Twisted Nerve (1968)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

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:

Slasher | Library | Financier | Mother Son Relationship | London

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 whistling theme from the score was resurrected in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Daryl Hannah's character Elle Driver is whistling it as she enters the hospital.

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 The Story of 'Frenzy' (2001) (V)

"The (exploitive) producers wish to express there is no scientific connection between Mongolism and criminal or psychotic behavior"

After a hilarious built-in apologia from the producers (who took heat in Britain for implying that siblings of Mongoloids may be dangerous), this thriller about an English boarding-house beset with a psychopathic young man gets more and more ridiculous. I felt a little sorry for esteemed British actress Billie Whitelaw here (forced to come onto pasty-faced man-child Hywel Bennett as if he were a simpleton stud). Brighter aspects are a good performance by Hayley Mills as the pretty librarian who is befriended by Bennett; a weird, wonderful score by Bernard Herrmann; as well as some fancy camera tricks and editing. The picture is hard to locate, but is it worth the search? For Hayley Mills addicts, yes. All others looking for a good 1960s screamer, perhaps not. It apes Alfred Hitchcock well enough...until the convoluted script falls completely apart in the final stretch. **1/2 from ****