The Turning is a great cast trapped in a muddled nanny nightmare

The Turning has some high-quality ingredients at its disposal to make a tasty horror film but somewhere in the process, it becomes a misshapen disaster.

Before I start, I want to take a moment and discuss the novel “The Turn of the Screw” by Henry James, which The Turning is based on. Set in the late 1890s, the novel centers around a young governess who is sent to Bly Manor to care for two orphans. It’s not soon after this that she starts seeing ghosts, allegedly the ghosts of the former governess and another employee who had personal relationships with the children.

I won’t give away the ending in case you haven’t read it, but I believe that it’s important to know the themes of the novel in order to understand my judgment on this film. “The Turn of the Screw” is a delicate novel that balances mystery, gothic horror, and personal trauma and there is a whole sexual underlying theme that lingers throughout, as does the question of insanity.

The Turning, directed by Floria Sigismondi, is the latest adaptation of James’ work. It puts a modern spin on the story and sets it in 1994, which doesn’t add anything new except for the opportunity for the characters to wear more comfortable clothes. The governess of our story, Kate, is a schoolteacher who is offered the chance of tutoring a seven-year-old girl on a private estate.

She only takes the job because the girl is an orphan living in total isolation. Kate, who has suffered childhood trauma as the result of having a mentally ill mother, knows what it’s like to be alone.

At the manor, Kate meets Flora (Brooklynn Prince), a sweet though slightly creepy little girl. Then at the end of her first day there, Flora’s older brother Miles (Finn Wolfhard) unexpectedly returns from boarding school after being expelled. Miles is nothing like Flora; he’s all creepy stares and violent temper, and with him, comes a rift in the peaceful environment Kate has established for herself.

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Kate isn’t at the Manor long before she starts seeing things. The spirits of two people that may or may not be controlling the children. Her relationship with Miles becomes further fractured when she believes he’s become possessed by one of the spirits, or perhaps aiding it in terrorizing Kate. Things escalate very quickly in the house but no matter how bad it gets, Kate never leaves.

It’s incredibly hard to sympathize with such a character. She pretends her bravery, even believes it at times, but she never maintains a single emotion long enough to develop it into an actual personality. She’s nothing but a stand-in, someone that might as well be named “Frightened Nanny.”

I don’t like straight-out saying a film is bad. A lot of work goes into making a film and The Turning is one film where you can tell that the creators worked hard at studying the source material, however, there’s no way around the hard truth. The Turning is bad; it’s a disjointed mess that can’t figure out what direction it’s going in.

It’s as if they started in the middle when writing the film and had no clue how to get there or how to move on from it. Parts one, two, and three don’t feel like parts of one story, but more like distant siblings and I can’t stress this enough about the third act. It seems as if the director wanted to adapt the novel while simultaneously create her own version, all together with including her personal interpretations of James’ novel.

The end of “The Turn of the Screw” has caused many debates among readers over the years. The end of The Turning shows where Floria Sigismondi stands on this debate. I can promise that most people will hate this ending, but I hated it for one reason and one reason only: it tried to give an explanation. It shared a similar ending to the original but went further, and by doing so, lessened the blow. Instead of being left with questions, you’ll be left with a big sigh of “really?”

I will give the film credit for crafting a genuinely haunting atmosphere. There is no argument that Sigismondi doesn’t know how to film a beautiful movie. Virtually every shot is a piece of art. This includes the cast, who are all beautiful to look at and captivating to watch. If I could give the three of them an award of trying their best I would because they really tried.

The Turning is now playing in theaters nationwide.