Based on the 2015 Austrian horror film of the same name from writers/directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, Matt Sobel’s remake of Goodnight Mommy, starring Naomi Watts falls very much in the column of why bother when weighing the benefits of an English-speaking version versus a craftier, often scarier incarnation.
In the opening frames of the film, twin brothers Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lucas (Nicholas Crovetti) are dropped off by their father to spend some time with their mother (Watts) at her country home. Almost immediately, the pair sense that something is amiss with mom and, as they watch the bandaged woman purporting to be their mother, the twins begin to suspect that something sinister has happened to their actual mother, possibly even involving this obvious imposter.
Even the appearance of local law enforcement, in the guise of Officers Sandy (Crystal Lucas-Perry) and Gary (Jeremy Bobb), does little to calm the boys’ increasing anxiety and unease over their purported mother’s seemingly erratic behavior. This inevitably leads the twins to formulate a plan to get to the bottom of their missing mother once and for all, whatever the consequences.
While the mood and atmosphere of the film remains sufficiently creepy to justify the horror moniker, there exists little in the way of drama or suspense once the so-called crux of the story starts to unfold. It is one of those films that may reveal its intentions to you far earlier than it wanted to or should have, and it suffers enormously for it.
Director Matt Sobel – whose earlier Take Me to the River (2015), displayed far more promise than his latest film – does little to make the updated Goodnight Mommy his own. Instead, Kyle Warren’s script relies more on jump cuts and sound cues to invoke scares than anything more tangible before descending into a somewhat confusing game of cat-and-mouse that ultimately tries to deliver a “gotcha” reveal that many will probably have guessed already.
While there are elements within Goodnight Mommy that might mislead one into crediting it with more than it is due – Watts does an admirable job with the role of the mother straddling reality and the macabre, but there is little she can do to save something that deteriorates as quickly into a clunky horror film as Goodnight Mommy ultimately becomes.
Mike Tyrkus
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