Enter a Rotten Tomatoes movie slug to inspect the stored movie, batches, snapshots, and reviews.
Movie ID: 786
RT slug: the_turning_2020
RT URL: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_turning_2020
Release year: 2020
Runtime: 93 mins
Wide release date: 2020-01-24
Limited release date: —
Festival premiere date: —
Streaming release date: 2020-04-07
Tomatometer final: 12%
Audience score final: —
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Thriller
Directors: Floria Sigismondi
Writers: Carey W. Hayes, Chad Hayes
Producers: Roy Lee, Scott Bernstein
MPAA rating: PG-13
Executive Producers: —
Created: 2026-06-16 21:11:04
Updated: 2026-06-16 21:11:04
Kate Mandell takes a job as a nanny for two young orphans at an isolated Gothic mansion in the Maine countryside. She soon learns that the children -- Miles and Flora -- are emotionally distant and unstable. When strange events start to plague Kate and the siblings, she begins to suspect that the estate's dark corridors are home to a malevolent entity.
Stylish but muddled, this misbegotten adaptation of Henry James' classic novel will send horror-hungry viewers Turning to the source material instead.
Canonical reviews: 104
Canonical fresh: 12
Canonical rotten: 92
Canonical calculated Tomatometer: 12%
Latest snapshot UTC: 2026-06-16 17:08:45
Snapshot Tomatometer: 12%
Snapshot review count: 104
Snapshot fresh count: 12
Snapshot rotten count: 92
Source note: Imported from manual review paste batch #1368 (full_snapshot)
| Company | Role |
|---|---|
| Universal Pictures | distributor |
| Amblin Entertainment | production |
| Vertigo Entertainment | production |
| Billing | Name | Character |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mackenzie Davis | Kate Mandell |
| 2 | Finn Wolfhard | Miles Fairchild |
| 3 | Brooklynn Prince | Flora Fairchild |
| 4 | Barbara Marten | Mrs. Grose |
| 5 | Joely Richardson | Darla Mandell |
| Batch ID | Status | Mode | Created | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 802 | processed | — | 2026-06-16 21:11:04 | Processed successfully into movie_id=786 using update_mode=merge_non_empty. |
| Batch ID | Local Snapshot | UTC Snapshot | Entered % | Entered Count | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1368 | 2026-06-16 12:08:00 (America/Panama) | 2026-06-16 17:08:45 | 12% | 104 | processed | Mode=full_snapshot. Processed 104 row(s); 0 row error(s). Parsed unique reviews in this batch=104, fresh=12, rotten=92, tomatometer=12%. Net new reviews added=104, fresh=12, rotten=92. Current canonical totals=104 reviews, 12 fresh, 92 rotten, tomatometer=12% (11.538%). Entered review count matched parsed batch count (104). Entered tomatometer matched parsed batch value (12%). |
| ID | Critic | Outlet | Fresh? | Score | RT Time Raw | Approx Published UTC | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 177383 | Eddie Harrison | film-authority.com | Rotten | 1/5 | 2026-03-18T14:16:36Z | 2026-03-18 14:16:36 | ‘…an incident-free riff on Henry James that never summons up blood, anxiety or scares…’ |
| 177384 | David Day | Horror Movie Talk | Rotten | 4/10 | 2025-09-18T20:07:47Z | 2025-09-18 20:07:47 | The acting was actually pretty good, especially from both child actors, and the setting was pretty effective as well. The script was the real issue here, as there is just nothing around for it to hang its hat on and make it memorable or interesting. |
| 177385 | Lee Zumpe | Tampa Bay Newspapers | Rotten | — | 2025-03-16T09:04:26Z | 2025-03-16 09:04:26 | Sigismondi has literally used a cut-and-paste technique, plucking clever gimmicks and shots from classics of the genre and recycling them here. |
| 177386 | Manuel São Bento | MSB Reviews (Ghost.io) | Rotten | F | 2023-07-24T17:20:20Z | 2023-07-24 17:20:20 | No meaning, no message, no purpose, no logical sense. An extremely boring journey through a mansion with predictable jumpscares, an awkward score, and disappointing acting. An emotionless story packed with unanswered questions. |
| 177387 | Nicolas Soto | But Why Tho? | Rotten | 5/10 | 2023-01-22T20:47:00Z | 2023-01-22 20:47:00 | [The Turning's] overall story is rather bland, even with its incredible scares. |
| 177388 | Josh Parham | Next Best Picture | Rotten | 4/10 | 2022-06-05T01:51:42Z | 2022-06-05 01:51:42 | Many scenes come across as rather generic and uncreative, and despite some pretty set dressing, it never feels like it indulges in a space that feels unique. |
| 177389 | Salome Gonstad | Comic Years | Rotten | — | 2021-09-05T11:10:27Z | 2021-09-05 11:10:27 | You keep getting the feeling that there's another story-or stories here-that are leading somewhere. |
| 177390 | Jason Adams | My New Plaid Pants | Rotten | — | 2021-07-02T19:52:43Z | 2021-07-02 19:52:43 | If you want atmosphere, nothing but atmosphere, this isn't a bad way to get it |
| 177391 | Lindsay Traves | CGMagazine | Fresh | 6/10 | 2021-02-24T00:40:43Z | 2021-02-24 00:40:43 | Taking this film for its visuals is to do yourself a service, because it truly is beautiful and spooky, even if its plot is as sheer as an apparition. |
| 177392 | Johnny Loftus | Decider | Rotten | — | 2021-02-05T21:32:09Z | 2021-02-05 21:32:09 | In the end, The Turning just drifts. |
| 177393 | Jorge Loser | Espinof | Fresh | 3.5/5 | 2020-12-14T22:01:32Z | 2020-12-14 22:01:32 | One of the better adaptation of James' work that understands the workings of a curse. [Full Review in Spanish] |
| 177394 | Yago García | Cinemanía (Spain) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-12-09T16:51:42Z | 2020-12-09 16:51:42 | So much truculence does little good for a story for whom the most of its appeal lies in its ambiguity. [Full review in Spanish] |
| 177395 | Charles Koplinski | Reel Talk with Chuck and Pam | Rotten | 1.5/4.0 | 2020-11-27T01:10:49Z | 2020-11-27 01:10:49 | Flat, uninspired and dull, this "horror" film is sub-standard fare that consists of standard haunted house tropes as well as a story that literally goes nowhere. |
| 177396 | Emma Wolfe | SpookyAstronauts | Rotten | 4/10 | 2020-10-12T22:01:49Z | 2020-10-12 22:01:49 | The jump scares and the editing was all over the place. |
| 177397 | Andrew Gaudion | THN | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-08-28T13:32:41Z | 2020-08-28 13:32:41 | When other, better adaptations of this text exist, there's little here to make horror fans turn their heads. |
| 177398 | Lee McCoy | DrumDums | Rotten | 2/10 | 2020-07-15T02:31:13Z | 2020-07-15 02:31:13 | This Turning is probably the worst adaptation (Turning of the Screw) I've seen in a long time. It's a mess with characters you can't get behind, a story muddled with every genre trope imaginable, and an unrealized albeit lazy ending. |
| 177399 | Carla Hay | Culture Mix | Rotten | — | 2020-07-13T03:20:20Z | 2020-07-13 03:20:20 | Just like a dimwitted person who knowingly stays in a haunted house after being attacked by ghosts, viewers should know what they're getting into with The Turning and experience it at their own risk. |
| 177400 | John Squires | Freddy in Space | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-03-11T20:22:00Z | 2020-03-11 20:22:00 | When a story ends the way this one does, you wonder why you spent the money and time on having someone tell it to you. |
| 177401 | Becca James | Chicago Reader | Rotten | — | 2020-03-06T00:52:11Z | 2020-03-06 00:52:11 | Unfortunately, a bevy of offscreen characters that only serve to complicate an already meandering plot and a sorely muddled ending rob it of its full potential. |
| 177402 | David Nusair | Reel Film Reviews | Rotten | — | 2020-02-17T13:00:12Z | 2020-02-17 13:00:12 | .5/4 An absolutely abhorrent ghost story... |
| 177403 | Linda Cook | Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | Rotten | 1/4 | 2020-02-16T08:10:26Z | 2020-02-16 08:10:26 | 'Turning' is incomprehensible spin on 'Turn of the Screw.' |
| 177404 | Richard James Havis | South China Morning Post | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-02-11T05:10:33Z | 2020-02-11 05:10:33 | This pedestrian ghost story plods along in a vaguely competent manner until a thoroughly muddled ending makes the whole experience pointless. |
| 177405 | Chloe Leeson | Screen Queens | Rotten | — | 2020-02-06T23:52:53Z | 2020-02-06 23:52:53 | There's a lot of these bump in the night moments though, each one less original than the last. |
| 177406 | Richard Whittaker | Austin Chronicle | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-02-05T18:01:56Z | 2020-02-05 18:01:56 | If there's any redemption here, it's in the children. |
| 177407 | Mattie Lucas | From the Front Row | Fresh | 2.5/4 | 2020-02-01T21:10:42Z | 2020-02-01 21:10:42 | A thoroughly decent, classically structured haunted house chiller hampered by an extremely ill-conceived ending that undermines much of the goodwill built up by Sigismondi's hauntingly elegant direction. |
| 177408 | Tim Brayton | Alternate Ending | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-31T05:10:55Z | 2020-01-31 05:10:55 | Dreadful even by the standards of January horror. |
| 177409 | Lana Stanczak | Film Inquiry | Rotten | — | 2020-01-31T02:01:32Z | 2020-01-31 02:01:32 | The last few years have come with a slew of fantastic horror films, and unfortunately The Turning does not fall into that category. With a substance less story, it isn't something that will be remembered. |
| 177410 | Sandie Angulo Chen | Common Sense Media | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-30T21:32:11Z | 2020-01-30 21:32:11 | Baffling remake of Gothic classic wastes talented cast. |
| 177411 | Asher Luberto | Willamette Week | Rotten | 1/4 | 2020-01-30T21:22:17Z | 2020-01-30 21:22:17 | The atmosphere really is incredible. But the rest of this horror flick is as hollow as a mannequin. |
| 177412 | Allen Adams | The Maine Edge | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-30T19:11:39Z | 2020-01-30 19:11:39 | At the end of the day, The Turning you should do is toward another movie. Otherwise? You're screwed. |
| 177413 | Clarisse Loughrey | Independent (UK) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-30T11:30:24Z | 2020-01-30 11:30:24 | It's clear that somewhere, at some point, a worthwhile project took a wrong turn. |
| 177414 | Roxana Hadadi | Chesapeake Family Magazine | Rotten | 1.5/5 | 2020-01-30T02:22:00Z | 2020-01-30 02:22:00 | The Turning is trying to make a statement about mental illness, but the movie so superficially handles the concept that it's more disrespectful than insightful. |
| 177415 | Sebastian Valencia | Cine Premiere | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-29T23:52:21Z | 2020-01-29 23:52:21 | A film with good performances, generic and ineffective scares, and a broken promise of an interesting subject. [Full review in spanish] |
| 177416 | Margot Harrison | Seven Days (VT) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-29T21:51:59Z | 2020-01-29 21:51:59 | James showed that the uncertainties of well-crafted psychological horror can be the stuff of a classic. The Turning, by contrast, has no screws to turn. |
| 177417 | Ed Fortune | Starburst | Rotten | 4/10 | 2020-01-29T20:02:05Z | 2020-01-29 20:02:05 | The Turning is a big bundle of wasted potential. |
| 177418 | Jackie K. Cooper | jackiekcooper.com | Rotten | 3/10 | 2020-01-29T15:30:38Z | 2020-01-29 15:30:38 | Some very talented actors get bogged down in this mess of a movie. Somebody knows what its intentions were but that somebody is not me. |
| 177419 | Heather Wixson | Daily Dead | Rotten | 2.5/5 | 2020-01-29T08:20:33Z | 2020-01-29 08:20:33 | The power of the story of The Turn of the Screw is in the ambiguity of the governess' mental state, and the way The Turning wraps up almost strips away the power that lies in the original story with a weird, sort of abrupt narrative shrug. |
| 177420 | Chris Alexander | Alexander On Film | Fresh | — | 2020-01-28T18:00:54Z | 2020-01-28 18:00:54 | This is a sophisticated work of dread, decay, brooding mood and abstract storytelling coated in the sheen of a simplistic spook show. |
| 177421 | Georgia Dodd | Bust Magazine | Fresh | 3/5 | 2020-01-28T17:30:33Z | 2020-01-28 17:30:33 | This film gloriously takes on female dismissal and the ways women can be forgotten, but the ending leaves little to the imagination. |
| 177422 | Meagan Navarro | Bloody Disgusting | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-28T05:30:32Z | 2020-01-28 05:30:32 | The Turning retells a Gothic classic with style, little substance, and a baffling non-conclusion |
| 177423 | Jamie East | The Sun (UK) | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-27T22:21:47Z | 2020-01-27 22:21:47 | Utterly ridiculous and not worth your time. |
| 177424 | Jude Dry | IndieWire | Fresh | B | 2020-01-27T21:31:56Z | 2020-01-27 21:31:56 | "The Turning" announces Sigismondi as a bold and adept genre filmmaker, with an eye for detail and impeccable casting choices. |
| 177425 | K. Austin Collins | Vanity Fair | Rotten | — | 2020-01-27T20:31:36Z | 2020-01-27 20:31:36 | The Turning, with its conspicuous lens flares, awkward digital zooms, and slipshod editing, creeps a little too frequently into screensaver territory and suffers for it. |
| 177426 | Chris Wasser | The Herald (Ireland) | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-27T16:20:40Z | 2020-01-27 16:20:40 | Such an odd, odd film. |
| 177427 | Paul Whitington | Irish Independent | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-27T16:00:36Z | 2020-01-27 16:00:36 | The Turning starts solidly enough but is never in control of its story, and explodes spectacularly in a nonsensical last ten minutes. |
| 177428 | Sandy Schaefer | Screen Rant | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-27T15:50:33Z | 2020-01-27 15:50:33 | The Turning is an atmospheric, if generic, psycho-horror movie that devolves into a confused and unintentionally tasteless mess during its third act. |
| 177429 | Sara Michelle Fetters | MovieFreak.com | Rotten | 2/4 | 2020-01-27T07:10:37Z | 2020-01-27 07:10:37 | It's almost as if Sigismondi and the writers are daring the audience to say nice things about their reworking of James' source material. |
| 177430 | Matthew Bond | The Mail on Sunday (UK) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-26T23:00:42Z | 2020-01-26 23:00:42 | [P]resumably in a misguided attempt to replicate James's own unresolved ending, Sigismondi serves up a succession of climactic scenes that will leave most people scratching their head and stumbling grumpily out into the street in frustration. |
| 177431 | James White | Empire Magazine | Fresh | 3/5 | 2020-01-26T19:11:19Z | 2020-01-26 19:11:19 | The Turning at least offers up enough moody chills and a lead in Mackenzie Davis it's not hard to root for as the craziness builds. |
| 177432 | Pat Mullen | That Shelf | Rotten | — | 2020-01-25T21:51:07Z | 2020-01-25 21:51:07 | A lousy screw. |
| 177433 | Nate Adams | The Only Critic | Rotten | D- | 2020-01-25T21:00:56Z | 2020-01-25 21:00:56 | "The Turning" is another notch on the belt of lame PG13 thrillers manufactured on a budget of five dollars and having an ending with more questions than answers. |
| 177434 | Joe Friar | The Victoria Advocate | Rotten | 2/4 | 2020-01-25T17:40:36Z | 2020-01-25 17:40:36 | Mackenzie Davis makes the film watchable while Floria Sigismondi creates the perfect goth setting but it lacks scares and an ending. The soundtrack transcends the film. |
| 177435 | MaryAnn Johanson | Flick Filosopher | Rotten | 0/5 | 2020-01-25T17:30:32Z | 2020-01-25 17:30:32 | Strips away the ambiguity of the source story to leave us with lazy jump scares, visual gloom, and a cheap cheat of an ending. Gaslights its protagonist and, incredibly enragingly, the viewer, too. |
| 177436 | Wendy Ide | Observer (UK) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-25T17:00:38Z | 2020-01-25 17:00:38 | This contemporary adaptation of The Turn of the Screw takes the ornate enigma of Henry James's gothic novella and whittles it down into something rather more flat and conventional. |
| 177437 | David Fear | Rolling Stone | Rotten | 1.5/5 | 2020-01-25T15:40:30Z | 2020-01-25 15:40:30 | The Turning doesn't make you feel like you've watched a failed adaptation of a horror-lit landmark. It just leaves you feeling totally screwed. |
| 177438 | Todd Jorgenson | Cinemalogue | Rotten | — | 2020-01-25T05:20:33Z | 2020-01-25 05:20:33 | Everybody gets screwed in this lackluster thriller, from the young actors whose talents are squandered to the Henry James novella that's been updated in such haphazard fashion. |
| 177439 | Sara Clements | Flick Feast | Rotten | 2.5/5 | 2020-01-25T05:00:45Z | 2020-01-25 05:00:45 | The Turning is a good, really solid film...until it's not. While it presents some hard-hitting themes, it tries to impress us with a twist like The Others, but, unfortunately, not everyone can execute that so flawlessly. |
| 177440 | Alyse Wax | Dread Central | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-25T03:01:36Z | 2020-01-25 03:01:36 | The story lacks overall cohesiveness. While the imagery is chilling, that is just not enough to carry a film. |
| 177441 | Tim Cogshell | FilmWeek (LAist) | Rotten | — | 2020-01-25T00:12:26Z | 2020-01-25 00:12:26 | This is the difficult thing about ghost stories... Sweetie, whatever happens you got coming to you, because there is plainly a ghost in this house. |
| 177442 | Mike McGranaghan | Aisle Seat | Rotten | 1.5/4 | 2020-01-25T00:04:21Z | 2020-01-25 00:04:21 | This movie has possibly the worst ending of any major studio release I've ever seen. |
| 177443 | Annlee Ellingson | L.A. Biz | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T23:22:20Z | 2020-01-24 23:22:20 | Unravel The Turning does, leaning into the ambiguity of James' story to such an extent that the film has both two endings and none at all. |
| 177444 | Alison Gillmor | Winnipeg Free Press | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-24T23:02:18Z | 2020-01-24 23:02:18 | Most fatally, the script doesn't seem to know what it wants to say. |
| 177445 | Kristy Puchko | Riot Material | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T22:32:12Z | 2020-01-24 22:32:12 | All the goodwill earned by a crackerjack cast, elegantly elegiac visuals, and a thought-provoking subtext is scuttled by a clumsy and confounding conclusion. |
| 177447 | Edwin Arnaudin | Asheville Movies | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-24T22:02:20Z | 2020-01-24 22:02:20 | It all comes to an end with a sudden, baffling full-stop that totally whiffs and seems like it was found in post-production, not planned in the least. |
| 177446 | Jim Judy | Screen It! | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T22:02:20Z | 2020-01-24 22:02:20 | All involved try to turn the screw too much, resulting in the horror being stripped and thus not as solid as it could and should have been. (Full Content Review for Parents - Violence, Profanity, Scares, etc. - also Available) |
| 177448 | Jocelyn Noveck | Associated Press | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T21:22:00Z | 2020-01-24 21:22:00 | It proves harder still to discern the message in that abrupt ending. Yes, it's commendable to find new ways to tell a classic tale. It's just that this tale has been told better, and more clearly, many times before. |
| 177449 | Robert Kojder | Flickering Myth | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-24T20:32:11Z | 2020-01-24 20:32:11 | The ending is reminiscent of a fakeout video game ending where the credits start rolling before pulling the curtains back up for one final chapter. No such thing happens in The Turning. It's so bad the filmmakers couldn't be bothered to finish it |
| 177450 | Frank Swietek | One Guy's Opinion | Rotten | C- | 2020-01-24T20:22:11Z | 2020-01-24 20:22:11 | This misguided updating...reduces James's classic to a fairly typical modern haunted-house movie, with lots of pro-forma jump scares and cheap gotcha moments. |
| 177451 | Nestor Bentancor | Nestor Cine Desde Hollywood | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T19:21:44Z | 2020-01-24 19:21:44 | A passable film turning against its audience at the end can only be filed under "unexplained phenomena." [Full review in Spanish] |
| 177452 | Michael Sragow | Film Comment Magazine | Rotten | D- | 2020-01-24T19:11:40Z | 2020-01-24 19:11:40 | Sigismondi stumbles her way toward a bombastic, pseudo-psychological ending that undercuts her own terrible ideas and leaves audiences bemoaning their wasted time and money. |
| 177453 | Michael Gingold | Rue Morgue Magazine | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T18:41:42Z | 2020-01-24 18:41:42 | It gets some decent Gothic creep on before completely falling apart in an ending that tries to be way too tricky for its own good. |
| 177454 | Chris Hunneysett | Daily Mirror (UK) | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-24T17:01:12Z | 2020-01-24 17:01:12 | tepid atmosphere, timid scares and bewildering incompetence |
| 177456 | Chris Stuckmann | ChrisStuckmann.com | Rotten | D- | 2020-01-24T16:40:54Z | 2020-01-24 16:40:54 | The final ten minutes of this movie are unforgivable. |
| 177455 | Christy Lemire | RogerEbert.com | Rotten | 2.5/4 | 2020-01-24T16:40:54Z | 2020-01-24 16:40:54 | The Turning suggests the devastation that can linger as a result of childhood trauma, and its players seem game to go deeper, but ultimately the film only scratches the surface of this thorny subject. |
| 177457 | Oliver Jones | Observer | Rotten | 0.5/4 | 2020-01-24T16:20:43Z | 2020-01-24 16:20:43 | Only The Florida Project's Brooklynn Prince makes it out of the proceedings unscathed. She brings a playful naturalism to the dark imp Flora. If she keeps it up, she's this generation's Margaret O'Brien. |
| 177458 | Stephen Schaefer | Boston Herald | Rotten | C | 2020-01-24T16:00:48Z | 2020-01-24 16:00:48 | As Kate predictably battles with malevolent spirits, "The Turning" becomes a turgid slog of many horrors. |
| 177459 | Jeremy Jahns | JeremyJahns.com | Rotten | — | 2020-01-24T15:20:50Z | 2020-01-24 15:20:50 | The execution just didn't land. |
| 177460 | Nick Rogers | Midwest Film Journal | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-24T14:30:33Z | 2020-01-24 14:30:33 | You feel some creative condemnation trying to claw its way through the clumsy, commercially minded circumspection. But an awareness of tangible ghouls doesn't keep it from focusing on tired ghosts and gotchas. Might've made a great P.J. Harvey video. |
| 177461 | Peter Bradshaw | Guardian | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-24T11:50:18Z | 2020-01-24 11:50:18 | Everything is very ham-fisted and crass, with nothing like the ambiguous shimmer of the original story or the style and elegance of the 1961 Jack Clayton film version... |
| 177462 | Mark Dujsik | Mark Reviews Movies | Rotten | 1/4 | 2020-01-24T09:20:31Z | 2020-01-24 09:20:31 | There's no rule that a movie adaptation has to stay true to its original source, but this one is just cowardly in its approach. |
| 177463 | Jason Escamilla | EskimoTV | Rotten | C- | 2020-01-24T05:50:32Z | 2020-01-24 05:50:32 | Meaninglessly creepy with no answers until the very end and the final answer isn't a great payout either, as it's confusingly vague and underwhelming. |
| 177464 | JimmyO | JoBlo's Movie Network | Rotten | 4/10 | 2020-01-24T05:50:31Z | 2020-01-24 05:50:31 | It's a shame all that is good is watered down with odd editing choices, and a story that feels rushed, uneven and disjointed. |
| 177465 | Ed Potton | The Times (UK) | Fresh | 3/5 | 2020-01-24T05:40:30Z | 2020-01-24 05:40:30 | The elements are familiar - jump scares, creaking doors, mutilated dolls, tailor's dummies, reflections in mirrors and windows - but they are combined with skill. The hairs on my arms rose at least twice. |
| 177466 | Brian Orndorf | Blu-ray.com | Rotten | D | 2020-01-24T04:50:28Z | 2020-01-24 04:50:28 | When "The Turning" isn't obsessed with cheap scares and underwhelming performances, it falls asleep as a mystery, dragging through haunted house formula with limited appreciation for dynamic frights. |
| 177467 | Charlotte O'Sullivan | London Evening Standard | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-24T03:11:08Z | 2020-01-24 03:11:08 | The Hayes brothers channel the spirit of a writer called James. But - shudder! - it's EL James. |
| 177468 | Scott Nye | Battleship Pretension | Fresh | — | 2020-01-23T22:51:25Z | 2020-01-23 22:51:25 | The power of the story lies in its experiential and emotional qualities, and the thin space that exists within all of us to one extent or another between the world as it is and how we perceive it to be. |
| 177469 | Matt Donato | We Got This Covered | Rotten | 2/10 | 2020-01-23T22:11:21Z | 2020-01-23 22:11:21 | The Turning is a failed ghost story on almost every conceivable level with a third act that's flat-out unforgivable. |
| 177470 | Katie Walsh | Tribune News Service | Fresh | 3/4 | 2020-01-23T21:51:23Z | 2020-01-23 21:51:23 | It's less about answers and more about evoking a richly rendered gothic horror vibe while intuition bitterly battles reason. It may not work for everyone, but those for whom it works will find much to savor and puzzle over in "The Turning." |
| 177471 | Robbie Collin | Daily Telegraph (UK) | Rotten | 2/5 | 2020-01-23T20:41:16Z | 2020-01-23 20:41:16 | The plot doesn't allow for an ebb and flow of tension, but instead serves up a steady parade of clunks and whoos and creepy dolls that quickly becomes tedious. |
| 177472 | Jenna Stoeber | Polygon | Rotten | — | 2020-01-23T20:31:18Z | 2020-01-23 20:31:18 | Although there are a some stylish and well-crafted shots, in the end The Turning has too little substance to keep itself going. |
| 177473 | Martin Tsai | Critic's Notebook | Rotten | — | 2020-01-23T20:01:11Z | 2020-01-23 20:01:11 | Discrepancies between the film and the source material point to the screenwriters having adapted the CliffsNotes version of James's novel instead and interspersed that with atmospheric set pieces and cheap-shot jump scares. |
| 177474 | Matthew Dougherty | IGN Movies | Rotten | 2/10 | 2020-01-23T19:31:05Z | 2020-01-23 19:31:05 | The Turning damns itself with good ideas turned bad and a flat-out ugly execution. Its talented cast can't save it from cheap scares, poorly edited set-pieces, and a bad twist that leaves a worse taste in your mouth. |
| 177475 | Sarah Musnicky | Nightmarish Conjurings | Rotten | 3/10 | 2020-01-23T19:10:58Z | 2020-01-23 19:10:58 | Despite strong performances and stunning visuals, the awkward writing and abrupt ending ultimately sink THE TURNING. I'd suggest just re-watch The Innocents instead. |
| 177476 | Ben Kenigsberg | New York Times | Rotten | — | 2020-01-23T18:01:08Z | 2020-01-23 18:01:08 | It's the movie's open-endedness and literary vestiges that sit uneasily with its repetitive goosings, which manifest in exceedingly familiar ways. |
| 177477 | Brett Arnold | Consequence | Rotten | D+ | 2020-01-23T15:50:50Z | 2020-01-23 15:50:50 | The Turning is everything you'd expect from a PG-13, late-January horror release with a belabored production history. The movie ends so abruptly, you'll think the projectionist forgot to add in a reel. |
| 177478 | Katherine McLaughlin | The List | Rotten | 3/5 | 2020-01-23T12:30:09Z | 2020-01-23 12:30:09 | The fashion and mise en scène are to die for, but Sigismondi doesn't always deliver on the suspense, with unconvincing interludes pausing momentum and the film becoming stagnant as it unfolds. |
| 177479 | Donald Clarke | Irish Times | Rotten | 1/5 | 2020-01-23T12:30:08Z | 2020-01-23 12:30:08 | A total waste of time. |
| 177480 | Jesse Hassenger | AV Club | Rotten | C | 2020-01-23T12:30:07Z | 2020-01-23 12:30:07 | In a movie as utterly lost as The Turning, everything from the performances to the production design to the music cues amount to one big pile of dirty mirrors and doll parts. |
| 177481 | Frank Scheck | The Hollywood Reporter | Rotten | — | 2020-01-23T12:30:06Z | 2020-01-23 12:30:06 | The Turning sacrifices narrative and emotional coherence in favor of a series of would-be scary set pieces that seem mainly designed to discourage aspiring nannies from pursuing the vocation. |
| 177482 | Linda Marric | HeyUGuys | Rotten | 3/5 | 2020-01-23T12:10:06Z | 2020-01-23 12:10:06 | What first looked like a promising start, soon turns into yet another another cliché-ridden narrative where jump-scares and glaring contrivances take centre stage. |
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