“Goodnight Mommy” (Amazon Prime), a probably unnecessary remake of the 2014 Austrian film, is a sparse and score-driven mood picture. The main characters are twins of about 12 years old played by the boys from “Big Little Lies.” They think their mom – wearing a facemask after surgery for some unknown reason – isn’t really their mom.
Scary childhood scenario
Director Matt Sobel’s film has a difficult task because it’s a nightmare scenario for little kids in domestic-abuse situations. Your parent is who keeps you safe and warm; if that goes away, your whole world switches to terrifying.
Yet “Goodnight Mommy” is too dark for young viewers. Therefore the psychological scares rely on a viewer going back to their worse childhood fears. And Sobel doesn’t quite get there.
“Goodnight Mommy” (2022)
Director: Matt Sobel
Writers: Kyle Warren (screenplay); Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala (original film)
Stars: Naomi Watts, Cameron Crovetti, Nicholas Crovetti
Still, there is an inherent watchability to this simple mystery. Naomi Watts’ title character apparently isn’t really their mom – so who is she? What’s under the mask? What is her goal? Or, alternatively, if she truly is their mom, then what is the reason for her out-of-character, scary behavior?
With the always reliable Watts leading the way, and with Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti (as Elias and Lukas) carrying over their kinda spooky acting from “BLL,” “Goodnight Mommy” hints at something deeper.
Twisting the story’s bow
At 92 minutes long, it’s not a lot to ask a viewer to wait for these “WTH is going on?” questions to be answered. Yet at times it does feel like Kyle Warren’s screenplay is treading water – making a short film into one of feature length.
The scariest moment – the one that would be a classic in the practical-gore-effects days – comes in a dream sequence. While it illustrates Elias’ fears, it conveniently keeps the plot at the same point.
This is one of those films where you say “This is OK, but the ending is going to determine whether it was worth my time.” The ending is decent. It’s a twist from what had been suggested, but everything still slots into place. I didn’t guess it, but I bet some viewers will.
The revelation of what was really going on is an opportunity for “Goodnight Mommy” to drip with darkly tragic poignancy, and it doesn’t quite get there – despite composer Alex Weston’s straining. I didn’t feel the emotions like I was supposed to.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the difference between this version (5.6 on IMDb) and the original (6.7). I chose to watch this English-language version because I generally dislike subtitled horror. But because “Goodnight Mommy’s” premise is so simple, it could be watched as a silent film if the actors are expressive enough. I likely made the wrong choice of which version to watch.
