Twisted Nerve (1968)

Director:

Roy Boulting

Writers:

Leo Marks (screenplay) and
Roy Boulting (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

December 1968 (UK)

Genre:

Crime | Horror | Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.

Plot:

Martin is a troubled young man. With a mother who insists on treating him like a child, a stepfather who can't wait to see the back of him...

Plot Keywords:

Controversy | Whistling Killer | Financier | Boarding House | Broken Mirror

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Hayley Mills	...	Susan Harper
Hywel Bennett	...	Martin Durnley
Billie Whitelaw	...	Joan Harper
Phyllis Calvert	...	Enid Durnley
Frank Finlay	...	Henry Durnley
Barry Foster	...	Gerry Henderson
Salmaan Peerzada	...	Shashie Kadir (as Salmaan Peer)
Christian Roberts	...	Philip Harvey
Gretchen Franklin	...	'Clarkie'
Thorley Walters	...	Sir John Forrester
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Timothy Bateson	...	Mr. Groom
Clifford Cox	...	Insp. Goddard
Richard Davies	...	'Taffy' Evans
Basil Dignam	...	Doctor
Mollie Maureen	...	Lady Patient
Russell Napier	...	Prof. Fuller
Robin Parkinson	...	Shop Manager
Brian Peck	...	Det. Sgt. Rogers
Timothy West	...	Supt. Dakin

Runtime:

Australia:113 min | Germany:104 min | Germany:104 min (cut version) | USA:118 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (video rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:M | USA:M (original rating) | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Charter Film Productions

Trivia:

The film's controversial nature led to a prologue being added during post-production, explaining that there was no connection between Mongolism and psychopathic behavior.

Quotes:

Narrator: Ladies and gentlemen, because of the controversy already aroused, the producers of this film wish to re-emphasize what is already stated in the film, that there is no established scientific connection between Mongolism and psychotic or criminal behavior.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003)

Dull psycho thriller alot less interesting than it maybe sounds

This film is hard to find, and sadly that's not too bad a thing. It's a rather feeble thriller which has an amazingly strong perfomance from Hywel Bennett as a psychopathic killer but little else to recommend it. The plot is reasonably interesting but there is very little suspense and even the two brief killing scenes are poorly staged. The climax is fairly well managed, but it can't really save the film.

Twisted Nerve was controversial in it's day because it supposedly linked criminal behaviour with mongolism, but it's more annoying that most of the aspects of Bennett's character are briefly presented and than unexplored and discarded, for instance his sexuality. At least most of the cast ,who are generally little to do except sit and talk, are good, but you know things are bad when Bernard Herrmann's score is mediocre, except for the main theme which was also used in Kill Bill.

This would actually have worked better if it had lost half an hour- the almost two hour running time is certainly not justified! As it is,this remains one of those films which always sounds a great deal better than it actually is.