TwixtGood stories come from those shadowy corners of the soul where dreams hold dominion, and storytellers give them substance by revisiting the neglected memories that dwell there. Twixt is about a floundering horror novelist named Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer), who comes to the sleepy town of Swann Valley for a book signing of the newest entry into his formulaic oeuvre. After the eccentric sheriff--and professed horror writer--Bobby LaGrange (Bruce Dern), presses Hall to collaborate with him on a book about the gruesome murder of a young girl, Hall begins to have eerie dreams about a pretty yet creepy girl named Virginia (Elle Fanning). This sets him on the path to write a Gothic novel influenced by a tragic episode from his past.
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Twixt is written, directed, and produced by Francis Ford Coppola, reportedly resulting from a dream he had--it certainly has a dream-like quality that really takes hold after Hall first dreams of Virginia. The introductory narration (by Tom Waits) describes Swann Valley as a town that is "hiding" from the world, with a secret history of mass murder and (maybe) Satan worshiping. A quizzical clock tower with seven different faces that all tell a different time is the town's iconic landmark; some residents report that it hosts the devil inside, among the cogs and gears. A spooky town like Swann Valley--filled with various horror story hooks--would be right at home in a Stephen King novel, a point LaGrange tactlessly emphasizes with the "third-stringer horror writer" passing through. Hall is drawn to the rundown Chickering Hotel, where it is said Edgar Allen Poe once slept, paying his respects to his literary hero by pouring one of his many bottles of deep red whiskey on the plaque adorning the decrepit structure. Without any transition suggesting that Hall has fallen asleep, he steps out into the town after midnight; everything appears as though it were through a stylized, black-and-white filter, lending an unnatural and dreamlike aura to this nocturnal vision. Like Robert Frost--likely another literary champion of Hall's--he takes the "road less traveled" through the woods and his stride is met by the pale, ethereal Virginia. When LaGrange brought Hall to see the corpse of the murdered young girl--kept in a refrigerated storage pod attached to the sheriff's station, which apparently passes for a morgue in Swann Valley--he refused to look at the girl's face; yet it is understood that Virginia is that girl. Despite claiming that she is "twelve or thirteen", her height makes her look older, and she radiates an inscrutable allure. Virginia quotes passages from his books and regrets being unable to have attended his book signing, even if it was held in the hardware store--fitting for a soporific manifestation of his ego. She initially describes herself as a "vampire" on account of her buck teeth; Hall observes that her teeth are not as striking as her braces, which seem to restrain her fangs. During his dream, Hall discovers that a dozen children had been killed in the Chickering Hotel, and confirms this at the town library through a scene of newspaper clipping exposition. His wife, Denise (Joanne Whalley), threatens to sell his beloved first edition copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" unless he gets an advance on his next book. This compels Hall to take up LaGrange's offer (kind of) and he starts writing the outline of his story (kind of) to sate his publisher, Sam (David Paymer). Hall begins a hypnotic creative process that brings him back to the proverbial Land of Nod, where he is given writing advice by none other than Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin).
Twixt combines elements from various genres, including Gothic horror, mystery, dry comedy, and the surreal. Twixt also shares motifs with David Lynch's landmark television series, "Twin Peaks"; both are set in a rustic backwater town infused with an occult past that is surrounded by forest. Both also feature colorful and strange locals, like Flamingo (Alden Ehrenreich)--an ostensibly satanic leader of the "teenagers across the lake", who has a penchant for quoting Baudelaire in French. The relationship between Hall Baltimore and Bobby LaGrange vaguely resembles the dynamic between Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry Truman from "Twin Peaks"; Hall is a stranger to the weird town, and LaGrange becomes his point of contact for much of the film. LaGrange is arguably the weirder of the duo, whose hobbies include fashioning "bathouses" (as opposed to birdhouses) and making a replica to demonstrate his idea of a machine that "executes vampires"--complete with Goth Barbie being pierced through with a wooden skewer. When night comes and Hall drifts off into slumber, Poe becomes a Virgil to Hall's Dante, guiding him with a radiant lantern, showing him scenes from the town's dark past and Virginia's role in it. Poe becomes the key to unlocking the painful memories Hall has kept buried, following the tragic death of his daughter, Vicky, who was Virginia's age at the time of her passing. Small clues and choice words in Poe's diction bring Hall to a spiritual resolution over Vicky--fitting for a poet--which in turn helps Hall overcome his writer's block. When Hall first sets down to write, he does anything but; he prepares his portable writing desk with ritualistic verve, only to spend hours getting increasingly drunk and struggling to produce that crucial opening line--taking a page or two from Throw Momma from the Train. Swann Valley seems an unlikely place to promote a new book considering it doesn't even have a bookstore. With the exception of Virginia--who may only exist within Hall's dream--the only person who even knows who he is (LaGrange), and he only wants to get semi-famous as a writer by riding on Hall's literary coattails. Considering Hall's ignorance of the town's history, his choice to visit Swann Valley isn't just arbitrary, it's deliberately oblique. Denise harangues him via FaceTime about not "putting food on the table", and the trunk of his car is filled with a double dose of despondency--a case of whiskey and a case of his unsold new book. (A moment of understated black comedy follows the humiliating turnout at the book signing, when Hall asks the shopkeeper if he sells any "weapons", like a gun or a knife.) Hall's trek is about more than a remote town in the middle of nowhere; it is an existential journey to come to terms with his own guilt and lack of purpose. It is less important that he writes to justify an advance from his publisher than it is to accomplish something meaningful with a craft he loves.
Recommended for: Fans of an introspective combination of Gothic mystery, drama, and comedy that leverages dream sequences to maintain its surreal quality. In keeping with Hall's vocation as a writer, Twixt features literary nods throughout. Virginia's introduction and role in the story recalls numerous tragic Gothic heroines--not least of which from Poe's works, but also early vampire fiction like Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla".
Twixt combines elements from various genres, including Gothic horror, mystery, dry comedy, and the surreal. Twixt also shares motifs with David Lynch's landmark television series, "Twin Peaks"; both are set in a rustic backwater town infused with an occult past that is surrounded by forest. Both also feature colorful and strange locals, like Flamingo (Alden Ehrenreich)--an ostensibly satanic leader of the "teenagers across the lake", who has a penchant for quoting Baudelaire in French. The relationship between Hall Baltimore and Bobby LaGrange vaguely resembles the dynamic between Dale Cooper and Sheriff Harry Truman from "Twin Peaks"; Hall is a stranger to the weird town, and LaGrange becomes his point of contact for much of the film. LaGrange is arguably the weirder of the duo, whose hobbies include fashioning "bathouses" (as opposed to birdhouses) and making a replica to demonstrate his idea of a machine that "executes vampires"--complete with Goth Barbie being pierced through with a wooden skewer. When night comes and Hall drifts off into slumber, Poe becomes a Virgil to Hall's Dante, guiding him with a radiant lantern, showing him scenes from the town's dark past and Virginia's role in it. Poe becomes the key to unlocking the painful memories Hall has kept buried, following the tragic death of his daughter, Vicky, who was Virginia's age at the time of her passing. Small clues and choice words in Poe's diction bring Hall to a spiritual resolution over Vicky--fitting for a poet--which in turn helps Hall overcome his writer's block. When Hall first sets down to write, he does anything but; he prepares his portable writing desk with ritualistic verve, only to spend hours getting increasingly drunk and struggling to produce that crucial opening line--taking a page or two from Throw Momma from the Train. Swann Valley seems an unlikely place to promote a new book considering it doesn't even have a bookstore. With the exception of Virginia--who may only exist within Hall's dream--the only person who even knows who he is (LaGrange), and he only wants to get semi-famous as a writer by riding on Hall's literary coattails. Considering Hall's ignorance of the town's history, his choice to visit Swann Valley isn't just arbitrary, it's deliberately oblique. Denise harangues him via FaceTime about not "putting food on the table", and the trunk of his car is filled with a double dose of despondency--a case of whiskey and a case of his unsold new book. (A moment of understated black comedy follows the humiliating turnout at the book signing, when Hall asks the shopkeeper if he sells any "weapons", like a gun or a knife.) Hall's trek is about more than a remote town in the middle of nowhere; it is an existential journey to come to terms with his own guilt and lack of purpose. It is less important that he writes to justify an advance from his publisher than it is to accomplish something meaningful with a craft he loves.
Recommended for: Fans of an introspective combination of Gothic mystery, drama, and comedy that leverages dream sequences to maintain its surreal quality. In keeping with Hall's vocation as a writer, Twixt features literary nods throughout. Virginia's introduction and role in the story recalls numerous tragic Gothic heroines--not least of which from Poe's works, but also early vampire fiction like Sheridan Le Fanu's "Carmilla".