Matthew Luke Brady This movie had one of the best whistle in any movie I've seen.The story is about psychosis, Hayley Mills plays Susan Harper, a young student who tries to help a rich, emotionally ill and sinister young man, Martin Durnley (Hywel Bennett). Martin is a schizophrenic who assumes the personality of a six-year-old boy when he is in his "nice" phase. Susan talks a store manager out of pressing charges against Martin after he steals a toy duck. Martin wants to take the toy to his mongoloid brother, who is in an institution. Martin's stepfather, Henry (Frank Finlay), enraged by his shoplifting, evicts Martin despite the pleas of his mother, Enid (Phyllis Calvert). Martin, again acting like a young child, is taken in by Susan's mother, Joan Harper (Billie Whitelaw), who runs a boarding house.Do you that scene from Kill Bill where Elle Driver is walking down the corridor in the hospital and she starts whistling that awesome but menacing whistle, yeah do you know that first came from? yep this movie and that's the only reason I checked it out because of that, after seeing the movie I can say that this a pretty damn good horror movie and the most overlooked horror movie I've seen.Hayley Mills as the main psychopath of the movie dose a brilliant and a menacing little creep that got under my skin, because Martin or George (The main character psychopath) acts like a man child as he acts like he hasn't grown up yet and everyone treats him like a child, but really his a pure psycho and that pretty much explains why he acts like a little kid just to act innocent and fool everyone. Now when I think about it it's kind of nerving that this guy acts like this and that just add to unsettling nature of are main killer and Hayley Mills did a outstanding performance playing this character.The director of the movie Roy Boulting which this is my first movie that he directed that I've seen and Roy Boulting did great behind the camera filming the unsettling and the uncomfortable scene where Martin was in and the director really set the scene very well. He made this movie look like if Alfred Hitchcock directed it. The rest of the cast did fine in they roles, Martin was a interesting psychopath and the ending to the movie was even more uncomfortable and I think that's what made this movie stand out and doesn't hold anything back and just goes for it.Now for problems with the movie: Some of the writing in the movie was a bit well how can I say it, oh yeah wooden and corny. Some of the other characters in the movie I didn't really care about to be honest, I only cared about Martin the killer because well he's so messed up that makes him more interesting.Overall Twisted Nerve is a good overlooked horror movie that at times felt like a Alfred Hitchcock film at times.

Battery_Park Interesting period film in terms of its attitude to mental illness,its fashions and London. Despite what some reviews state it doesn't link Downs Syndrome to the violence or sexual behaviours - in fact it states the opposite in the film. Much more a study of a decent into mental illness. Bennett is extraordinarily good in this film, he never acted so well. Not only because of the two parts to his character but because of the slow deterioration in one and the credible public and different private persona portrayed in the 'bad' one.Billie Whitelaw grows in stature and shows her subtle skills, and Haley Mills also performs well, still the 'nice girl' but no longer sugar sweet, she smokes, dates, flirts and Barry Foster also plays his minor part well. Enjoyable - catch it if you can.

Wizard-8 When it was first released, "Twisted Nerve" apparently drummed up a whole bunch of controversy from the notoriously squeamish British press. By today's standards, the movie is quite tame - there's not that much violence, and the little there is comes across as somewhat restrained. Despite this, the movie is still interesting to a degree. The performances are very good, particularly Hywel Bennett as the psychopath. However, his convincing performance of someone who is clearly disturbed does lead to a problem, that being that the characters surrounding him can't see how severely mentally ill this guy is. And this goes on far past the breaking point, with a running time of almost two hours in length. I will say that despite the overlength, the movie isn't boring, and it does get you interested enough to stay watching in order to see what will happen. If you are interested in British horror/thriller movies of this period, there's additional interest.

Red-Barracuda When I watched Twisted Nerve I wasn't aware of its controversial reputation and that it was quite a difficult film to get hold of. I was a little surprised to discover both those facts to be honest. The controversy that it caused in its day was due to the genetic theory put forward that siblings of Down's syndrome children are predisposed to criminal behaviour. The main character in the film suggesting that this theory to be true. I can see the offence that could cause but at the end of the day this is a thriller and not really to be taken very seriously. I have seen lots of murder-mystery's where the culprit is unmasked and their actions are explained by some ridiculous pseudo-science. And I think that is what needs to happen with Twisted Nerve – take it with a pinch of salt. As far as it being hard to get hold of and not seen by many – I have even noticed it appear on a public domain collection – that is even more surprising because this is a pretty solid thriller with a lot of good things about it. It doesn't exactly break the mould but it is still very good.It centres on a young rich layabout called Martin who is molly-coddled by his mother but disliked by his step-father. The feeling is mutual though and Martin is forced to leave home but with murderous intent. He adopts the persona of Georgie – a boy with the mental age of a child – in order to dupe his way into the boarding house of a girl he is obsessed with and to enact his deadly scheme.There's a pretty good cast in this one. Hywel Bennett is very good in the central role of Martin/Georgie. It's a character that requires a fair bit of range from cold psychopath to wide-eyed innocent. Bennett delivers the goods though and ensures that we believe in his character. Hayley Mills plays the girl he lusts after; she is good in the role and cute as a button. The cast is rounded out with a couple of strong performers. Billie Whitelaw is Mill's mother, who is a lost soul who takes in extra money by sleeping with the guests, one of which is played by Barry Foster, an obnoxious fellow not a million miles away from the character he would play in Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy. In fact the film as a whole owes a fair bit to Hitchcock itself, especially Psycho but also the likes of Marnie. Its emphasis on the psychological but with moments of violence and suspense certainly puts it in the Hitchcockian ball-park. Another similarity is the Bernard Herrmann soundtrack. In this one he once again shows he has an ear for the eerie with the disquieting main whistling theme which is very distinctive indeed. It was unsurprisingly and tediously stolen by Quentin 'I've seen lots of films and I want you to know about it' Tarantino for Kill Bill Vol.1.I guess you would have to classify Twisted Nerve as a cult movie. One that seems to operate under the radar and one that is well worth checking out if you enjoy psychological thrillers.