Twisted (2004/I)

Director:

Philip Kaufman

Writer (WGA):

Sarah Thorp (written by)

Release Date:

27 February 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Every murder has a mark.

Plot:

Jessica, whose father was a serial killer, is a female police officer. While investigating a murder, she finds herself in the center of her own investigation, when her former lovers start dying around her at a furious pace.

Plot Keywords:

Box Office Flop | Falsely Accused | Serial Killer | Therapist | One Night Stand

Cast

Ashley Judd	...	Jessica Shepard
Samuel L. Jackson	...	John Mills
Andy Garcia	...	Mike Delmarco
David Strathairn	...	Dr. Melvin Frank
Russell Wong	...	Lieutenant Tong
Camryn Manheim	...	Lisa
Mark Pellegrino	...	Jimmy Schmidt
Titus Welliver	...	Dale Becker
D.W. Moffett	...	Ray Porter
Richard T. Jones	...	Wilson Jefferson
Leland Orser	...	Edmund Cutler
James Oliver Bullock	...	John Flanagan
William Hall	...	Chip Marshall
Joe Duer	...	Larry Geber
Jim Hechim	...	Bob Sherman (as James Hechim)

Also Known As:

The Blackout Murders (USA) (working title)
Twisted - Der erste Verdacht (Germany)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and sexuality.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA | Germany

Language:

English | Italian | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Brazil:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Japan:PG-12 | Netherlands:16 | Philippines:R-13 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | UK:15 | USA:R | Indonesia:Dewasa | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) (cut) | Canada:14A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Crissy Field, Golden Gate Memorial Recreation Area, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Early in the movie, when Shepard is talking to Mills in the pool room at the bar, posters for The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Right Stuff are visible. Both films were directed by Philip Kaufman.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jessica leaves the lab after dropping off the blood sample, the Mustang she is driving does not have a roll cage. In earlier scenes, her Mustang is shown with a roll cage.

Quotes:

Jessica Shepard: You killed them all
John Mills: They were scum... they didn't deserve you

Movie Connections:

References The Right Stuff (1983)

Soundtrack:

Papa Don't Take No Mess

A high-caliber cast slumming in "made for TV" material.

* ½ out of ****

I've mentioned it before and I'll say it again; I'm a sucker for mystery thrillers, especially when they involve methodical serial killers. So despite the fact that Twisted was clearly one of the worst reviewed films of the year, I still rented it based on both my preference for the genre and for the film's cast, as I am huge fans of Samuel L. Jackson and Ashley Judd. Andy Garcia, Russell Wong, and Leland Orser are in the film, too, and that's definitely not a shabby supporting cast.

The film stars Judd as San Francisco patrol officer Tess Shepard. After busting a murderer, she's promoted to inspector by the commissioner (Samuel L. Jackson), who also happens to be her legal guardian thanks to a rather sordid past. Tess' new partner is Del Marco (Andy Garcia), and they're quickly assigned to their first case when a corpse is discovered by the shore. The crime is murder but there's a catch; Tess recognizes the dead man, a mere stranger she picked up at a bar a month ago. Another murder occurs, and it's yet another man Tess slept with. And considering she keeps blacking out the night each of the men is killed, she begins to suspect if she's the very own killer they're looking for.

For all that's very wrong with this film, Twisted isn't nearly as bad as I though it'd be. Don't take that as high praise, because the movie's still bad, just not horrible enough that I'd put it on any personal bottom 10 lists.

Because I saw this film just a day after Taking Lives, there was the occasional bit of déjà vu. Remember how I mentioned that film introduced us to the heroine by showing how clever and resourceful she was? Pretty much the same case here, except we also see that Judd's Tess Shepard can kick ass. Her cleverness is displayed through her ability to perfectly describe people and objects she's seen after a brief glance; a fine ability, no doubt, but not something that really impresses in terms of plot and characterization.

The movie's various attempts at building a sense of mystery are suspense are quite pathetic. Examples? Judd keeps hearing a metallic clinking outside her apartment every night before the murders, and she keeps drinking alcohol on those same nights and consequently blacks out. This is a repeated process, so you'd think it take her more than the majority of the film's running time to figure out her drink might be tainted with a drug or that whoever's making that noise might somehow be associated with her blackouts.

Figuring out the identity of the killer is almost too easy. Just follow Roger Ebert's little movie rule about how the culprit is almost always the person who has no other reason to be in the picture and you'll be able to narrow it down real fast.

Twisted is blessed with a surprisingly high-profile cast, and while most everyone is nothing less than decent, it's a bit of a surprise actors of such high-caliber would choose a script that plays out more like 'TV movie of the week' material. I can maybe see the appeal to Ashley Judd in playing a tortured but tough heroine, but Samuel L. Jackson has arguably the film's most thankless role, and he's barely in the picture for more than fifteen minutes. Competent acting is always a great plus in the genre, but it also takes plot and suspense to actually make a thriller with thrills and this movie has absolutely zilch in that department.