Universal Pictures has released their trailer for The Turning. The upcoming horror movie is based on Henry James’s classic 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw. James’ novella has been terrifying horror fans for over 100 years now and the big screen adaptation looks like it will be carrying on the tradition for years to come. Finn Wolfhard stars in a role which is completely different from anything we’ve seen him in before.
The Turning takes us to a mysterious estate in the Maine countryside, where newly appointed nanny Kate is charged with the care of two disturbed orphans, Flora and Miles (Finn Wolfhard). Quickly though, she discovers that both the children and the house are harboring dark secrets and things may not be as they appear. The haunted-house thriller is directed by spellbinding visualist Floria Sigismondi (The Handmaid’s Tale) and stars Mackenzie Davis (Terminator: Dark Fate), Wolfhard (Stranger Things), newcomer Brooklynn Prince and Joely Richardson (Red Sparrow).
The trailer is full of haunting imagery and teases the mystery very well, without giving the whole movie away. Obviously, one can easily go read Henry James’ novella to get the gist of the story, but The Turning has made some key changes to the source material. Finn Wolfhard is a deeply disturbed orphan in the adaptation who can be seen stomping on a fish’s head to put it out of its misery in one shot, and then playing with a spider in another shot. There’s even a scene where a giant spider appears to come out of the young actor’s mouth. Brooklynn Prince is also equally as creepy, though more mysterious and unsettling.
Director Floria Sigismondi recently spoke about The Turning and some of the changes that were made from the source material. Changing books to fit the big screen is nothing new and Sigismondi knows this. But, when a story is over 100-years old, there might need to be some retrofitting. Sigismondi explains.
“It’s a very dark story that’s endured for over a hundred years. We’ve taken this story, and modernized it, and placed it in the 1990s. It follows a nanny who is looking (for) a life change, and when she arrives at the house she meets two orphans, Flora and Miles. They start to act a little strange and she senses that they’re harboring a secret, that they’re hiding something from her. She quickly realizes that there’s something wrong in the house.”
The Turning was adapted for the big screen by writers Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes (The Conjuring). The movie is produced by Scott Bernstein (Straight Outta Compton) and Roy Lee (IT). Universal will release The Turning domestically on January 24th, 2020 and will open in select international territories afterwards. You can check out the terrifying trailer for The Turning below, thanks to the Universal Pictures YouTube channel.
