New Shudder Movie ‘The Twin’ Tries And Mostly Fails To Evoke A24-Style Horror

The Twin showed up as an early summer flick to offer amid the upcoming blockbuster overload. Sadly, it doesn’t quite live up to its promising Hereditary/Midsommar reproducing vision, taking the dark Finnish countryside and a family wrought with grief through mostly familiar horror beats. Here’s what there is to know about this Shudder feature.

After a car crash resulting in one son’s death, two parents take their remaining son (the twin of the dead brother) to a remote house to try and move on from the tragedy. Of course, one can never really shake the sadness of such a terrible loss, especially with the questions from the identical still-living brother about his death. Things are made even worse when their son suddenly claims to be the dead twin brother, setting in motion a horrifying grief-stricken journey to pull things back to normal.

• Teresa Palmer - Rachel (Mom)

• Steven Cree - Anthony (Dad)

• Barbara Marten - Helen

So far, most people agree that The Twin’s attempts to subvert expectations do not nearly have the intended effect. While not trying to spoil anything, let’s just say the Midsommar comparisons end up being all too apparent, and the evil child trope that carries the initial route of the film is too tried to sustain its push to the surprising end. With a few jump scares and some atmosphere, it’s not a complete failure in a vacuum setting. However, any avid or even casual horror viewer can’t help but compare The Twin to so many better films that it copies. Nearly everyone points to the director Taneli Mustonen’s other film, Lake Bodom, as a much better alternative.

Rating: 3/10

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

If you still want to watch this film, it’s available both theatrical and on Shudder, but the recommendations currently are to skip it unless you simply cannot miss every horror film you come across. Try to find Midsommar instead!