netflix, meaning by the end of this year The Turning won't just be forgotten because of its atrocious execution but because the master of modern horror is going to deliver a far superior adaptation that shall make it completely obsolete. A deserving fate to such a disparaging experience.
At least I took the time to end this review properly which is far more than I can say about The Turning.
Director: #FloriaSigismondi
Release Date: January 24th 2020
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images from the Internet Movie Database, Synopsis from Universal
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