The Terrible Two

Last updated
The Terrible Two
Directed byBilly Lewis
Written byBilly Lewis
Produced byReid Doyle
Jonathan Landau
StarringCari Moskow
Reid Doyle
Devin McGee
Arielle Breslerman
Ariana Baron
CinematographyStephen Thompson
Music byDizi Johnson
Matt Rose
Production
company
Orange St Films
Distributed byUncork’d Entertainment
Release date
  • March 6, 2018 (2018-03-06)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The Terrible Two is an American psychological/paranormal/horror film written and directed by Billy Lewis. [1] The film stars Reid Doyle, Cari Moscow, Donny Boaz, Devin McGee, and Shane Callahan. [2]

Contents

It was filmed during an eleven-day period in Wilmington, North Carolina using Lewis's home. [3]

Plot

One year after the deaths of their daughters Addie and Jade, Albert Poe is ready to move on from the loss while his wife Rose is still stuck in her grief, baking a birthday cake for the girls and speaking of them in present tense. Talking to her therapist Dr. Connor, Rose describes seeing evidence that her daughters are alive and mentions finding a manuscript about demons in the attic. He urges her and Albert to sell the house, as he senses something bad lurking there. Researching the house and its prior owner Jack Wilson, Rose discovers newspaper archives about suspicious activity in the house.

Albert lists the house for sale but dismisses the manuscript as religious propaganda until he discovers a tape recording showing that their daughters were coaxed onto the roof by an unseen entity, only to fall to their deaths. Albert and Rose are later chastised by a strange woman named Nebula, who appears in their home and states that if they had properly researched the house their daughters would still be alive. She cuts Albert's face with a knife before leaving, stating that nothing can save them. Later that night Albert wakes to find Rose in a trance-like state, brushing a doll's hair while saying that Albert never loved them nor made them a priority. A scene then shows that a local realtor named Fred is plotting with Nebula to force Albert and Rose out of the house, but that they must now allow events to play out on their own.

The next day Dr. Connor arrives at the house and informs Albert that Jack Wilson was a pseudonym for a man named Donovan Peebles. Twenty-five years prior to the deaths of Addie and Jade, Donovan murdered two Girl Scouts in the house in order to rid his body of demons. The two men then discover that Rose is in the girls' room and has been possessed. Albert manages to subdue Rose and seemingly free her from possession but is unsuccessful in convincing her to leave. He discovers a drawing of their deaths by the girls' hands and decides that they must leave. While going to get his gun, Albert discovers the dead body of Dr. Connor. While trying to flee the house Albert is confronted by his daughters, who demand that he tell the truth. It is revealed that Albert killed them by breaking their necks. Rose, now possessed, stabs Albert to death. The film ends with Fred showing the home to another family with two daughters, saying the house became too much for the previous owners.

Cast

Release

The Terrible Two was released through video-on-demand on March 6, 2018, by Uncork’d Entertainment. [4]

Reception

Horror Society rated the movie a 6.5 out of 10, stating that "It looks great, it’s shot well, the actors are phenomenal, the story is emotionally-charged and enthralling. The only thing that hinders it is the amount of horror. I’m sorry, I just wasn’t impressed. That needed to be turned up a notch…or two." [5] Film Threat and Starburst both criticized the film, which Film Threat noted "struggles to find its footing, pulled apart by horror tropes, dodgy acting and unrealistic characters" and Starburst called "painful". [6] [7] Daily Grindhouse was also critical. [8]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Price</span> American actor (1911–1993)

Vincent Leonard Price Jr. was an American actor, art historian, art collector, and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures and one for television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucio Fulci</span> Italian filmmaker (1927–1996)

Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Although he worked in a wide array of genres through a career spanning nearly five decades, including comedies and spaghetti Westerns, he garnered an international cult following for his giallo and horror films.

<i>Paper Moon</i> (film) 1973 film by Peter Bogdanovich

Paper Moon is a 1973 American road comedy-drama film directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released by Paramount Pictures. Screenwriter Alvin Sargent adapted the script from the 1971 novel Addie Pray by Joe David Brown. The film, shot in black-and-white, is set in Kansas and Missouri during the Great Depression. It stars the real-life father and daughter pairing of Ryan and Tatum O'Neal as protagonists Moses and Addie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felissa Rose</span> American actress

Felissa Rose Esposito, better known as simply Felissa Rose, is an American actress and producer. Rose has amassed over 150 film credits, and is best known for her work in the horror genre, for which she is recognized as a "scream queen".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Albert</span> American actor (1951–2006)

Edward Laurence Albert was an American actor. The son of actor Eddie Albert and Mexican actress Margo, he starred opposite Goldie Hawn in Butterflies Are Free (1972), a role for which he won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Albert starred in more than 130 films and television series, including Midway, The Greek Tycoon, Galaxy of Terror, The House Where Evil Dwells, The Yellow Rose, Falcon Crest and Power Rangers Time Force.

<i>The Black Cat</i> (1934 film) 1934 American film

The Black Cat is a 1934 American pre-Code horror film directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starring Boris Karloff and Béla Lugosi. It was Universal Pictures' biggest box office hit of the year, and was the first of eight films to feature both Karloff and Lugosi. In 1941, Lugosi appeared in a comedy horror mystery film with the same title, which was also named after and ostensibly "suggested by" Edgar Allan Poe's short story.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jordan Ladd</span> American actress (born 1975)

Jordan Ladd is an American actress. The daughter of actress Cheryl Ladd and producer David Ladd, she initially worked with her mother in several made-for-television films, before making her big screen debut at 19, in the vampire film Embrace of the Vampire (1994). She subsequently appeared in the drama Nowhere (1997) and the comedy Never Been Kissed (1999). Ladd became known as a scream queen, having appeared in several successful horror films, including Cabin Fever (2002), Club Dread (2004), Death Proof (2007), and Grace (2009). Ladd is also known for work with director David Lynch appearing in his films Darkened Room (2002) and Inland Empire (2006).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lovecraftian horror</span> Subgenre of horror

Lovecraftian horror, also called "cosmic horror" or "eldritch horror", is a subgenre of horror fiction and weird fiction that emphasizes the horror of the unknowable and incomprehensible more than gore or other elements of shock. It is named after American author H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937). His work emphasizes themes of cosmic dread, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, madness, non-human influences on humanity, religion and superstition, fate and inevitability, and the risks associated with scientific discoveries, which are now associated with Lovecraftian horror as a subgenre. The cosmic themes of Lovecraftian horror can also be found in other media, notably horror films, horror games, and comics.

<i>Grindhouse</i> (film) 2007 double-feature film consisting of Planet Terror and Death Proof

Grindhouse is a 2007 American film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Presented as a double feature, it combines Rodriguez's Planet Terror, a horror comedy about a group of survivors who battle zombie-like creatures, and Tarantino's Death Proof, an action thriller about a murderous stuntman who kills young women with modified vehicles. The former stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton; the latter stars Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson, Vanessa Ferlito, Jordan Ladd, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Tracie Thoms, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Zoë Bell. Grindhouse pays homage to exploitation films of the 1970s, with its title deriving from the now-defunct theaters that would show such films. As part of its theatrical presentation, Grindhouse also features fictitious exploitation trailers directed by Rodriguez, Rob Zombie, Edgar Wright, Eli Roth, and Jason Eisener.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Gordon</span> American film and theatre director and writer (1947–2020)

Stuart Alan Gordon was an American filmmaker, theatre director, screenwriter, and playwright. Initially recognized for his provocative and frequently controversial work in experimental theatre, Gordon began directing films in 1985. Most of Gordon's cinematic output was in the horror genre, though he also ventured into science fiction and film noir.

Dwain Atkins Esper was an American director and producer of exploitation films.

<i>Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh</i> 1995 American supernatural slasher film by Bill Condon

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh is a 1995 American supernatural slasher film directed by Bill Condon and starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, William O'Leary, Bill Nunn, Matt Clark and Veronica Cartwright. Written by Rand Ravich and Mark Kruger, it is a sequel to the 1992 film Candyman, which was an adaptation of Clive Barker's short story, "The Forbidden". Its plot follows a New Orleans schoolteacher who finds herself targeted by the Candyman, the powerful spirit of the murdered son of a slave who kills those who invoked him.

<i>Planet Terror</i> 2007 film by Robert Rodriguez

Planet Terror is a 2007 American action comedy horror film written and directed by Robert Rodriguez. Set in Texas, the film follows the survivors of a biochemical outbreak as they battle zombie-like creatures and a rogue military unit. It stars Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Michael Biehn, Jeff Fahey, Josh Brolin, and Marley Shelton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rose McGowan</span> American actress and activist (born 1973)

Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan is an American actress and activist. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy Encino Man (1992), she achieved recognition for her performance in the dark comedy The Doom Generation (1995), receiving an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Debut Performance. She had her breakthrough in the horror film Scream (1996) and subsequently headlined the films Going All the Way (1997), Devil in the Flesh (1998) and Jawbreaker (1999).

<i>Twixt</i> (film) 2011 film directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Twixt is a 2011 horror film written, produced, and directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Val Kilmer, Bruce Dern, Elle Fanning, Ben Chaplin, Alden Ehrenreich, David Paymer and Joanne Whalley. The film premiered on September 4, 2011 at the Toronto International Film Festival and was screened at various film festivals in North America, receiving a limited theatrical release in a handful of international markets. The film's title, Twixt, refers to the two worlds explored in the film, the dream and the waking worlds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Izzy Lee</span> American filmmaker and writer

Izzy Lee is an American filmmaker and writer, known for her short films Re-Home (2019), The Obliteration of the Chickens (2019), My Monster (2018), and Innsmouth, which she produced through her company Nihil Noctem. She has written for multiple outlets such as Birth.Movies.Death, Rue Morgue, TwitchFilm, and Fangoria and has also helped program and curate film festivals like the Boston Underground and the Boston Sci-Fi Fest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3859</span> Spiral galaxy in the constellation Leo

NGC 3859 is a spiral galaxy located about 295 million light-years away in the constellation Leo. It was discovered by astronomer Édouard Stephan on March 23, 1884. The galaxy is a member of the Leo Cluster.

William Kerwin was an American actor and filmmaker. He was most well known for his character roles in the films of Herschell Gordon Lewis.

Loren Rhoads is a San Francisco-based author, editor, and lecturer on cemetery history. She is a member of Horror Writers Association, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and the Association for Gravestone Studies.

<i>Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons: The Movie</i> 2020 animated film

Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons - The Movie is an American direct-to-video adult animated superhero film based on the CW Seed series Deathstroke: Knights & Dragons, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It was released digitally on August 4, 2020 and on Blu-ray on August 18.

References

  1. "Writer/Director Billy Lewis Explores The Terrible Two". Dread Central. 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  2. "Wrightsville Beach actor, producer set for feature film debut Thursday with The Terrible Two". Lumina News. 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  3. Ingram, Hunter. "Horror movie a passion project for Wilmington filmmakers". Wilmington Star News. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  4. Gingold, Michael (March 6, 2018). "Exclusive clip: A bad fall in "THE TERRIBLE TWO"". Rue Morgue. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  5. Therkelsen, Michael (2018-02-11). "Review: Billy Lewis' The Terrible Two". Horror Society. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  6. Button, Courtney (February 21, 2018). "THE TERRIBLE TWO". STARBURST Magazine. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  7. Gidney, Norman (2018-03-07). "The Terrible Two". Film Threat. Retrieved 2020-09-08.
  8. Dean, Rob (March 26, 2018). "[NOW STREAMING] THE TERRIBLE TWO (2018)". Daily Grindhouse. Retrieved 2020-09-08.