The ultimate problem with any movie that relies on some sort of "twist" is that you can only be surprised once. If the movie is fairly well made..."Us", for example...or a couple of other famous titles featuring a few famous names that I won't even bother mentioning here, because both of those films rely on the exact same gimmick as this one (if you watch this until the end, you'll figure out which ones I'm talking about)...they bear repeat viewing. Not just to figure out how you were fooled in the first place, but you get to absorb the character relationships from an entirely different perspective. However, if you're able to figure out what's going on before the movie pulls back the curtain, then all you're left with is the story and the characters, which bear closer scrutiny. In the case of "Goodnight Mommy", it would have probably helped if the entire film weren't told through the eyes of two twin boys with no personalities or emotions between them. The initial premise is flawed from the get-go: the boys believe that their mother is somehow acting "different" post-surgery (she spends the first half of the movie with her entire face bandaged), but we're NEVER given a scene with her interacting with her sons PRE-surgery, so we have no idea what their relationship was like before. So we sit and watch these two dullards stare at each other, stare out of windows, stare at their mother (who may not even be their mother), play with (and stare at) cockroaches, they even run away from home where they stare at a few townsfolk. Sometimes, they back-sass their mother (who may be a stranger) and we have a few scenes where they devise some vague plan to find out the truth. This is the first 60 or so minutes of the movie. If you haven't checked out by then (because you'll figure out what's going on within the first 5-10 minutes), the second half picks up steam by becoming a foreign "art film" version of "Saw", which admittedly for this viewer had a few tense, but still frustrating moments. Then, after all the buildup, we finally get the punchline, which, again, even Stevie Wonder could see coming from 100 miles away...and then, it's over. And we're left with no insight on what led up to this and why, just a "GOTCHA!" moment, which honestly, has been done much better in movies far below the "prestige" of movies like this. In fact, the idea that this film thinks it's smarter than it actually IS gives it an air of pretentiousness that really leaves a bad taste in your mouth hours after you've seen it. In spite of it all, it DOES have a few good things going for it. The Mother/Stranger (Susanne Wuest, "A Cure For Wellness") is quite good, as is the cinematography. As for the twins, played by Elias and Lukas Schwarz (whose play two characters named Elias and Lukas), maybe if they were given a better script and better direction other than "blank stare", I would have cared more about them and their predicament.

Final Verdict: there's better ways to waste two hours.

I am giving this film 3 stars because I was not able to continue to watch it and am basing it on what I saw. When the twins found the stray cat I was predicting that something bad would happen to the cat and I cannot watch animal torture or worse - so I had to turn it off . I wanted to watch the rest, but cannot take the animal torture stuff. Sorry I could not give more information...I really wish I could have watched the film because it had me hooked until that part. If anyone can let me know about the cat scene etc. I would appreciate it.

Why isnt this movie getting better reviews??? I thought it was FANTASTIC!!! ( its takes an exceptional film for me to leave a review- i do not take time to review films normally but this one deserves it) It had a VERY UNEXPECTED ending. Bravo to the film maker. It shows the bond between brothers and twins - and so much more but i dont want any spoilers in my review. I am SO glad i watched this and didnt go by the reviews. Its now on my top 20 movie list now. I really loved this!! WOW! Give this a chance, you will not be disappointed !!

𝑺𝒉𝒆'𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕.

Goodnight Mommy is a 2014 Austrian psychological horror film. The film is written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala.
Elias and Lukas are two twin boys who do everything together - from collecting beetles to feeding stray cats. After welcoming their mother home following reconstructive surgery her bandaged face and distant demeanor make them grow increasingly suspicious of her identity.

If you seen one you've seen them all - or, at least that's what dedicated fans of horror are likely to say about their experience with ‘Goodnight Mommy’. The good news for people that can't relate is this: that the scariest moments are in the trailer for this film. I myself always appreciate a lack of dependency on jump-scares, but this doesn't keep France and Fiala from utilizing elements that are haphazardly tropey in the context that is ‘GM’. Martin Gshlacht’s Cinematography lends to the atmospheric lack of ease by capturing moments of familiarity and warping haimish symbols that otherwise should provide a sense of comfort. It's difficult to infer why certain elements are included as they appear to only exaggerate the eccentricity of the core characters (spoiler alert: people with an aversion to animal abuse or gore fixated around the mouth need not subject themselves to this), but it doesn't compromise the potential for elasticity of the overarching circumstances at hand.

Early on ‘Goodnight Mommy’ riddles its potential for ingenuity with a slew of bullet size potholes. I'm certainly not one to complain when a mystery is afoot as I’m not one to ruminate over possibilities, but there is room to validate points of contention held together by some suspension from reality. The nature of the mom’s identity is constantly called into question, but this often leads to a conversation that chases its own tail; demands to prove her Identity are bluntly stunted, put through the wringer, and then slapped back on to the drawing board. There's much to be said about the myriad of ways in which mom is “baited” into this conversation as it relates to a child's view of the world, but the tediousness of it all might lull some viewers to sleep. It is worth acknowledging the use of dramatic irony since many interactions and behaviors appear to be done in secret that only audience members are made privy to, but at the end of the day even this irony seems more like a consolation prize then it does a necessary plot device.

Interestingly enough, the subject matter of ‘Goodnight Mommy’ had a significant influence on how the casting pool for it was subsequently skimmed through. Out of 120 pairs of twins that auditioned Elias and Lukas Schwarz Were chosen because of their appearances (at it presumes innocence) and their reactions to commands encouraging some need for vague improvisation on the spot. The performances seen here aren't exactly “exceptional”, but they're straightforward and self-guided tenacity (as the children also didn’t have a script made available to them and instead learned about the story as it was filmed in chronological order) effectively hurdles over muddled nuances and exhausted clichés while smoothly carrying the casual nature of terror that makes ‘Goodnight Mommy’ psychologically distressing.

All Things Considered - the suspense maintained throughout is not compounded with an attempt to surprise; there certainly is a twist laying in wake for audience members, but within the first 10 to 15 minutes the cat is let out the bag. The screenwriter's conveniently laid kafkatrap is foiled by an inability to fully commit to moments that could tease truths and understandably forces certain points of engagement to violently hit a brick wall. Alternatively, for audience members interested in understanding 𝒘𝒉𝒚 the twist is happening as opposed to simply seeing how it plays out: this is where the film and it's potential for enjoyment really begins.
Hence my cue.

Grief, trauma, and the way they can rear their ugly heads is nothing new to the horror genre: it’s beaten to death in films like 𝑯𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒌 (2005) and subtly reaffirmed in ones like 𝑴𝒊𝒅𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓 (2019). ‘Goodnight Mommy’ simmers in its deliberately heartbreaking premise with delicacy and successfully personifies a brutally tangible desperation for normalcy following a period of significant loss and calamity. Its attempts at misdirection fall short under evidently conspicuous dialogue and interactions, but it's the everlasting certainty of it all that makes ‘GM’ a slow burn in more ways than one.

When conceptualized as a story about maneuvering around change it's fairly easy to understand how France and Fiala fail to boast claims to a structurally secured conundrum or a relatively stationary target. It is apparent by far that ’Goodnight Mommy’’s aim has much room for improvement, but its nefarious endorsement of sayings that suggest home can be a person and that there's no place quite like it makes the shots that it does take uncomfortably close and consistently commendable.

While the movie has solid acting and pretty cinematography, the plot is, as another reviewer pointed out, almost entirely lifted from a South Korean film called "A Tale of Two Sisters". If you haven't seen that movie, you may well enjoy Goodnight Mommy, but I would recommend A Tale of Two Sisters over this film. It's better executed in my opinion.

Massive spoilers for both films incoming, and by that I mean I will utterly ruin the experience if you haven't seen either:

In both films, there are two siblings who suspect their mother of something nefarious (it's their stepmother in A Tale of Two Sisters). Two Sisters is a lot more subtle about the twist, which is the same; one of the children is dead, but the other won't accept it and still sees them as being there. The seemingly abusive or irrational behavior of the mother is caused by her trying to break through the child's delusions and make them acknowledge the death of their sibling. Goodnight Mommy honestly comes across more as a German remake with a few details changed and a clumsier reveal than it's own movie.

I absolutely loved it! Granted, I do watch a lot of foreign language films, so I'm used to European films which can seem a bit quiet compared to American films that have background music. I was hoping it would have been a bit scarier though. The trailer was a bit misleading, as it made it look like it was overtly scary and something more obviously stereotypical of a horror film. But the movie was indeed very, very creepy, and the slow pacing throughout the beginning and middle really contribute to the effect of the ending.

If you're into foreign films, cerebral thrillers and slow-to-build movies, I think you'll really enjoy it! If you're looking for something more "scary" then it's not really for you.

I will not give away this movie’s “twist” ending, but I will say it is a twist I have seen in so many thrillers over the past twenty years that I spotted it almost immediately.

It was so obvious, in fact, that I wondered if it was some kind of red herring and the real twist was still to come. It wasn’t, though. They ride with it until the end, making the movie boring when it should be tense.

But I have to admit that parts of this film have stuck in my mind just the same. It deserves three stars because even with the flaccid payoff, there is enough that remains unsettling, if being unsettled is what you are looking for.

Twin brothers Elias and Lukas (played by Elias and Lukas Schwarz) live in a huge, isolated house in the middle of the forest with their mother (Susanne Wuest). When will people learn that owning a huge, isolated house in the middle of the forest is going to land you in a horror film?

The boys’ mother comes home from a plastic surgery operation with her face covered in bandages. She exhibits strange behavior: Talking only to Elias and ignoring Lukas completely. She insists all the blinds in the house stay closed and that the boys sit in silence during the day.

The two of them become convinced that this bandage-covered woman cannot be their real mother, that she must be an imposter of some kind.

She may be a long-lost aunt they see in an old photograph, or she may not be human at all. Indeed, Elias has a dream in which he sneaks into his mother’s room while she is asleep, cuts her open and finds she is filled with cockroaches.

The movie grows disturbing as it delves unexpectedly into torture porn. The two boys tie their mother to her bed and try to draw a confession out of her. Some of their unsettling tactics involve super glue and dental floss. Two nine-year-old children being so relentlessly cruel to their mother is a bit difficult to watch, upending our preconceptions about the sacred bond between a mother and child.

After a few days of this agony, the “twist” is revealed.

I know this movie got positive reviews from critics. It certainly had potential to be a memorable and scary film. There are some truly shocking moments and the actors are great.

What a shame they had to go with that moldy old chestnut again. Twisting the twist a little bit more, possibly bringing in some supernatural elements, would have helped out a lot.

A few things about this movie don't make sense. For most of the movie's runtime, we are conditioned to believe that the mother is cruel/alien (and may not even be the boys' real mother). The clincher is the scene where the mother runs into the woods, takes off her clothes, and her head starts spinning around wildly and in an anatomically impossible fashion (alien style). At this point, it is clear that something is not normal with the mother. However, at the end of the movie, it is revealed that one of the twin boys is actually dead (Lukas), and the other boy (Elias) is just imagining/conjuring up his twin brother. The mother begs for her life and concedes that she will pretend that Lukas is still alive. So....what about the earlier alien scene with the mother? How is that explained away? Are we now supposed to believe that she is a normal mother with a delusional and psycho child who can't let go of his brother's death?