Movie Review: New horror flick better ‘turned’ off

By Catherine Engstrom-Hadley
Staff Writer

Grade: C-

See it if: You love creepy doll heads and jump scares

Skip it if: You love the original story

“The Turning” started out strong, but the second act goes off the rails, ending with a mess for the audience to pick through. To quote my friend Lauren after watching this movie, “What did we just watch?”

Based on the horror novella “The Turn of The Screw” by Henry James, “The Turning” sets itself apart from the original tale in some  pretty substantial ways. Set in the ‘90s, a young teacher played by Mackenzie Davis (“Terminator,” “Blade Runner”) takes a job as a live-in nanny for two rich children (Brooklynn Prince, “Home Before Dark,” and Finn Wolfhard, “Stranger Things”). As the film progresses, the nanny starts to hear and see strange things, but are they real or only in her mind?

The director, Fiona Sigismondi, was an alt-rock legend when it came to her music videos, and it shines in “The Turning”. That iconic glitchy, overtly gothic theme she made so popular in the 90’s comes through in this film. Sadly, the great visuals are not enough to pull together a disjointed plotline.      

Davis truly put her all into the role of Kate the nanny. Although some of the scares were laughable (not every curtain can be a ghost, Kate), the acting was not the issue here. “The Turning” bit off a little more than it could chew. It then left the table, running wildly down the street. The good news for “The Turn of The Screw” fans is that in 2020 yet another remake will be made, this time as a series on Netflix titled “The Haunting of Bly Manor.” Maybe this time we can put these ghosts in the grave to stay.

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