The Turning

The ending of The Turning leaves viewers tangled in ambiguity, playing with the idea that what Kate experiences might not be grounded in reality. Throughout the film, she believes in the presence of ghosts, specifically the spirits of Miss Jessel and Peter Quint, seeing them as warnings of danger to the children. As the story progresses, Kate tries to escape the mansion with Miles and Flora, but the narrative reveals that her attempt might have only been a manifestation of her disturbed mind rather than an actual event. The final scenes suggest that Kate’s perception is unreliable; she finds the children in strange, dark rooms filled with unsettling pictures, and when she questions them about ghosts, they dismiss her concerns, mocking her. Then, unexpectedly, Kate is shown to be back in her childhood home, facing her mother, who asks about some pictures she sent. When she turns her mother around, her face is horrifyingly distorted, emphasizing that the entire sequence might have been a hallucination or a dream. The film then cuts to black, leaving it open-ended whether the ghosts were real or just figments of Kate’s fractured mind. An alternate ending was released that depicts Kate fighting and choking the ghost of Peter Quint, ultimately killing it and reviving Miles, but even this resolution maintains the film’s core uncertainty. Ultimately, The Turning challenges viewers to question what is truly real, suggesting that the horror lies not just in ghosts but in Kate’s inability to trust her perceptions, blurring the line between sanity and supernatural menace. The film’s ambiguous conclusion underscores that the greatest terror may be the doubt itself—wondering whether the supernatural events happened or if they are merely projections of a troubled mind.

Last Updated: June 25, 2025 at 08:44