Francis Ford Coppola returns to the genre he's dabbled in briefly in the past with Twixt.
From the box:
Val Kilmer and Elle Fanning star in this terrifying horror film written and directed by Academy Award winner Francis Ford Coppola. Kilmer plays Hall Baltimore, a writer on a book tour who uncovers a disturbing murder that could be source material for his next novel. But as Hall investigates the killing he finds himself confronted by chilling nightmares, including the ghost of a young girl (Fanning). As he uncovers more horrifying revelations, Hall will discover that the story has more to do with his own life than he could ever have imagined.
First things first, the movie isn't terrifying in the least. So if you are coming for some chills, look elsewhere. To be honest, the movie isn't good in the least either. It's kind of a mess and it pains me to have to say so.
When I first herd about it I was really interested. The title is great the imagery that's leaked out over the years (yes years) has been curious and even the ghostly cover art is fascinating. Unfortunately, the film doesn't live up to that curiosity.
Coppola has said that Twixt was inspired by a dream that he had that due to being awakened, he never got to finish. I can absolutely believe that because this movie goes to pieces the further along it goes. It really doesn't make much sense at all.
The motivations of the characters make no sense. The answers to the "mysteries" are pretty much laid bare for all as soon as they are brought up. It makes the entire movie feel kind of pointless and aimless.
Certain revelations are so forced it's like they were decided upon the day before they shot them. Some characters exist purely because someone thought they might be interesting which means that some kind, any kind, of connection had to be made between them and the events of the plot. Of course this never works for any of the characters.
I wish I could give more examples of the good parts of the film but there are so few of them that I am struggling to do so. There are some nice shots but they eventually get ruined by this weird blue screen look. I like the idea of the different clocks having different times but that is another just brushed aside casually explained away plot device.
Overall, it just is a bad movie. It's no wonder if never saw a wide (barely even a limited) release and took forever even to arrive on home video. For what it's worth, the blu-ray does look good but there is only one feature to speak of and to be honest I didn't have the energy to waste my time on it because the movie does nothing to make me want to learn anything else about it.
I feel like Coppola started with some interesting ideas but the entire thing just collapsed. Maybe in the hands of a more seasoned horror writer we could have had something special. I don't know. I do know that he is better than what is on display here.
Unfortunately, Twixt does not live up to its interesting title and in the end feels disastrous. It just feels amateurish front to back (every phone call needs to be a split screen? really?) All involved deserve far better.
2 out of 10 Kilmers
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