Film Review: Twisted Sisters (2006)

SYNOPSIS:

Twisted Sisters is a dark thriller dealing with the personal struggle between two twins. Jennifer was given everything a girl could wish for, Norah learned to survive on nothing. Now it is time for the tables to turn. Locating, stalking and mimicking the life of her sister, Norah decides it is time that she had it all – and no-one will get in her way.

REVIEW:

There are great pairings between director and actor throughout the history of film. Frank Capra and James Stewart made three great movies between 1938 and 1946. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro had a partnership that lasted from the 70s through the 90s. In the new millennium, Scorsese teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio to make a series of great films. There’s also David Fincher who has worked with Brad Pitt three times to make three films that are all well-respected to this day. But they aren’t nearly the only pairings that have become a part of the movie world.

One pairing that I have had the pleasure of watching multiple times now is the amalgamation of director Wolfgang Büld and actress Fiona Horsey. They first joined together to create the movie Penetration Angst in 2003 and would make two more movies together over the following three years. The final of their three movies together was 2006’s Twisted Sisters, the story of a woman being wrongly accused of sexually abusing and murdering many men, only to discover that she has a long lost sister who is committing the atrocities.

The first thing that should be noted about Twisted Sisters is that actress Fiona Horsey plays both sisters. This is physically done by convenient editing to keep only one character in the frame at a time. The few times that both characters shared the screen, the use of body doubles allowed it to happen. Horsey gives two stellar performances to believably present two separate characters with separate personalities. For the character of Jennifer, she embodies the innocent girl-next-door type that is so engrained in the main character archetype of horror films. As the sister Norah, Forsey let her darker side out. The dual performances are reminiscent of what she did in Penetration Angst, but to a more satisfying degree. Instead of being two sides of the same person, she has to put in two distinct performances in order for the movie to be believable. She needs to fully form two separate characters through her performance and make their interactions authentic. It’s a tough job that she admirably pulls off.

Yet a performance cannot be the only good thing in a movie if the movie is going to be any form of enjoyable. Twisted Sisters was supported by Fiona Horsey’s solid performances, but it was also aided by some decent writing with good, dark humor. The murders range from plain violent to comedically violent. Most notably is a death that involves a firework. I will not venture any further into what that means. Just know that it is violent, it is sexual, and it is darkly comedic. The whole movie is that way, though. The way that Norah plays with the police as well as Jennifer is funny in a morbid way. It makes the entire experience more fulfilling.

The great thing about Twisted Sisters is the improvement that I have seen come from Wolfgang Büld’s directorial style. The first movie of his that I saw was 2003’s Penetration Angst, which was a decent little movie. There were two stories told throughout that movie which had different tones to them and did not come together in a way that was entirely cohesive. This time, however, he had a more streamlined script to adapt. No longer did he have to balance two stories with different tones. On this outing, with Twisted Sisters, the director was able to focus on the singular story. He was able to tighten up what was already a fairly solid script and turn it into a wholly watchable and enjoyable experience. Instead of balancing two clashing tones, he was able to blend the tones in a way that felt consistent throughout the film. It is a vast improvement over his previous work.

All of that said, Twisted Sisters is not a movie for everyone. The subject matter is violently sexual. If you do not like gore or depictions of sex on film without it being actual sex, then the movie is not for you. I don’t mind that kind of stuff so I had a good time with it. Hopefully you’ll have a good time too because I think it’s a decent little film.