Twisted Nerve

"Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl."

1968 1h 52m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

⭐

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 60★7IMDB · 2,498

ThrillerHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Martin Durnley is a young man with an infantilizing mother, resentful stepfather and an institutionalized brother with Down's syndrome. To cope, he retreats into an alternate child personality he calls Georgie. After being caught during a theft attempt at a department store, he befriends a female customer who is sympathetic to him, but his friendship soon turns into obsession.

“Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.”

WhatsApp X Facebook Telegram

Cast

Hayley Mills
Susan Harper
Hywel Bennett
Martin (Georgie) Durnley
Billie Whitelaw
Joan Harper
Frank Finlay
Henry Durnley
Barry Foster
Gerry Henderson
Phyllis Calvert
Enid Durnley
Salmaan Peerzada
Shashie Kadir
Christian Roberts
Philip Harvey

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roy Boulting
Writers: Roger Marshall, Leo Marks, Roy Boulting
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

58 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roy Boulting, shot by Harry Waxman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Bernard Herrmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Martin Charles shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett and Billie Whitelaw carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0063729 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 60 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roy Boulting directs. Harry Waxman behind the camera. Bernard Herrmann scores. Martin Charles cuts. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

158 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Roy Boulting, shot by Harry Waxman. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Bernard Herrmann. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Martin Charles shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett and Billie Whitelaw carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Cleaver. Cleaver. Chop. Chop. First the mom and then the pop. Then we'll get the pretty girl. We'll get her right between the curl.".
7IMDB entry: tt0063729 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 60 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Harry Waxman
Original score: Bernard Herrmann
Editing: Martin Charles
Makeup / hair: George Partleton
Runtime: 112 min · 1h 52m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Twisted Nerve (1968)
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 2,498 votes
MPAA: M

Awards

Won 1 BAFTA Award1 win total

Also by

Roy Boulting

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2025-02-26
★ 6/10
Hayley Mills in a late 60’s psychological drama-thriller A 22 years-old man (Hywel Bennett) cops a childlike personality to get close to a winsome library worker in London (Mills). He seeks to get his foot in the door of her mother’s boarding house. Havoc ensues. “Twisted Nerve” (1968) was influenced by Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (and even borrows Bernard Herrmann for the score), but it’s more dramatic and less over-the-top. Hayley was 21 years-old during shooting and thoroughly winsome, as usual, but she needed to eat some cheeseburgers. Meanwhile Billie Whitelaw is sultry as the mother in a subdued way. There’s a curious voiceover at the beginning that states: “there is no established scientific connection between mongolism (aka Down Syndrome) and psychotic or criminal behavior.” Yet this was unnecessary in light of the fact that the key character in the movie doesn’t have Down Syndrome. Secondly, so a relative of a person with Down Syndrome has psychological issues and commits a serious crime or two, so what? Who in their right mind would draw the conclusion that EVERYONE related to a person with Down Syndrome would be that way? Interesting tidbit: Tarantino borrowed the whistling tune from Herrmann’s score for “Kill Bill” (when Elle Driver impersonates a nurse) and “Death Proof” (heard as Abernathy Ross’ ringtone). It runs 1 hour, 58 minutes, and was shot in Twickenham, which is just southwest of London (I’m talking about the Harper house, which happened to be the residence of Hayley’s family). Studio stuff was done in Shepperton, which is about 5 miles southwest of there. GRADE: B-

Production companies