Being that we are in October, I figured it would be the perfect time to see what we can find in terms of horror for Mubi Monday. First up, we have an Austrian film with…Goodnight Mommy (2014).
Title: Goodnight Mommy
Directors: Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
Released: August 30, 2014 (Venice Film Festival)
Available to stream on: Mubi and Tubi
Elias and Lukas (played by real-life twins Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz) are practically joined at the hip. The two are always together, whether they’re playing outdoors, collecting bugs, or doing chores around the house. They are eagerly awaiting the return of their mother (Susanne Wuest) who has undergone facial reconstruction surgery as the result of an accident.
When she does come home, the boys are happy, but something just feels off. This woman looks like their mother, but Elias and Lukas are not convinced that the person who went in for surgery and the person in their home now are not the same. Things seem even weirder to the boys when their mother begins to only speak to and acknowledge the presence of Elias, completely ignoring Lukas as if he didn’t even exist.
Unfortunately for both Elias and Lukas, there isn’t an easy way for this woman posing as their mother to convince them that she is who she claims to be. In fact, the boys already demanded to see the birthmark their mother has, surely that’d be a simple way to clear all of this up. That is, until the woman refuses to play their silly little games.
Will the twins be able to convince themselves that they were wrong?
Or is there an actual stranger now posing as their mother?
Well, that was certainly something.
Personally, I’d like to know where the movie is that we were promised in the trailer. Because what the trailer shows us and what we actually got could not be more different.
Whenever you see kids in a horror movie, one of two things are about to happen. Either the kids are going to die, or they are going to be some of the most sadistic kids you’ve ever seen. That is, unless they’re the kids in Goodnight Mommy. Yes, there is an overwhelming sense of uneasiness that kind of hangs over you throughout the viewing. But there isn’t anything here to really push that feeling over the top. There’s not much of a score to help build/create tension, there’s very little creative use of shadows and/or lighting, and there’s very little given to the audience to allow them to fully invest in the wellbeing of anyone.
The “twist” is revealed rather early on in a way that suggests the directors didn’t ever intend to keep it much of a secret. As a result, I sat there just waiting for a second twist to happen…except it never came.
That’s not to say that there needed to be a second twist. However, for things to work effectively with only one twist, we needed a ton more backstory. Not just on one specific thing though, we needed more about the mother, the brothers, the family dynamic, and the unfortunate accident.
Without this added backstory, Goodnight Mommy borders on being painfully slow and plodding. It would have worked better as a thirty-to-forty-five-minute short film.
Well, what about you?
If you’ve seen Goodnight Mommy (2014), sound off with your thoughts on it!
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