Back home

Twisted Nerve

57 votes

Producing House

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 1968-12-20

Runtime: 112 mins

Director: Roy Boulting

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama, Thriller, Horror

Original title: Twisted Nerve

Production Companies: Charter Film Productions

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Reviews

W

Wuchak
**_Hayley Mills in a late 60’s psychological drama-thriller_** A 22 years-old man (Hywel Bennett) cops a childlike personality to get close to a winsome library worker in London (Mills). He seeks to get his foot in the door of her mother’s boarding house. Havoc ensues. “Twisted Nerve” (1968) was influenced by Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (and even borrows Bernard Herrmann for the score), but it’s more dramatic and less over-the-top. Hayley was 21 years-old during shooting and thoroughly winsome, as usual, but she needed to eat some cheeseburgers. Meanwhile Billie Whitelaw is sultry as the mother in a subdued way. There’s a curious voiceover at the beginning that states: “there is no established scientific connection between mongolism (aka Down Syndrome) and psychotic or criminal behavior.” Yet this was unnecessary in light of the fact that the key character in the movie doesn’t have Down Syndrome. Secondly, so a relative of a person with Down Syndrome has psychological issues and commits a serious crime or two, so what? Who in their right mind would draw the conclusion that EVERYONE related to a person with Down Syndrome would be that way? Interesting tidbit: Tarantino borrowed the whistling tune from Herrmann’s score for “Kill Bill” (when Elle Driver impersonates a nurse) and “Death Proof” (heard as Abernathy Ross’ ringtone). It runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in Twickenham, which is just southwest of London (I’m talking about the Harper house, which happened to be the residence of Hayley’s family). Studio stuff was done in Shepperton, which is about 5 miles southwest of there. GRADE: B-
2025-02-26

Recommendations

Heavenly Creatures
3.5

Heavenly Creatures

1994-09-12

Precocious teenager Juliet moves to New Zealand with her family and soon befriends the quiet, broodi

The Prestige
4.1

The Prestige

2006-10-17

A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supre

Notes on a Scandal
3.5

Notes on a Scandal

2006-12-25

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of h

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
3.7

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

2006-09-13

Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, born in the stench of 18th century Paris, develops a superior olfactory se

Clean, Shaven
3.2

Clean, Shaven

1995-04-14

Peter Winter is a young schizophrenic who is desperately trying to get his daughter back from her ad

Alleluia
3

Alleluia

2014-11-26

Michel, a murderous womanizer, meets introverted Gloria online and treats her to a whirlwind one-nig

The Peanut Butter Falcon
3.7

The Peanut Butter Falcon

2019-08-09

A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a pr

Delight
1.9

Delight

2013-12-05

The film's main theme is obsession. An obsession with love, with art, originality, copying, with suc

Fatal Attraction
3.4

Fatal Attraction

1987-09-18

A married man's one-night stand comes back to haunt him when that lover begins to stalk him and his

The Postman Always Rings Twice
3.3

The Postman Always Rings Twice

1981-03-20

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair

Dead Ringers
3.6

Dead Ringers

1988-09-23

Elliot, a successful gynecologist, works at the same practice as his identical twin, Beverly. Elliot

May
3.3

May

2003-04-11

A socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into

Pet Sematary II
2.7

Pet Sematary II

1992-08-28

The "sematary" is up to its old zombie-raising tricks again. This time, the protagonists are Jeff Ma

Peeping Tom
3.7

Peeping Tom

1960-04-07

Loner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of wome

Blue Steel
2.9

Blue Steel

1990-03-16

Rookie cop Megan Turner orders a burglar to drop his gun. He whirls to shoot. Too late. Turner fires

The Romance
2.8

The Romance

2006-03-16

Yoon-hee is so harassed by her husband's obsession and frantic love, that even breathing is painful

Star Trek: First Contact
3.6

Star Trek: First Contact

1996-11-22

The Borg, a relentless race of cyborgs, are on a direct course for Earth. Violating orders to stay a

Rebecca
4

Rebecca

1940-04-12

Story of a young woman who marries a fascinating widower only to find out that she must live in the

Taxi Driver
4.1

Taxi Driver

1976-02-09

Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunti

Acrimony
3.4

Acrimony

2018-03-30

Faithful wife Melinda, who is tired of standing by her devious husband Robert, is enraged when it be