This new, jump-scary adaptation of Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw is a contrived and spiritless disappointment
![The Turning review – ham-fisted trickery saps a classic ghost story](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/3b045b9fb05c8e2c16cbc1162b080f8a0318ced5/0_247_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctcmV2aWV3LTIucG5n&enable=upscale&s=7116f27fbceb1bc5d85b4bce236de7f6)
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.