Review of Twisted Nerve (1968) by Stuart K — 27 Apr 2014

Directed and co-written by Roy Boulting (The Family Way (1966)), who was one part of the Boulting brothers with John Boulting, who did the producing. This time, they wanted to do something completely different from what they'd done before.

The Boulting's were known for cosy, small scale dramas and comedies, here they did a horror film, and the result is one of their best films. Martin Durnley (Hywel Bennett) is an emotionally disturbed young man who has mood swings, his mother Enid (Phyllis Calvert) henpecks him, but his new stepfather Henry (Frank Finlay) plans to ship him off to Australia.

After making the acquaintance of Susan Harper (Hayley Mills), who he becomes infatuated with, but he can't be himself in front of her, and he creates a childlike alter ego called Georgie so that she'll care for him, he even cons his way into Susan's family home, winning the approval of Susan's mother Joan (Billie Whitelaw).

But, Martin as Georgie uses his new found alter-ego to extract revenge on his stepfather. It's a very uncomfortable and creepy psychological horror, and there hadn't been many like this until then, but Boulting and Co.

get the best out of their ensemble cast, and it has a very effective and eerie score by Bernard Hermann, whose main theme from this was used in Kill Bill: Vol 1. Oh, Quentin!! :P.