Twisted arrives with a slick premise, a confident creative team, and the kind of setup that feels immediately ripe for tension. Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman and written by Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer, the film follows two millennial scammers running a bold New York apartment con. They flip properties they do not own, sell them to unsuspecting buyers, and move on before anyone catches on. It is a modern scam rooted in housing anxiety, and it works perfectly until they cross the wrong apartment owner.
On paper, it is a strong hook, and for a while, the film plays it like an old-school thriller. The tone leans far more toward suspense than outright horror, at least initially, and that restraint is mostly a good thing. Twisted takes its time getting where you know it is headed, but once it gets there, it commits fully. What follows is stressful, entertaining, and increasingly unhinged in the best ways. This is not a nonstop gore fest, but there are some genuinely brutal, bloody moments that make you wonder if anyone is making it to the next scene.
The cast does a lot of the heavy lifting. Djimon Hounsou is pitch-perfect as the quiet, confident doctor who radiates control and menace without ever needing to raise his voice. He shines here, shifting effortlessly from calm professional to someone you absolutely do not want to cross. There is a line delivered late in the film, “I’m a surgeon, every time I operate God prays to me,” and it lands with exactly the chilling authority it needs.
Lauren LaVera is also a standout. Having seen much of her filmography, this feels like a smart step for her. A film like Twisted gives her room to show range, and honestly, the further she gets from the shadow of the Terrifier franchise, the better off she may be career-wise. As the film progresses, her character becomes increasingly unpleasant, to the point where you start rooting for the so-called bad guy. That moral flip is intentional, and it mostly works.
Bousman, who rarely misses, adds another solid entry to his resume here. This is not on the same gore level as the Saw films, but the DNA is unmistakable. The ending in particular feels very Saw adjacent, with cops closing in, story threads colliding, and one final twist to tie it all together. All that is missing is a puppet rolling into frame.
Stylistically, the film is a mixed bag. The editing is often smooth, especially the way security camera footage, text messages, and the main narrative weave together. That modern surveillance feel adds tension and keeps things visually dynamic. On the flip side, the persistent blurred edge fish eye lens effect is a choice, and not a great one. It looks like someone smeared Vaseline around the edges of the screen, and it becomes distracting fast. The music choices also tend to overpower dialogue at times, pulling focus when they should be supporting the scene.
The pacing is mostly brisk once things get moving, though the opening stretch is undeniably slow. What begins as a fairly grounded story about lesbian scammers who enjoy classic literature eventually mutates into a “what am I even watching anymore” experience. By the final act, the film has fully embraced deranged madness, complete with oddly satisfying deaths and escalating psychological damage that really begs the question of why this doctor has never seen a therapist.
Twisted will likely appeal to fans of Dexter, The Skin I Live In, and even the lesser-known Pet. It is not perfect, and at times it feels like a less accomplished version of a Saw movie, with a simple plot that occasionally trips over itself by adding too many layers of characters trying to outsmart one another. Still, when it works, it really works.
Twisted leans more thriller than horror, save for a handful of bloody scenes, but it delivers where it counts. The twists land, the performances elevate the material, and the final stretch is a wild ride. It starts slow, spirals into pure madness, and leaves you thinking, “holy shit.” For all its flaws, this is a good watch, especially if you enjoy morally messy characters and controlled chaos slowly giving way to total carnage.
Jessie Hobson