Film

The Turning

Name: The Turning
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Released: 2020
Cast: Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard, Brooklynn Prince, Mark Huberman, Niall Greig Fulton

Horror

A gothic horror film that remakes Henry James's The Turn of the Screw for modern sensibilities. Mackenzie Davis plays a governess arriving at a decaying estate to care for two children, only to encounter unsettling presences. It's atmospheric and creepy rather than outright terrifying—more about dread and uncertainty than jump scares. Best for viewers who want something visually elegant and psychologically unsettling.

TMDb rating

2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like slow-building ghost stories that trade jump scares for unease, and you're happy to read a governess's shaky perceptions as the real subject.

Skip it if you expect the restraint of Henry James's novella; this modern reworking is brisk, leans on jolts, and its middle can feel rushed.

What it asks of you: Ninety-four minutes, slow to unsettle and sparing with answers, so it rewards close attention to small details more than it rewards waiting for a big payoff.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Haunting of Hill House2018

Mike Flanagan's masterpiece about a family haunted by their childhood home. Gorgeously shot, deeply emotional, and genuinely terrifying without relying on gore. The perfect blend of supernatural horror and family drama.

But Ten episodes is a commitment, and it gets very heavy with grief and trauma in the second half. Not a light watch.

Crimson Peak2015

Guillermo del Toro's lush gothic romance-horror hybrid. Tom Hiddleston and Jessica Chastain navigate a crumbling mansion full of secrets. Visually stunning, with that same sense of elegant dread and ambiguous supernatural menace.

But The plot takes a hard turn into conventional thriller territory in the final act. Some find it melodramatic rather than scary.

The Little Stranger2018

Sarah Waters' post-war ghost story adapted with subtle intelligence. A doctor becomes entangled with a decaying estate and its troubled inhabitants. Atmospheric, psychologically complex, and deeply unsettling about class and desire.

But Nothing explodes. The horror is entirely in mood and implication. If you need plot momentum, you'll feel it dragging.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Turning

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Stoker2013

Both centre on a young woman's isolation in a grand house with figures who may be exactly what they seem. Both treat ambiguity about character as the real horror.

Park Chan-wook's American debut: a wealthy girl befriends her mysterious uncle in their decaying mansion. Gorgeously composed, deeply unsettling, entirely about performance and suspicion. Visual language works overtime to build dread.

But The sexual undercurrents will make some deeply uncomfortable. It's not subtle about them, and they intensify as the film progresses.

The Dreamers2003

A Polish film exploring the relationship between a young nun and a girl in post-WWII Poland, with increasingly unsettling implications. Beautifully ambiguous about what's real and what's trauma. Visually hypnotic.

But Very slow, very quiet. Subtitled. The horror is almost entirely psychological and requires patience to feel.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle2019

Shirley Jackson adaptation starring Taissa Farmiga as an isolated young woman protecting her family's dark secrets. Eerie, unsettling, and perfectly captures Jackson's tone of creeping wrongness beneath the everyday.

But The pacing is deliberately languid. Some viewers find it too subtle to register as a proper narrative.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle poster

The Woman in White2018

BBC miniseries of Collins' classic Victorian mystery. A governess caught in secrets and deception at a grand estate. Gorgeous production design and that perfect 19th-century gothic atmosphere with modern urgency.

But Period piece dialogue can feel stiff. The mystery is less important than the mood, which not everyone finds satisfying.

Poltergeist1982

Tobe Hooper's masterpiece of suburban dread. A family terrorized by forces in their new home. Inventive practical effects, genuine scares, and an understanding that the real horror is the house itself.

But Forty years old and sometimes the effects show their age. The family-in-peril formula can feel a bit familiar now.

The Night House2021

Rebecca Hall carries this eerie widow's descent into her late husband's secrets. Atmospheric and weird, with genuine moments of unsettling beauty. Strong Year 2020 horror that deserves more attention than it got.

But Ambiguous ending frustrates some. It's more interested in mood and character than in explaining itself clearly.

Blackwood2014

Both distrust children as innocent and use isolation to transform a space into something that feels fundamentally wrong and hostile.

A British found-footage horror about children in a deep forest. Grain and chaos instead of elegance, but the same uncanny wrongness about innocence corrupted and places that shouldn't exist. Rare film that earns its cryptic ending.

But Found footage is extremely annoying to some viewers. The film is genuinely difficult to watch—visually murky and deliberately unclear about what's happening.