Two Twisted

I'm twisted out of shape over this series. All the hype and promise of a bold new product from a long time industry professional and this is what we get? And if you're an enthusiast of Supernatural/Horror/Thriller genres then, be prepared for a disappointment. If these are the best scripts from an alleged 2000 plus entries in the Two Twisted competition to find new writing talent - for the most part, it's said, first timers - then, what were the producers thinking?! Directorial and stylistic choices in the making of this series fall far short of the requirements to sell the subject matter. Frankly, this anthology is nothing more than a short film festival of blandly produced 5 minute stories stretched to fill the half hour slot. Production values haven't even factored in the obligatory, and usually minimal CG effects such product demands. The series plays in the 9.30pm time slot which is open for classification for mature audiences, yet, there is no sign of the depth of drama needed to pull off this idea. Don't waste your time. UPDATE... The audience has spoken. In its second week, the Two Twisted audience fell by 25%!

If you liked this series, then well and good, there's stuff I like that people think is crap. But if the truth be told this was a pretty embarrassing affair for all involved. They talk about the talented cast pulled for this, well that's because these people need the work as they are adrift in a sea of reality TV. The scripts were mostly terrible, as was the direction and the acting. 2400 scripts submitted. Did they read them all? I also have to wonder if the executives at Channel 9 sat down to watch any of the episodes before it was broadcast? How depressing it would be to realise you've just invested in another turkey. Then again, it might make its budget back from cable like the first mostly crappy series did. I think the article in The Age said it all.

I'm actually writing this because one of the comments voted only one star. Now I wouldn't even rate Ed Wood's movies with one out of ten stars. The series just came out in the Netherlands and I watched all episodes in the course of three days. That gave me time to try to figure out why some were so negative about Two Twisted. And I still don't understand. Some of them refer to the Outer limits and the Twilight Zone. I own DVD's of both the original Outer limits and the later ones, and also watched a lot of the Twilight Zone. I really can't see how Two Twisted is so much worse according to some people. The twenty minute stories presented here caught my attention without exception. The acting is very believable, the structure works in most of the cases working to the last minute of the episode giving it a twist. In building the story up they use the technique Hitchcock used: telling only parts of the back story so the audience is working hard to figure out the back story. Once you put the pieces together you're already in the third act and then the story ends with a fact putting a spin on everything that happened before. You might think I'm naive or maybe it's just my willingness to surrender to the story not trying to think too hard about how it going to end, but I really didn't see the twist coming in most cases. It may not have been the shock I experienced seeing the Sixth Sense (BTW: many people claimed they already seen it coming before the second act; I have my doubts about that), but it's still good enough to leave a big smile on my face. The stories are very different too. Some of them are Roald Dahl like (meaning they could actually happen in real life but are kind of bizarre or frightening) others are a bit more supernatural. I love both genres so I had a real good time. Twenty minutes is exactly the right length I think.

This genre is too easy to abuse. For those who grew up on Hitchcock or Twilight Zone, there is much that might disappoint. The tales could be predictable, or boring, or too cheesy.

Brian Brown has surrounded himself with some of Australia's finest actors.

The scripts are tight. The tales ambiguous to the end, but not after.

It was once said of the Korean movie industry that the discipline of good story continuity wasn't present. That unexplained events would escalate and so a killer would be outside of the private abode of a pretty victim without the viewer ever knowing why the victim was targeted, how the killer found the victim, why extreme violence was required, why no one benign existed. So Two Twisted tales treads dangerous grounds .. using continuity within its language of exposition. The difference being that Two Twisted's continuity issues are deliberate and explained.

The two half hour episodes at the start are connected. I've not yet worked out how. I wish there were cheats :D