Goodnight Mommy

After a stunningly unnerving trailer that got American audiences to sit up and take notice, the Austrian film "Goodnight Mommy" ultimately disappoints.

For those who don't watch a lot of horror films, this thriller from first time feature writer/directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz might seem highly original and wholly creepy. But fans of the genre will notice a few common plot twists along with an ending that feels all too familiar.

Set in an isolated house in Austria, nine-year-old twin brothers Elias and Lukas (played by Elias and Lukas Schwarz) spend their days exploring the caves and cornfields of the countryside while they wait for their Mother (Susanne Wuest) to return home. When she does, her face is completely bandaged as the result of an operation we aren't privy to the reason for. Because she is a TV host, one would assume that she had plastic surgery, but with mom acting weird this might not be the case.

Mildly emotionally abusive and distant, their mother isn't the warmest of caretakers, and she clearly has a problem with son Lukas, whom she completely ignores. As the days pass, her behavior appears to be stranger and more discomforting, leading the brothers to believe she is not their mother at all, but instead an impostor. The two try to uncover what happened to dear old mom, just as the audience finally starts to realize things aren't exactly what they seem.

I won't spoil any of the twists in this film for those that might not catch on so fast. But suffice to say that even half-heartedly savvy audiences will be able to figure out one of the twists in the first few minutes of the film. This is unfortunate, as it could have been a truly riveting reveal in the end, but instead we just wait for other characters to catch up. It's also a twist done in more than a handful of horror movies and, quite frankly, feels really stale at this point. The tone and outcome of the film's finale also feels like many horror films we've seen before, so ultimately you just walk out of the movie with a shrug.

Flala and Franz initially set up a tremendously creepy tone to the film that promises great things to come. When the boys are playing near a cave and one enters the darkness while a deep, penetrating tone on the soundtrack plays under it, we are truly anxious as to what may occur. Flala and Franz do this a number of times with unusual scenes that point at a greater and potentially more paranormal mystery unfolding. Unfortunately, many of these are simple misdirects that have no explanation, making them all come across as a bit cheap. (There are at least two fake-out dream sequences, as well.) It's okay to misdirect the audience, but there should be a solid reason for doing so.

Similarly, once all of the truths are revealed, you look back and realize just how many unanswered questions there are that were set up for the sole purpose of making you nervous; yet, ultimately they had no point. This is frustrating, especially when the film is so well made you ache for it to be better than it is.

At the end of the day, this is a movie for non-horror movie fans. It's a film that can be appreciated for its unsettling tone, fine performances, set design, and cinematography. But the script needed to have more punch and not rely on tricks and plot points we've seen before. Granted, the film takes a third act turn that subverts our expectations, but it still fails to either scare or make us really care.

This isn't a terrible movie by any means. There is a lot to appreciate here and the directors have a fine career in front of them. I just wish they had given us a more surprising script so that the film could have went down as a classic instead of a footnote.