The Turning Review: 3 Ups & 5 Downs

3. One Good, Subtle Scare

Believe me, I'm being generous with this one. Every attempt at a scare in this sorry excuse of a film is entirely misjudged, and shows an appalling misunderstanding of what makes the greatest supernatural films frightening. For a split second in one scene, however, we glimpse the obscured and out-of-focus figure of Quint's spirit lingering in the corner of Miles' bedroom, unnoticed by Kate before she closes the door.

Blink and you'll miss it, but it gives you hope that perhaps Sigismondi does know what she's doing after all (that hope will be swiftly and cruelly snatched away again, mind you). Had The Turning relied on scares along these lines, it might possibly have been redeemed.

There are plenty of very effective paranormal horror films that have played with light, dark and shadows in this way. One such example is 2018's Hereditary. Just think what a modern retelling of The Turn of the Screw could have been with the visual approach of Hereditary applied to its scares! Damn, what could've been...