What to read, watch, and listen to if you lovedThe Turning
Floria Sigismondi · Film · 2020
If you loved The Turning, start with The Haunting of Bly Manor (Mike Flanagan, 2020) — a series on the same thread. Below: 4 books, 3 series and 2 podcasts, each matched to The Turning across media.
If you loved The Turning, you will be drawn to these unsettling stories that masterfully blur the line between psychological fracturing and supernatural reality.
Books on the same thread
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson · Book · 1987
Shares 3 threads with The Turning: isolation, childhood trauma, gaslighting.
Like The Turning, this classic utilizes a claustrophobic, haunted setting to push its characters toward the brink of sanity, forcing you to question what is real and what is imagined.
The Caretaker
Marcus Kliewer · Book
Shares a thread with The Turning: Gothic Horror.
The Turning relies on a sense of creeping dread within an isolated house, and this story mirrors that exact feeling of vulnerability when taking on a job in a hostile space.
The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels
Henry James · Book · 1980
Shares a thread with The Turning: Unreliable Narrator.
As the foundational source material for The Turning, this novella offers the same intense ambiguity regarding childhood innocence and corruption that makes the movie so famously difficult to resolve.
VERITY
Colleen Hoover · Book
Shares 2 threads with The Turning: unreliable narrator, gaslighting.
You will recognize the suffocating atmosphere of The Turning here, as this story also features a protagonist caught in a web of gaslighting and obsession within a mysterious domestic environment.
Series on the same thread
The Haunting of Bly Manor
Mike Flanagan · Series · 2020
Shares 2 threads with The Turning: Gothic Horror, Psychological Horror.
This series shares the core premise of The Turning, exploring how a governess becomes trapped in a house filled with secrets, lingering trauma, and a pervasive sense of supernatural unease.
The Haunting of Hill House
Mike Flanagan · Series · 2018
Shares 2 threads with The Turning: Psychological Horror, Gothic Horror.
The Turning centers on the psychological weight of a haunted home, and this series provides a deeper look at how buried family trauma manifests as terrifying events in the present.
Servant
Tony Basgallop · Series · 2019
Shares 2 threads with The Turning: Gaslighting, Supernatural Horror.
Much like The Turning, this show uses the domestic space to externalize internal grief, showing how a fractured psyche can invite strange and inexplicable forces into a quiet home.
Podcasts on the same thread
The Left Right Game
QCODE · Podcast · 2020
If the unreliable perspective in The Turning kept you guessing, you will appreciate this journey into a reality where the protagonist’s descent into the unknown challenges every certainty.
The Truth
The Truth · Podcast · 2026
Explores: human condition, experimental storytelling, moral ambiguity.
This collection mirrors the moral ambiguity found in The Turning, offering short, intense experiences that prioritize psychological tension and leave you questioning the reality of the narrative.
Keep exploring
Common questions
Is The Turning a story about a governess?
Yes, The Turning follows a young woman who leaves her teaching position to work as a private tutor and governess for two wealthy children. As she settles into her new role, she begins to suspect that the house holds unsettling secrets beyond what is initially apparent.
Does The Turning feature a supernatural mystery?
The Turning centers on a governess who starts to suspect that there is something more to the house than meets the eye. The narrative focuses on her growing unease while caring for two wealthy young children in an environment that hides mysterious and potentially unsettling circumstances.
What is the premise of The Turning?
The Turning depicts a young woman who quits her job to become a private tutor and governess for two wealthy kids. After arriving at their home, she begins to suspect that the house is hiding something, leading her to question the reality of her new surroundings.
Who directed The Turning?
The Turning is a 2020 movie directed by Floria Sigismondi. The film follows a governess who takes a job caring for two wealthy children and soon discovers that the house where they live possesses a mysterious nature that she did not expect when she first accepted the position.