Described as a “dread-fuelled Scandi-horror” by our own Keiron Self in his recent review, The Twin finds a bereaved family in Finland navigating creepy scenarios. British actor Steven Cree, who plays dad Anthony, spoke to Carl Marsh about the making of the movie.
So, The Twin, then. I do like a movie that keeps you guessing even while you can see where it’s going – but it then flummoxed me with that ending and still had me wanting to rewatch it!
Yeah, I was the same. When I was reading the script for the first time, I was going through it – and with any genre, you have to service that genre, but I was like, “OK, I think I can see where this is going.” And it’s got the kids; there’s a lot of twists… with [director] Taneli Mustonen, if you’d seen his previous horror film Lake Bodom, it has a lot of twists and turns in that as well. It’s his style. And I did not see it coming at all – which, for my character, completely and utterly changed the perspective, and my interest in the role as well.
Without looking to give too much away here, it’s comparable to Shutter Island, The Sixth Sense, Midsommar and perhaps Rosemary’s Baby: great films that leave an impact, yet split across different genres 50/50. This film could sit in a few genres, couldn’t it?
There’s always this talk about there being three films when you’re making a film: there’s a script, there’s the film when you’re filming it, and then there’s the edit. And the three end up being quite different beasts. When I read the script, it kind of reminded me of Don’t Look Now, because ultimately, it’s an examination of parents dealing with grief and disintegration of this marriage.
You know, all film divides opinion. I think with horror, in particular, there are so many websites and bloggers and stuff dedicated to it, that some of those people probably will not like that this reminds you of several of those films. And some people will love it! For me, hearing that, I love that, because a lot of those movies are the ones I grew up watching as a kid from Scotland. So then getting to be a part of something like that – even though it’s a Finnish movie, it’s ostensibly an American horror movie – was very cool for me.
Considering what you’ve said about the script, the film and then the edit all being different beasts, how does what I saw compare to your first read of the script?
I think it’s very true to their vision, and to what [scriptwriters] Taneli Mustonen and Aleksi Hyvärinen set out to do. Funnily enough, even though it’s a horror, I read the script with it feeling like a drama, in a way – with an elevated sense of the creepy and the spooky goings-on. But it felt almost like two or three different films and kind of read as a drama. I think the end product is definitely horror, but slow-burning, thought-provoking – the kind of horror I like. There’s a creepy undertone.
I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema when we did the premiere in Helsinki – it’s very different watching it there than on your laptop. I don’t particularly love watching myself! But I love getting to see the reaction of people. There was somebody besides me who was shitting herself the entire film, which is interesting to see – because, again, some people will be scared and some people won’t. At the end of the day, I know that Taneli, Aleksi and I are all just really happy with the end product, and proud of all the hard work that went into it.
The Twin is streaming on Shudder now. Info: here
words CARL MARSH