Movie Review (Another Hole in the Head Film Festival): The Turn of the Screw
Writer/director Alex Galvin takes a novel approach to his feature The Turn of the Screw, his adaptation of the classic Henry James novella. Setting the New Zealand-made film at a play rehearsal for The Turn of the Screw one night before the play opens at a Wellington theater, the approach puts the last-minute replacement actress Julia (Greer Phillips) in an unfamiliar environment. As she goes through what the director Richard (Ralph Johnson) calls an unofficial dress rehearsal, Julia finds herself becoming increasingly distressed and fearful as the play proceeds. Whereas the governess in the source novella slowly begins to believe that the house in which she is put in charge is haunted, Julia starts to see strange sights and hear odd noises. The theater is empty other than the cast, director, and sound and lights crew members — or is it? Phillips is marvelous as the understudy given a frantically rushed chance to take a lead role in a production
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