Back to trending
Twisted Nerve

Twisted Nerve

Thriller · Horror · 1968

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

Movie details

Twisted Nerve

“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.”

1968 Thriller · Horror 1h 52m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.0 / 10

2.5K votes

TMDB

6.8 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Twisted Nerve?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Pin : A Plastic Nightmare

Pin : A Plastic Nightmare

Horror · 1988

Pin, a plastic medical dummy, has been the fixation of Leon since youth. Now grown up and orphaned in an accident, Leon brings Pin home to live with him and his sister Ursula, much to her reluctance. Soon, however, Leon's fixation on Pin spirals out of control, and Ursula must face the devastating consequences.

Strange Darling

Strange Darling

Horror · 2024

Nothing is what it seems when a twisted one-night stand spirals into a serial killer’s vicious murder spree.

Cheat

Cheat

Thriller · 2023

On the surface it's believed to be another urban legend - a supernatural being from the afterlife is violently killing anyone who cheats on their significant other in the small college town of Silvercreek, Pennsylvania. But the town's unusually high suicide rate is finally convincing both locals and college students that everything is not as it seems. When Maeve - a female college student - sleeps with Charlie, the married man of the host family she is staying with, both sense the deadly curse is closing in on them. Unable to get anyone to believe them, Maeve and Charlie seek out a local history student to help find answers and figure out a way to defend themselves. It all comes undone, however, as several people are horrifically killed by the savage being - one-by-one at a rapid pace. Eventually, Maeve, Charlie and the few survivors band together in an attempt to defeat the monster once and for all.

Fear

Fear

Thriller · 1996

Nicole Walker always dreamed of being swept away by someone special — someone strong, sexy and sensitive who would care for her more than anything else in the world. David is all that and more: a modern-day knight who charms and seduces her, body and soul. But her perfect boyfriend is not all he seems to be. His sweet facade masks a savage, dark side that will soon transform Nicole's dream into a nightmare.

Shades of Desire

Shades of Desire

Horror · 2023

After her twin sister Aubrey goes missing, Jennifer uncovers the scandalous, secret double-life that Aubrey leads - and that has put both of them in danger.

The Stepfather

The Stepfather

Horror · 1987

Seemingly mild-mannered Henry Morrison has just murdered his entire family. After adopting a new identity and skipping town, he begins building a new relationship with a widow and her teenage daughter. However, he soon begins struggling to hide his true identity and maintain a grip on reality.

Blood Punch

Blood Punch

Horror · 2014

Milton, a college dropout, was only supposed to cook meth for one day. Broken out of rehab by a brash young woman and her trigger-happy ("ex") boyfriend and driven to a remote cabin the woods, Milton finds himself drawn into a dangerous love triangle gone haywire. The couple's deadpan half-truths spin around Milton like a song on repeat. They seem to read him like an open book, until a mysterious message opens his eyes to his cursed existence. With unlimited ammunition, any hunting tool they could desire, and an ever-growing body count, for what did Milton really sign up?

Funny Games

Funny Games

Thriller · 2008

When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.

Barbarian

Barbarian

Horror · 2022

In town for a job interview, a young woman arrives at her Airbnb late at night only to find that it has been mistakenly double-booked and a strange man is already staying there. Against her better judgement, she decides to stay the night anyway.

Compulsion

Compulsion

Thriller · 2024

Two women—Diana, a flamboyant and ruthless thief, and Evie, a seemingly innocent young woman with a troubled past—become embroiled in a series of horrific murders on the island of Malta.

Where it lives

Watch in your region.

Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.

Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Roy Boulting

Written by

Roger Marshall · Leo Marks · Roy Boulting

Hayley Mills

Hayley Mills

Susan Harper

Hywel Bennett

Hywel Bennett

Martin (Georgie) Durnley

Billie Whitelaw

Billie Whitelaw

Joan Harper

Frank Finlay

Frank Finlay

Henry Durnley

Barry Foster

Barry Foster

Gerry Henderson

Phyllis Calvert

Phyllis Calvert

Enid Durnley

Salmaan Peerzada

Salmaan Peerzada

Shashie Kadir

Court is in session

Put Twisted Nerve on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Big-Idea Head

“Its refusal to behave is the point.”

The strange choices create the kind of friction that follows you out of the theatre and into the argument.

The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist

“Oddness is not depth.”

A film can break every rule and still leave nothing behind but the memory of how hard it tried to be singular.