Directors: Severin Fiala & Veronika Franz
Cast: Lukas Schwarz, Elias Schwarz, Susanne Wuest, Hans Escher, Elfriede Schatz, Karl Purker
Running Time: 99 mins
Release Date: March 2016
In GOODNIGHT MOMMY, a mother returns home to her two young boys after having reconstructive surgery on her face. As her behaviour becomes stranger, the boys become convinced the woman underneath the bandages is not their real mother.
The film tries to keep you guessing but it is actually pretty predictable. A big reveal happens early on in the plot and you have to try to figure out if the boys’ mother really is who she says she is. A lot of details are kept ambiguous and deliberately make you wonder about what is really going on or what has really happened beforehand (for example, it is never fully explained why their mother has had surgery) – this aspect is one of the film’s strongest qualities. The biggest let down for Goodnight Mommy is that the beginning moves at an extremely slow pace. Some of these sequences are effective and build up a tense atmosphere, but others just drag on for a bit too long and leave you bored.
The two young boys (Lukas and Elias Schwarz) give excellent performances. Without giving too much away, they really do help keep the story interesting. It would be too easy to get boys to walk around with blank expressions on their faces, as so many horror movies tend to do these days. They are believable, realistic, and are clearly very good child actors.
The final act of the film is where the pace really picks up and things not only start to get interesting, they get disturbing too. The climax makes up for all of the boring stretches at the beginning. There are some points which are difficult to watch and others that are quite horrifying, this makes a great contrast to the beginning of the film where nothing major really happens. This is a good example of a film building up to something effective. The beginning of the film is almost too generic, so it would be understandable if a lot of people didn’t stick around to watch the ending – but please do!
Overall, Goodnight Mommy is not a great thriller, but it does have its moments and is worth a watch if you are a fan of slow-paced thrillers or modern Austrian/German cinema.
Verdict
