Prime Time: The Turning (2020)

Having actually read “The Turn Of The Screw” some years ago, the classic horror tale from Henry James, I am very familiar with, and a big fan of, the story beats. I am also a big fan of The Innocents, and have even been lucky enough to see it adapted into a stage version that included puppets. Because what isn’t made better by puppets?

Despite the poor to middling reviews, I was looking forward to this interpretation of the tale. Mainly because I would always be happy to see it delivered to new audiences. And I am a massive fan of Mackenzie Davis.

Davis plays Kate Mandell, a young woman who takes a job teaching one young child, Flora (Brooklynn Prince) in a large house that only contains the two of them and the live-in helper, Mrs. Gross (Barbara Marten). All seems okay at the start, but tensions soon rise when Flora’s older brother, Miles (Finn Wolfhard) unexpectedly comes home from school. And something bad happened between the other staff who used to be employed there.

Written by Chad and Carey W. Hayes, possibly best known for writing The Conjuring, The Turning is a strange misfire that ultimately lets down everyone involved, and the blame needs to be shared out by the writers, and director Floria Sigismondi. 

Those familiar with the tale already will undoubtedly wonder why so much of the ambiguity seems to have been removed. There’s also the strange decision to set it in the 1990s, without that really factoring in at all. And don’t get me started on the absolutely atrocious ending, which I am sure was intended to make up for the rest of the mishandled third act. But doesn’t.

The cast don’t do a bad job, but cannot distract from writing and direction that wants to undermine the better elements of the story. Davis is particularly good in the lead role, just the right amount of warmth, naïveté, and nervousness, while both Prince and Wolfhard do well, even if the latter suffers from the fact that his character is written to be so unsympathetic. Marten is a formidable figure, and the far-too-brief screentime for Joely Richardson allows her to make a strong impression, even if the inclusion of her character feels largely redundant until the very end of the film.

The Turning is ultimately a drama that is hard to care about, a horror film with no actual scares or atmosphere, and only really serves as a shining example of how not to reinterpret a classic for modern audiences.

4/10

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Shudder Saturday: The Crucifixion (2017)

Remember when dangerous demonic entities could just be dangerous demonic entities? That was enough to terrify viewers, and the film often built up to a final battle of wills between a good priest and the dangerous demonic entity. That still happens nowadays, but it has become quite a rarity. Now you need demons to be doing something even more conniving than their usual level of sneakiness, with the preferred end result ranging from showing the world their existence to getting a priest in legal trouble (like it should take a demon to make THAT happen!?!?).

The Crucifixion is another of those kinds of movies I do not view too kindly. A young woman has died. A priest has been designated the guilty party. Then a New York journalist with her own agenda wants to fully investigate the matter, which turns up a couple of details to prove all was not as it seemed.

Considering the talent behind the camera here, the end result is even more disappointing than I initially thought. Director Xavier Gens may have grown a fanbase from his disturbing film, Frontière(s) (one of many that appeared during that French extreme horror peak in the first decade of this century), but I also really like a number of his other movies. I think Hitman is fun (and stars Timothy Olyphant, instant major plus), The Divide is solid, and Cold Skin is wonderfully twisted. Then you have writers Chad and Carey W. Hayes, a duo who have entertained me with films that were released under the Dark Castle banner before helping James Wan kickstart a whole cinematic universe of horror with their script for The Conjuring.

Between them, you can already see that the people who made this film have, subjectively, a pretty impressive body of work. So how the hell they worked together and came up with this tepid and limp distraction is a complete mystery. I guess that they thought they were putting a new spin on the demonic horror subgenre. All they have done is mishandle everything.

Everything may have been improved by the right cast. Sadly, this is not the right cast. Sophie Cookson, playing Nicole (the lead character, the journalist), never seems right for the part. She just feels more like a university student who has decided to throw herself completely into a pet project. Catalin Babliuc looks like a priest who has been through the wringer, which is all he has to do, while Corneliu Ulici is the "sexy priest", handy for providing distracting dream imagery and potential for extra drama. I don't even want to mention anyone else. Nobody stands out.

I am guessing that someone somewhere will like this. I have no idea how, or why, but that is why we can all enjoy the grand variety of movies that are all out there. Personally, I would advise most people to avoid it. It often feels horribly amateurish, mainly because of the inherent script issues, and there are certainly no moments that deliver any tension or actual horror (a strong opening scene aside).

3/10

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