A writer named Baltimore doing a book tour ends up in some small town. The sheriff there asks him if he's interesting in reading his work. He's got an idea for a book about a serial killer. Baltimore isn't interested.He finds out that Edgar Poe stayed at the local hotel so he visits it, it's closed down by now. Late afternoon he goes for a stroll and the world turns black and white. A girl walks next to him, she's got buck teeth and braces. They walk to the hotel which is in operation now. She tells him that's where the children died. She asks for help. We learn that his daughter died in a boating accident, she was the girls age. Then he wakes up.Now he's starting to get interested in the town. The sheriff's got a corpse in a morgue with a stake through the heart. He suspects it's a serial killer and that's what his book is about. It's to be called The Vampire Executioner. There are troubled and troubling kids living across the lake who get blamed for pretty much everything. Baltimore agrees to write the book. He's already in trouble with his editor who demands another book in his witch series, but Baltimore wants to write a book for himself. His family is in financial troubles, the wife threatens to sell an expensive book. Now with this vampire idea he gets an advance from the editor. But he has to submit an outline in 24 hours.Baltimore goes back to sleep. He sees what happened to the dead children. Poe appears and they talk about writing. When he wakes up, he and the sheriff travel to meet the problematic kids. Back at the sheriff's office they play the Ouija board. And the stories of the kids and the corpse merge and Baltimore will get the inspiration he needs after all this gets personalized with the story of his daughter.Twixt sure is unlike any other movie, for better or worse. The dream sequences are in black and white with some yellow or red color for some items like flames and curtains. There's a high level of artsiness here that coupled with a lack of interesting characters and storyline makes eventually give up. But you do try and you want to like this movie. The character of Poe gets the most interesting lines but the look of the scenes in black and white end up backfiring. So yes, it's about writing, about inspiration, and it's all well done but it's just not enough.

If you like your films to come with a plot written out in large crayon letters then this isn't for you. It is twisted and deliberately confusing - though not so much you can't see what is going on if you pay attention. It is more intriguing than creepy, and I thought a good evocation of the atmosphere and experience it was trying to capture (an experience which most films miserably fail to achieve). Val Kilmer plays his part very well. I felt rather sorry for Joanne Whalley - an important bit part in the story, but not really present in person (one step up from an off-stage voice). It's the sort of film where you wonder afterwards if the bits you thought were straightforward were actually references and metaphors. The weakest part of the story was the group of young Goths/neo-pagan camped out on the far side of the lake. Although they were a necessary plot device, and foil to the complacent contentment of the town, they seem rather 2-dimensional.

This is an artsy fartsy film which I enjoyed very much. In an early segment of the film, dialogue even "joked" about stylistic writing of horror stories when the lead character's (Val Kilmer) publisher told him he'd better not write anything "stylistic." The ending was a bit less than spectacular; this is my only complaint. But it worked.You won't like this if you prefer horror thrillers which have fast action, lots of young people half nude and screaming and gore everywhere. It does have young people, it does have a bit of gore, but, mostly, it has an abstract presentation of a story and a state of mind. Ignore the fact that it is Val Kilmer, who has fallen into a rut of 5 and Dime movies. This one is good.

Very strange the reviews I am reading about this film, and the harsh criticism towards the director Francis Ford Coppola. I believe they are not happy with his change of genre, it was a very unlike Francis Ford Coppola type film but also a brilliant debut in the Horror/Thriller category for him.The acting was brilliant, a return to form for Val Kilmer, a typical reliable performance from Bruce Dern as the small town Sheriff and a good performance by Ben Chaplin as Edgar Allen Poe. Also narrated by Tom Waites.The music was haunting and the dream sequences were very well done.One I would deffinatley watch again.