gridoon2024 Review of Twisted Nerve

Twisted Nerve (1968)

Slow-moving, occasionally effective psychological thriller

[6/10 · 25 September 2015]

The two biggest assets of "Twisted Nerve" are Bernard Herrmann's sensational score (right up there with his work for Hitchcock), and Hywel Bennett's masterfully measured performance as a man who puts on an innocent, childlike, slightly "backwards" interior but is actually a cold, cunning, calculating psychopath. The problem is, we know nearly everything there is to know about his character after about a half hour; the story unfolds slowly and without many surprises. Hayley Mills is a doll and also puts in a strong performance, but a sinfully sexy Billie Whitelaw (cast as her mother, even though she is just 14 years older) pretty much steals her thunder! Not a classic, but watchable. **1/2 out of 4.