The Turning

The Turning announces Sigismondi as a bold and adept genre filmmaker, with an eye for detail and impeccable casting choices.

Somehow, a James novella whose subtext has been debated for over a century has been rendered almost free of subtext—and it sort of works.

As a whole, The Turning is a triumph of style over substance that might've well made for a perfectly middle of the road horror film, had it not been edited down to the point of becoming incoherent by the end.

It’s really not a good sign when a movie ends with a bold, shocking flourish and much of the audience can be heard muttering through the credits: “Wait, um ... WHAT?”

Something vital definitely seems to have been lost in the translation, however, and what you’re left with is a retelling that feels deader than anything skulking around the shadows.

The Turning is a failed ghost story on almost every conceivable level with a third act that's flat-out unforgivable.

The best thing about reviewing the new PG-13 horror movie The Turning is that you don’t have to worry about spoiling the ending because it doesn’t have one. It just, sort of, stops.

This is a pretty decent movie with a fairly good story. New governess/tutor comes to huge, dark, scary house to tutor an adorable little girl. The inly other person in the house is a weird old woman with strange ideas about raising children. Soon after, the very strange older brother comes home and things start to heat up. Lots of spooky doings. Weird dreams. What is real and what is a dream? After a while, that becomes quite confusing. But, the heroine is very likable, but increasingly stupid (aren’t they always? Just leave!) Anyway, things go on a d get stranger. We were enjoying this story right up until the very end. Guess what? NO ending! None! It just quits. No resolution, no escape, nothing. Because of this, I would not recommend it.

There were some creepy moments and good atmospheric settings that nudged my score up a little, but this is ultimately a very strange and seemingly incomplete movie. They didn't take advantage of their strengths, opting instead for sloppy edits and a divisive plotline which I know was meant to leave the audience uncertain, but instead just seemed to leave us all unfulfilled. Really not worth watching unless you're really that deep into the genre - and, even then, I'd suggest waiting for streaming or something.

Creepy movie with excellent cast, but more could have been done with it. Also, it had the most crappy excuse for an "ending" you could ever see. Below average horror film. It gets a 4/10

The movie is good but the ending is horrible and confussing I like the fact they get out of the house the first time why all the alternating confusing ends for.

The Turning starts out gripping and truly suspenseful, leaving you wondering what-on-earth is going on and what direction the narrative is going to swing you in next. And right when you start to think "hey, things are actually getting good," the movie just sort of...stops and gives up on itself, putting any plot points and potential character development to waste.