What is the worst thing that could happen to a parent? In their new film, The Twin, the loss of a child serves as the basis for a horrible scenario. The tragedy turns into a nightmare when the remaining child tries to communicate with his dead brother.
Teresa Palmer plays Rachel in A Discovery of Witches and she lost one of her sons in a car accident. Rachel, her husband Anthony, and her son, Elliot, decided to move from the United States to Anthony's native Finland to start a new life after the accident. Rachel learns that moving to another country won't help her with the grief she feels for Nathan.
Rachel has night visions of Nathan's funeral, where she tries to open the lid of the casket to hear her dying son. The family buries Nathan's prized possession in their backyard. A young boy is talking to an imaginary friend when Rachel visits him in his room, and abruptly closes the door on his mother. When she visits her son in his room after another night of visions, he refers to himself as Nathan, which sets off Rachel's motherly alarms, knowing something isn't quite right with her son.
Both Mustonen, who directs and co-writers in his English-language debut, and Hyvarinen, who co-writers and produces, are humble students of the genre as The Twin draws inspiration from late 1970s psychological thrillers. It never feels like it, whether it's the possessed Elliot from The Omen or the haunting rituals of the Finns.
The Twin is a supernatural horror that depicts grief and mourning. Throughout the entire film, Palmer's overprotective energy can be felt. Anthony never gets his best moments until the very end of the relationship. Rachel's attempts to contact Nathan from the dead are both gripping and compelling.
The townsfolk stare whenever Rachel is around. It isn't until Rachel talks with Helen that she gets some answers. Helen shared that the town is based on pagan beliefs, and that the same thing happened to her husband. The devil is trying to bring Nathan back to life, according to Helen.
When Rachel gets Helen as an ally, The Twin becomes even more frightening as she rushes to save her son from demonic possession. The scariest moment of the film is when Mustonen creates his version of black mass. The grand showcase injects much-needed energy into The Twin, just as it started to lose steam with laborious pagan expositions in the previous scenes.
The Twin never feels like it drags the audience to the finish line. There are enough tense moments and scares to keep viewers guessing until the very end. That isn't necessarily a bad thing because ambiguity is its strength. The Twin is a solid addition to the crowded elevated horror subgenre.
The Twin will be available on demand and in theaters on May 6.
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