‘The Twin’ Review – Maternal Nightmare Gets Too Caught Up in Its Destination

Bloody Disgusting’s The Twin review is spoiler-free.

Gaslighting and paranoid isolation frequently come into play in horror movies centered around motherhood. Everything about The Twin‘s premise teases more of the same. Director and co-writer Taneli Mustonen (Lake Bodom) aims to subvert that formula by infusing it with folk horror and a few narrative sharp turns. But it’s so fixated on the destination that the journey getting there is a struggle.

After an idyllic drive through the countryside ends in tragedy, Rachel (Teresa Palmer) and Anthony (Steven Cree) bury their son Nathan in New York and then relocate with their surviving son Elliot (Tristan Ruggeri) to the quiet Scandinavian countryside to heal. It doesn’t take long for Elliot to begin behaving peculiarly or for Rachel to notice the locals’ ominous, ever-watchful presence. The more mistrust grows as the locals seem to close in, the more desperate Rachel becomes to unravel the truth about the sinister forces that targeted Elliot.

Mustonen, who co-wrote with Aleksi Hyvärinen, plays things close to the vest throughout. Setting the story almost entirely post-grief removes any chance of getting to know this family’s dynamic before the loss, of who they were before the crash. That’s intentional, of course, but it does make it challenging to find a foothold when Rachel begins her emotional arc already in an exaggerated state that never wavers beyond a straight line of constant duress. Whereas Rachel is the volatile, overbearing doting mother, her husband Anthony is distant and aloof, often retreating to his office for drinks while listening to Rachel’s battles with Elliot lashing out. There’s a flatness to both central characters.

Then there are the red herrings and strange visual clues. The early transition scene that sees Rachel and Anthony burying their son is set against a cityscape featuring the World Trade Center. There seems to be no actual significance to placing the narrative in this period other than to use the Twin Towers as a not-so-subtle hint in a horror movie titled The Twin. The Twin is full of enigmatic clues that don’t click into place until much later, and even then land with a thud.

How Mustonen layers in the folk horror raises visual interest, complete with Pagan rituals and Baphomet induced nightmares, but it’s all kept at a deliberate distance. Everything gets framed from Rachel’s perspective to maintain the mystery, drawing it out as long as possible. The third act finally brings the big picture into clear view, but the logical leaps and shortcuts it took to get there mean minimal impact. Worse, it underscores how much of what came before was unimportant filler and questions character choices and motivations.

The setting and Daniel Lindholm‘s cinematography at least capture the natural beauty of the Finnish countryside, but it’s not enough to sell the intended atmosphere. Mustonen’s attempts to subvert familiar tropes and clichés are over reliant on an ending that doesn’t entirely feel earned, wholly undermining its characters. Supporting player Barbara Marten injects a needed spark of life as ally and neighbor Helen, but even she, too, gets undercut for the sake of the payoff. In the end, The Twin is all fakeouts, devoid of scares.

The Twin premieres on Shudder, in theaters, on VOD and digital on May 6, 2022.

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