‘Twisted’ Review
Stars: Madeleine Masson, Karen Leigh Sharp, Lexy Ronning, Joshua Malekos | Written and Directed by Sofie Vibeke Muasya
The latest work from writer/director Sofie Vibeke Muasya opens on teenager Hannah (Madeleine Masson), as she meets her boyfriend to spend time together and exchange passionate kisses. What could be typical scenes of a blossoming romance are broken from normalcy, as watching the pair is Hannah’s overbearing mother, Silvia (Karen Leigh Sharp).
Ever since the death of Hannah’s father, an unsettling relationship has developed with her mother. A phone call sees Silvia informing her daughter who she shouldn’t hang around, while an off-hand comment about a possible pregnancy turns into a creepy moment. A darkness lurks underneath the relationship, as Hannah’s attempts at independence are met with underhanded manipulation by Silvia to regain control, complete with her adopting a sweet tone which infers “mother knows best”.
While the pair have clashing tastes, Hannah finds herself becoming more like her mother than she realises. It understandably becomes rather much for the daughter, as she begins questioning her own sanity when her friends start dying, leading to Silvia suggesting that Hannah may be responsible. The performances effectively convey this never-ending battle for control which makes up this unusual mother-daughter relationship.
As effectively developed as the central relationship is, the same cannot be said about other on-screen relationships. Any hopes of believable interplay between friends are replaced with montages, disregarding shared dialogue and characterisation for forgettable music playing over the scenes. As a result, significant changes between Hannah and her best-friend Raven (Lexy Ronning) are left holding little impact.
Muasya effectively wields a creeping tone throughout, although there’s a struggle to maintain the tension once the film reveals its hand. A question arrives regarding whether mother or daughter are spiralling, although it’s too obviously weighted in one direction which leaves the other option as an obvious red herring. Of this film’s many strengths, subtlety is not one of them.
As underlying tensions burst forth in the third act, the story drastically changes gears to resemble something from an entirely different film. What unfolds falls into tired tropes, as the lengths taken feel increasingly cartoonish and out-of-touch with the reality Muasya crafted in the first two acts. It’s a shame, because what worked before is effective stuff.
*** 3/5
Twisted is available on digital and VOD in the US now.
