Audience members departing The Turning will have but one question: “Do I care enough about this film to figure out what happened?” I thought I cared, but there I was three hours after the fact not reading reviews, not seeking discussion groups, not getting a wiki summary, nor even consulting the original source material, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. In any case, when you don’t care enough to figure out what happened that doesn’t exactly speak well of the tale, huh?
The confusion starts early on when a young lady attempts to flee an estate but is stopped by the non-operational front gate. Girl, don’t you know you’re in a horror film? Ain’t nobody gettin’ out the car in a horror film; just stay in the vehicle, bust the gates down, and let the ghost sue your ass for damages. Not sure what happened after [ghost?] catches up with young lady; suffice to say, the soundtrack didn’t leave a good impression.
So the scary mansion needs a new governess, and Kate (Mackenzie Davis), an orphan herself after all that Terminator stuff, takes the job. The estate is roughly the size of Wyoming and just as barren, yet within Kate finds her charge, Flora (Brooklynn Prince), and the estate caretaker, Mrs. Grose (Barbara Marten). Mrs. Grose (Ms. Grose?) has all the warmth and appearance of a corpse, but she isn’t problem with this place. I think.
You know what I’d like to see, just once, in a dead-of-night noise investigation horror? Nyquil. Seriously. I want to see a governess who notes the ghastly apparition, hears a scream or two, and says, “Sorry, Casper. Save it for later. I’m tired.” But that isn’t what happens in a horror film. Instead, Kate and her nightgown hear the sounds of a scuffle, go prowling in the East Wing and are about to encounter a huge Beast protecting a magic red rose, but instead run into the kid from “Stranger Things.”
“Stranger Things” kid Miles (Finn Wolfhard) is a dick in every scene. Every.single.scene. It detracts a great deal from the enjoyment of the picture because we never know Miles’ deal (Are you trying to get rid of Kate? Are you trying to impress Kate? Are you allied with ghosts? Are you a ghost?) and after a bit, we just stop caring. Miles shouldn’t be there; he’s been expelled from his prep school. And yet, there he is. Hence, now Kate has Flora and Miles to account for while Stranger Things happen on the estate.
The Turning is essentially about Kate’s devolution from sanity into madness, but it doesn’t really work. We’re given outward clues as to Kate’s bearing and more-than-once she gets sucked into a game of “Diving for Bodies,” so it seems like that’s the point of The Turning. However, the ending is so ambiguous that any interpretation of events is reasonable. Ambiguous endings are fine things when preceded by cogent arguments and coherent screenplays. Here? Well, I told you; I didn’t even care enough to check how Henry James ended his novel.
Slacking students have a practice they’ve abused
To cheat a report upon the book they done choosed
But if you’re into these games
And watch this Henry James
Pretty sure you’re gonna be Turn of the Screwed
Rated PG-13, 94 Minutes
Director: Floria Sigismondi
Writer: Carey W. Hayes , Chad Hayes
Genre: Wanna say … ghosts, maybe?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Henry James, I hope
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: The teenager in search of horror and finding Henry James, a different kind of horror
