Twixt (2011) - Coppola's dreamlike Gothic is a late-night gem

♥♥♥♥

 

Elle Fanning as a seductive Goth girl on the poster for Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt

 

A decrepit horror writer stops as part of his book tour in a small town, whose sheriff introduces him to a macabre case there.

 

Val Kilmer (Alexander (2004)) and Bruce Dern (World Gone Wild (1987)) are both good as the writer and the sheriff in this weird, often quite funny gem. Ben Chaplin (Chromophobia (2005)) is also good, portraying legendary master writer Edgar Allan Poe.

Stylistically, Twixt has a Europa (1991) meets Sin City (2005)-like quality of unreality about it. It appears insignificant, - particularly if compared to the major works of its Michigander master writer-director Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now (1979)), - but it contains more than first meets the eye. This dream-like horror comedy is strange, edgy and well worth watching.

 

Related reviews:



Francis Ford Coppola: Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) - Coppola goes for the jugular with unsubtle, overlong adaptation

Top 10: The best adaptations reviewed by Film Excess to date

Apocalypse Now (1979) redux version - The horror of war  
Dementia 13/The Haunted and the Hunted (1963) - Coppola's gothic AIP castle horror 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $

Box office: In excess of 0.6 $

= Box office disaster

[Twixt premiered September 4 (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 90 minutes. Coppola did indeed write the film based on a nightmare he had had. Filming took place between November - December 2010 in California, including in Napa Valley, some of it on Coppola's vineyard estate. In North America, the film was only screened at 3 film festivals and released as VoD in 2013. The film was released in a dozen other countries, some just at a festival. Of the only 5 markets that have numbers released, the film seems to have done most business in France with 354k $, however, the gross number above is incomplete, as it only accounts for these 5 markets. Because the film is produced by Coppola's own American Zoetrope, it was most likely his own money that was lost on it. Twixt is rotten at 29% with a 4.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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