Turning Point – Movie Review (2/5)

TURNING POINT is a Low-Budget Home-Invasion Zombie thriller that shows more than it should. I realize it’s not easy to make a feature film, but especially the lighting is not good in this one. Also, the plot is too weak and not intense enough for me. Read our full Turning Point movie review here!

TURNING POINT is both a zombie movie and a home-invasion movie. Two of my favorite subgenres, when done right. This one was made with a low budget, and unfortunately, it seems the lighting was hit especially hard. At least I hope this is the case. If it’s a stylistic choice, it’s much worse.

Also, it’s not as much a home-invasion plot as a break-in gone wrong, so I was sold on the wrong premise to begin with. In other words, this zombie horror movie and I were off to a tough beginning. Sadly, it didn’t get much better, and the final scene (full of sass and an obvious survival high of some sort) was the proverbial nail in the coffin for me. I was not impressed – nor entertained, which is worse.

Continue reading our Turning Point movie review below. Find it on VOD now.

Drug dealers, zombies, and criminals… oh my!

Turning Point is the story of one particular night, when a home invasion (which, again, was more of a break-in) goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, a zombie is inside the home with them. Or rather, a zombie in transition, which sounds interesting, but isn’t really.

The hope of the criminals caught in their crime scene is a bizarre neighbor who has been waiting for a zombie outbreak. Like most zombie movie horror fans, who have an idea of what they’d do in this situation. He has “expert knowledge of the undead” (which I guess I also have, if we’re going by this), and tries to help them.

If this sounds at all intriguing, then it’s because I’m managing to make it sound that way despite my best intentions. The highlight of the cast is Shane Brady, who you may recognize from The Endless and Synchronic. However, I think my appreciation of Shane Brady in Turning Point has more to do with the fact that I really enjoyed his own 2025 movie Hacked: A Double Entendre of Rage Fueled Karma.

Seriously, watch that one!

Also in the cast are DJ Qualls (Carved) and Lydia Hearst (The Haunting of Sharon Tate), but neither of them made any huge impression despite their key roles.

Some good, lots of bad

If you’ve ever read a review here at Heaven of Horror before, you’ll know I love supporting indie productions and low-budget filmmaking. I don’t care (too much) if the lighting isn’t great or the audio isn’t top-notch. I recognize this is the struggle of film productions with limited resources. Having said that, I still want (and expect) a decent plot and storyline, nice camerawork, and good acting.

With Turning Point (absolutely no relation to the Kirk family), there is some good, but lots of bad within all these elements. Some actors are good, but others are not. The plot and storyline are rarely very interesting, and the cinematography did not impress.

Finally, even the lighting is sometimes good, but mostly bad, with that blue tint that I have been done with for a long time. The best and most gorgeous lighting was in a kitchen pantry, which was strange. Especially when the scene from this location was intersected by a blue-tinted one mere yards away.

Am I nitpicking? Yeah, I probably am. However, that’s because the story just did not strike any sort of nerve with me.

Watch Turning Point on Digital

Joshua Wagner is the writer and director of Turning Point, and I can’t help but feel that some outside help would’ve been good. Someone to help “kill the darlings” or ask important questions. I realize it’s not easy to make a feature film, but this just felt so lackluster to me. In fact, I feel like I could search for a horror short film on YouTube and find something better.

Turning Point was apparently made in 2022, but it’s coming out on VOD now. Why? Well, because someone was finally ready to release it, I suppose. It’s certainly not because the world needed another passionless (I am sorry, but I felt nothing while watching this) zombie movie.

It doesn’t even feel like it was made by someone who likes zombie movies, which makes no sense.

Also, don’t be fooled; DJ Qualls does not “star” in Turning Point. He plays a key role as the zombie expert, but he is hardly the star of the movie. Just the most well-known name. He does fine, but the story had lost much appeal by this time, for me.

Turning Point is out On Demand and Digital from August 25, 2026.

Details

Director: Joshua Wagner
Writer: Joshua Wagner
Cast: Jillian Lee Garner, Mike Apple, Shane Brady, Lydia Hearst, Sanchita Malik, DJ Qualls