Goodnight Mommy (2015)

> If a mother isn't being one, her own child would doubt her.

The Austrian thriller-drama, is going to contend with another nearly 100 movies from the different countries for the upcoming (2016) American Academy Awards. I hope it will make into the final shortlist and my wishes to the cast and the crew. A minimal cast movie, set in an isolated lake house where the 9 years old twin boys and their mother lives. After their mother returning from the major facial surgery, the brothers doubts is she's the same person. They have no choice, but have to go for an unusual route to find out the truth.

Initially it was very slow, but keeps accelerating since the beginning of the second half and it ends strongly. You have to be an open minded, that is very important especially for this movie. Try to understand what it delivers than what you want see. I mean prediction is okay, but don't assume in a wider aspect. The narration was so simple and you may think the end is so cliche, but the movie does not bother to provide a surprise. Before going to talk about the twist, you have clear a couple of things.

The first question you have to answer yourself is what is 'horror' mean to you. The demons? The ghosts? Other creepy creatures? The zombies? Possession and exorcism? Haunted places and objects? Imposter? You know 'terror' is also called 'horror', which is a very close to the 'thriller' than being an actual 'horror'. Different movies explain in a different way, but this movie is not that distinctive from those, except being unconventional in revealing the details related to the story and characters.

> "I want you to repeat ten times
> that I'm your mother."

This film had a few diversions in the name of the genre. That is the reason why it failed to satisfy the horror fans, but so much better without mentioning that around. You have to be careful from the beginning itself, observing closely every scene. Because the storytelling commences with a hint within the first 10 minutes which is equivalent to the twist. You must get it right, or the rest of the narration won't be interesting enough.

So it is a one time shot, for the second time watch it won't be that effective. Some people deny the casual twist that comes in the first act which is too early for them and so they expects one in the final section only to get disappointed. Nothing wrong with the audience getting annoyed, but the film being atypical, just changing the order of all the three acts, that's it. The writer wanted the viewers to keep guessing throughout the their watch. That's the twist in the filmmaking, not in the actual film. Other than that it was not a smartest movie with the turnovers to amaze or confuse you.

I mean it has a proper conclusion, and you would know what it is, but should have to wait for how it's going to take place. I have seen many guys criticising that part particularly, but I felt it was good and made the movie a better product. Definitely one of the best films of the year, especially in my perception. From the posters to the trailer and teaser to the movie, it was being truthful. Never intend to cheat you, except like I said if you assume the things to happen in your way. Specially a big NO to the fancy stuffs like graphics and high pitch sudden sound/noise that's very common in horror to scare you. If you are a Hollywood fanatic, you definitely miss those doses and blame the movie.

A great directional debut as well as the twins with the real names on-screen. It got some intense scares, but limits the grossness. Had less dialogues and more in acts. Pretty rare movie and I am surprised that the critics liked this film more than the movie fanatics. But I'm happy that I'm not one of those to dislike it being a movie buff. My only disappointment is the outro scene (the exit scene) (in Hollywood it for kissing) which comes after the conclusion and before the end credit (sometimes, along the credit). I strongly recommend it, and I hope you consider some of the points I wrote in this review, otherwise I barely recommend it.

8/10

Less than I hoped it would be.

I went into this film spoiler free, knowing nothing more than the tag line. While it was well acted and well paced for the most part, the twist was heavy handed and obvious from early on. Maybe I would have liked this film more if there was more subtlety to it. A good film should still entertain if you know the twist or not, and for me, guessing it so early just hampered my enjoyment. The denouement was handled well, but the lead up let it down.