Goodnight Mommy

 

Goodnight Mommy
Starring Naomi Watts, Cameron Crovetti, Nicholas Crovetti, Peter Hermann
Directed by Matt Sobel

When it comes to international horror, there's no comparison: they're downright revolutionary, going beyond any borders American filmmakers dare to go in providing not just cheap scares, but truly visceral moments that seep into your very bones and leaves you a changed person. Not relying on jump scares or teeny-bopper tales, the international community knows how to really terrify audiences and leave them spellbound. From Japan comes the likes of "Ringu," "One Cut of the Dead," and "Ju-On." France has had a resurgence known as the New French Extremity with films like "Martyrs," "Inside," and "Irreversible." The remainder of the European nation has also had their fair share of unrelenting and thought-provoking horror including "Let the Right One In" and "Goodnight Mommy." While America does have its own horror charms, they can't help but try to duplicate the success of the international horror market, and with less-than-stellar results. While their remakes of "Ringu" ("The Ring"), "Ju-On" ("The Grudge") and "Let the Right One In" ("Let Me In") were very successful and impactful in their own right, many of the other remakes - such as "Martyrs," "Inside," and most recently "Goodnight Mommy" - fail to capture what made the originals so memorable, and "Americanizes" them into meaningless remakes devoid of any soul, purpose, or meaning.

Twins Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lukas (Nicholas Crovetti) are being taken to their Mother (Naomi Watts) by their Father (Peter Hermann) after she underwent a medical surgery that left her face covered in bandages. Their Father leaves them, and while they're unsure of their Mother's appearance, at first everything seems back to normal - until Elias and Lukas witness their Mother acting strangely: she smokes when she didn't before, she won't sing them their favorite bedtime song, and she tore up the picture Elias drew for her, something completely out of character for her. When she showcases angry and erratic behavior, Lukas suggests that she isn't really their Mother, and that she's an imposter - and it's up to Elias and Lukas to find out what happened to their real Mother by any means necessary.

The Austrian version of "Goodnight Mommy" was released in 2015, and was so acclaimed that the nation submitted it for consideration for the Best Foreign Film Oscar (it didn't receive the nomination). The film was a dark, terrifying, and downright unnerving portrayal of the greatest fear of a child: their loving mother having been swapped for some evil being. The kids stop at nothing to prove that this imposter mother is a fake, and it turns out extremely gory and violent - and that's the one thing (besides the ending) that the Americanized version omits. While it's pretty much a shot-for-shot remake, it loses its tension with its lack of gore, violence, and necessity. It turns more into something akin to "Home Alone" rather than a pulse-pounding mystery thriller that the Austrian version supplied.

Naomi Watts has become the grand master of remakes, appearing in the aforementioned "The Ring" remake as well as "Kong Kong" and a slew of others, and she always brings a touch of elegance, grace, and sophistication to any project. So while "Goodnight Mommy" is pretty much a dull mess, her presence alone elevates it from the bottom of the barrel, but sadly doesn't rise it that much further. She gives it all she's got, but it's not enough to save it from a slow...painfully slow for only 90 minutes...submergence into the ocean of horror remake mediocrity. The children - played by twins Cameron and Nicolas Crovetti - are absolutely insufferable and joins the ranks of the kid from "The Ring" and "The Babadook" as the more irritating little terrors out there.

Obviously I'm biased because I saw the original and how superior it is to this, but even trying to see it through the lens of someone who doesn't hold the original in such high regard, it really doesn't hit the same. You can see the direction the story goes from the onset, and there's no subtle nuances or connections that the original had - it pretty much hits you in the face with it from the beginning, leaving no room for wonder or mystery. It's polished, it's bland, it's something completely unnecessary and was only made because some Americans don't want to read subtitles.

The Score: D+