Der Babysittermörder

I've seen my share of Christian Slater films. Some were good and so on. I know this is not very original on a movie about a child with some morbid problems. I rather liked this one especially with Mr. Slater. I bought it out of curiosity and I thought he was pretty good as this cruel older brother and anger of his society actions. It can be pretty upsetting. It was too quickly wrapped up in the end though.

Before Mac Culkin ever played that psychotic little killer kid in "The Good Son", Christian Slater was serial killer in the making, Mark Collins in "Twisted."

A new family moves into a quiet, small town. But the body count goes up thanks to that oblivious family's completely sociopathic teenaged son (or as their parents like to say, "he's our adolescent"). Forget the part of the story involving the parents as it is of no consequence to the main point: watching this kid Mark who's hobbies include torturing small animals and bumping off babysitters.

You can get lost in how absolutely deranged this kid is, at times wanting to jump on the screen and beat the crap out of him yourself. He's such a giant, scary wierdo. And that's your whole movie, really. I can't tell you enough how wierd he is. And, like another viewer pointed out, how did the parents never suspect anything? I suppose they were (listen to what they mention about him about the night of the first murder), though they may have unlikely realized to what level of insanity he was on. And how they couldn't figure that out when his little wiener sister did was beyond me, too.

All I can say is that this movie was Super Creep. Super Creep. It's Super Creepy, yeah!

A few years before Christian Slater got really famous, he starred in this really weird movie about a disturbed teenager. Trust me, some of the things that he does are likely to make your blood freeze. And if only the baby sitter had known these things before she arrived; certain things might have not happened! The truth is, "Twisted" is nothing particularly special. Maybe at best, it's just a before-they-were-famous situation for Christian Slater. But the movie does have a certain charm to it, if only due to the ugly subject matter. Still, I don't recommend this to people with weak stomachs. So check it out...if you can handle it.

1986 was a remarkable year for the young (18 years old) Christian Slater. He managed to obtain an important supportive role in Jean-Jacques Annaud's masterpiece adaptation of Eco's "The Name of the Rose", under the mentoring wings of the almighty Sean Connery, and a lead role in this - fairly obscure - thriller entitled "Twisted". Funnily enough, these two pivotal roles in Slater's early career couldn't possibly be more opposite to each other. Adso Von Melk in "The Name of the Rose" represents pure naivety and youthful innocence, whereas Mark in "Twisted" is a bad seed teenager of the vilest and most despicable kind.

As mentioned already, "Twisted" is quite obscure, and it's understandable why that is. It's not a bad film at all, but it's extremely unpleasant and borderline depressing to watch. Not only the subject matter is rough stuff, but also every single principal character is beyond loathsome. It's difficult to watch a film in which the only reasonably sympathetic person is a six-year-old girl with an armless doll (and maybe a kitten)...

Referring to Mark as a troubled teenager would be a major understatement. Mark is a rotten apple, a ticking timebomb that is guaranteed to detonate, a deeply disturbed and unworldly sociopath. And, what's even worse, his parents are clearly aware of their son's mental dysfunctions, but they prefer to ignore it and argue over insignificant things instead. Mark is a big fan of the Nazi party and forces the entire household to listen to loud and boisterous sounds of WWII fighter planes. He petrifies his poor little sister, kills innocent kittens and housemaids, humiliates the school's jock, and terrorizes the already mentally unstable new babysitter.

"Twisted" certainly isn't a very plausible movie, but there is nevertheless suspense and a few memorably shocking moments. Slater's character is so deplorable that you'll wish for him to die the most painful death imaginable, even though he's only supposed to be 15 or 16 years old, but also his "victims" deserve all the agony that overcomes them. The ending is disappointing, and even downright stupid, but "Twisted" still is recommend viewing for fans of curious 80s thrillers/horror.

This is an old school thriller that offers much more than the typical violent outbursts and spouts of anger. Actually, what makes this movie stand above those is that it can illicit the same emotions from the audience, all the while keeping every scene calm (albeit sinisterly calm) in nature.

Something that is wonderfully consistent with Christian Slater since the start of his film career and that still continues today is his ability to convey the psychology of his character to the audience.

Slater portrays Mark Collins, a young teenager who is in his own mind superior to those around him. He despises weakness and finds all of his strength from the wrong sources. Without his parents knowing, he has the ability to hear every word spoken in the house and thus has found out about his mother's indiscretions and his father's alcoholism. Even though Mark doesn't reveal verbally his thoughts of such behavior, Slater does an awesome job (as always) making it clear that Mark views his parental units as weak and unworthy of respect or devotion. In the same disgusted manner, he views the bully at school, his little sister, and the babysitters.

This is the only character that Slater has ever portrayed that may be innately evil. JD of Heathers and Robert Boyd of Very Bad Things had serious character flaws and far from the greatest means of handling problems, but I don't believe either were evil. Mark Collins is a different story.

He shows no affection whatsoever for anyone. Even small animals are viewed as only specimens. Art and music are only seen when surrounded by violence and commands. He has such a desire for order and control. This is the reason he can't foresee going to a strict academy which his parents wish to send him to. There he not only loses control because he will be under scrutiny but also because he will lose his footing as such a strong individual. At home, he is surrounded by people weaker and dumber thus making him confident in every action he commits.

He hasn't an issue forcing thorazine down the throat of his sister as long as he can vocally assure himself he won't be to blame. He was the starting of a mad scientist who was too smart for his own good.

This film has never been released on DVD and is out of print on video. If you can find it, BUY IT! It's an outstanding movie!