This new, jump-scary adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw is a contrived and spiritless disappointment
Henry James’s classic 1898 ghost story The Turn of the Screw is splodged with unsubtlety in this jump-scary new screen version, wasting a lot of acting talent. It is a bag of very familiar horror tricks from the screenwriting brothers Chad and Carey Hayes, who scripted so-so chillers such as The Reaping (2007) and The Conjuring (2013), and it’s directed by Floria Sigismondi.
The Hayeses top off their by-the-numbers movie with a bizarre trick ending that explains their take on James’s title – sort of – and messes with the timeline in a way that’s certainly unexpected, yet exasperatingly contrived and involves suddenly and unsatisfyingly promoting a minor character. This finale may also be there to set up a pointless new franchise: The Turning 2, 3 etc.