Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The strength of this film lies in Bernard Herrmann's whistling theme music, a unique, haunting and, typical of Herrmann, innovative melody that gets under your skin. The rest of the movie may indeed get under your skin, but for all the wrong reasons. It's just not very logical or suspenseful. I find Hywel Bennett's portrayal of the troubled protagonist wildly inconsistent and never quite believable. Nor does it help that he's quick to reveal a not very attractive physique. Hayley Mills, on the other hand, looks great but there's nothing challenging about her portrayal of a sweet young naif. She's rather dull. Billie Whitelaw and Barry Foster have this film to thank for getting them cast in Hitchcock's "Frenzy," though it's difficult to ascertain what Hitchcock saw in them based on their uneven performances here. Not worth tracking down this odd film as it will ultimately disappoint expectations.

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.

Now here's a rarity: a '60s-era slasher movie and the one and only horror film from the Boulting Brothers, a director/producer combo better known for making genteel comedies. And what a joy it turns out to be! Best known today as the film featuring the eerily whistled tune that Tarantino borrowed for KILL BILL (thank you, Bernard Herrmann!), Twisted Nerve is an engaging portrait of a psychopath that turns out to be every bit the film that PSYCHO is. How strange, then, that it seems to be virtually forgotten.Hywel Bennett stars as Martin Durnley, a baby-faced youth suffering from the titular affliction. This, truly, is the performance of a lifetime; a frightening portrayal of a seemingly normal and friendly young man who adopts a separate personality to get close to the object of his obsession, Hayley Mills (and you can't blame him: all grown up from her days as a child actor, Miss Mills is extremely lovely). The ensuing plot is one of those 'cuckoo in the nest' stories used in the likes of everything from THE GODSEND to ORPHAN; Durnley worms his way into the life of an ordinary household before going on to wreak chaos.The packaging and advertising for this film makes it look like a slasher film in the vein of Friday THE 13TH, but it really isn't. Indeed, this film is so subtle as to be sublime. There are few murders on show, and the violence is mostly kept offscreen. Instead, the scriptwriters emphasise the deranged personality of his villain so that this becomes nothing less than a character study of a psychopath, both believable and chilling. The film is beautifully shot and laced with fine performances from Barry Foster (brash), Billie Whitelaw (seductive) and Frank Finlay (pompous). I've seen most British horror films but this one always slipped me by; now I've finally got around to watching it, it's gone to the top of my list as one of the best of all time.

Not at all bad. From an uneasy, start complete with voice-over to try and mitigate the non PC nature of the main thread of the film, this builds very nicely to a very decent climax. Hywell Bennet is most effective as the young man who tries to break from his mother and Hayley Mills surprisingly good playing against type. If it hadn't been for the controversy surrounding the film regarding 'Mongols', she may have gone on to a much more interesting career. Good pacing and fleshed out secondary characters help to make this an absorbing psycho thriller, with some quite nasty moments and a splattering of blood.