The Twin (2024) review – A generic trauma horror on Shudder

Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are checking out a psychological-horror movie with a split personality – The Twin.

I’ve just got done explaining the ending to this one. If you need some stuff clearing up, why not check out our The Twin Ending Explained article? Keep in mind that, unlike this review, our ending explained articles do contain spoilers.

Not exactly an original concept

The Twin hit the festival circuit in 2024 but only just made it to Shudder back in July. I have to be honest, I wasn’t overly excited for this movie. I am a little bit jaded with the whole “trauma monster” thing. Just reading the summary of this movie makes it very clear what you are in for. You see the word “grieving” and you are immediately bombarded with visions of The Babadook and its legions of cheap rip-offs.

With that being said, The Twin plays out almost exactly as you might expect. Our protagonist, Nicholas (Logan Donovan) witnesses his young son’s death. This sends him into a trauma spiral that results in him attempting to end his own life.

“You see the word ‘grieving’ and you are immediately bombarded with visions of The Babadook and its legions of cheap rip-offs.”

When he finally gets out of the hospital, his wife confines him to his grandma’s old house to work on his recovery. The only problem is that this house was the site of some harrowing experiences back when Nicholas was a child. As Nicholas begins to see visions of himself, he is forced to enlist the help of a psychiatrist/hypnotist (played by Halloween Kills’ Robert Longstreet) to fight back against the evil that is threatening to take over his life.

Let’s be honest, it’s formulaic horror stuff

For the most part, The Twin feels like a pretty big budget production. Cinematography is decent, the cast is padded with experienced actors, and the crew are pretty well established. I don’t know how off-base it would be of me to call it a Hollywood Horror but it certainly plays out like something designed to appeal to the masses.

That is really reflected in the horror element of this film. The scares are extremely middle of the road. In fact, I almost got the sense with The Twin that director J.C. Doler was borrowing liberally from the extremely dusty book of early to mid-2000s horror tricks.

“I almost got the sense with The Twin that director J.C. Doler was borrowing liberally from the extremely dusty book of early to mid-2000s horror tricks.”

Characters twitching spasmodically, sudden screaming at the viewer, over the top makeup, white contact lenses, jump scares; it’s all here and it’s all completely unoriginal! I don’t think The Twin has a single idea of its own or a single new thing to add to the horror genre.

Sure, it is all stuff that will probably work fairly well on your average non-horror fan. But horror veterans are going to end up suffering from vertigo with all the eye rolling they will be doing. The horror scenes come on very late in the film, as well, which leads me onto my next point.

The Twin is more of a psychological drama

This really is, at its core, a story about the grieving process and the effects of familial trauma. Nicholas had already suffered from a pretty crappy childhood before having to watch his son cartwheel into an early grave. This, obviously, had a horrifying impact on him and left him mentally scarred.

The entire movie acts as something of an analogue for that aforementioned grieving process and the impact of CPTSD. It’s the whole “confronting grief, forgiving yourself, moving on but not forgetting” thing. With that in mind, the horror takes a real back seat to some over the top melodrama.

This might sound somewhat appealing. After all, a lot of horror movies manage to work with this theme tremendously well. The Twin, however, suffers from some laborious pacing that makes it feel like a real chore to get through. The middle part of the movie is consistently punctuated by Nicholas moping around the grim looking house and doing very little of anything. It’s incredibly repetitive.

“The rest of the film is simply sitting around waiting for it to do something… anything. This only adds to that impossible to ignore sense that this is an overwhelmingly generic horror movie.”

This is one of those movies that is both top and bottom heavy. The drama that sets up the story is all weighted in the first few minutes and the horror all takes place in the last ten. The rest of the film is simply sitting around waiting for it to do something… anything. This only adds to that impossible to ignore sense that this is an overwhelmingly generic and forgettable horror movie.

Worth Mentioning

Acting is pretty mixed. Robert Longstreet is giving it his all as the psychiatrist Dr. Beaumont. He has some really strong moments and feels very natural. I honestly didn’t think too much of Logan Donovan’s performance as Nicholas.

I didn’t feel like he was all that believable in the role and he came across as simply a bit uninterested rather than genuinely mentally unwell. It never felt as though this was a deliberate attempt to portray grief through a lesser seen lens, either.

The script is pretty awful. This is such a huge problem in American horror. There is a serious lack of decent screenwriters and ridiculous, almost robotic, dialogue is becoming the accepted norm. Direction wise, this is a great looking movie with some pretty decent shots.

There are quite a few continuity issues here and there. Pacing is a big problem, as well. The Twin is far too long and would have seriously benefitted from being twenty minutes shorter in length. The middle part of the film is ruthlessly padded and, frankly, the timeline can feel extremely messy as a consequence.

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A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.

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