Twisted Sisters (2006)

Twisted Sisters is a low-budget English/German production that I liken to a one night stand…it’s a fun romp, but in the long run entirely unmemorable.

Jennifer (Fiona Horsey) leads a charmed life – she has a loving fiancé, parents who give her anything she wants, a job she is passionate about and she just found out she’s pregnant! Only, the trouble is that the police have fingered her as the main suspect in several grisly murders. Seems that Jennifer, or someone that looks exactly like her, has been seducing men, sleeping with them and chopping off their penises and bollocks! Witnesses have positively identified Jennifer as the killer and the police even have surveillance video of her with a victim. Finally, Jennifer’s parents tell her that she was adopted and has a twin sister named Norah (also played by Horsey) who was recently released from a mental institution. Norah’s childhood was the opposite of Jennifer’s and now Norah is after Jennifer’s happiness and is determined to make her feel her pain.

Twisted Sisters had a lot of potential, but it borrows too heavily from Brian DePalma’s Sisters and other “evil twin” movies to truly hold its own. The acting is decent, especially for a low-budget flick, but some of it could have been better. The standout in this film is definitely Fiona Horsey, playing the dual roles of Jennifer and Norah. She does a great job of creating (and maintaining) two completely separate characters. At one point I even wondered if they had cast real twins to play Jennifer and Norah! Horsey has acted in several of director Wolfgang Büld’s productions and seems very much as ease in front of the camera, whether playing goody-two shoes Jennifer or tart Norah.

The direction and cinematography of the film are pretty plain, with the exception of some interestingly framed shots. The plain shots don’t detract from the film, as they show us what needs to be seen, but they also don’t add much. While the story apes DePalma’s Sisters, it doesn’t steal his style (which, interestingly enough, DePalma borrowed heavily from Hitchcock).

There are some neat gore scenes, including evisceration by firecracker and finding a penis in a toilet. The blood is good ‘n’ plenty, but it never goes overboard. Gorehounds might be a little bored by the lack of truly squirm-inducing gore, but they won’t be disappointed.

I did enjoy seeing a killer that wasn’t male and victims that weren’t female. It sure was refreshing to see a woman given a chance to extract some vengeance and to see men be terrified for once. Most guys who have seen this movie say they cringe at the castration scenes – maybe now men will know what it feels like for women to watch another woman be raped and/or cut up on-screen by a male killer! You know how often women are portrayed as victims in horror films? Much more often than men are portrayed as victims, I can tell you that! I think it’s high time that the men in the audience are made uncomfortable instead of the women.

Twisted Sisters is an alright film, but one horror fans have probably seen many times before. It has solid acting and decent gore, but lacks an original story. If you want a fun, noncommittal evening, though, by all means check out Twisted Sisters.

Available on Twisted Sisters!