Goodnight Mommy

It’s always really interesting to me to see how each race reacts differently to what’s happening on screen in horror movies. Caucasians typically just sit there and appropriately gasp silently to themselves while clutching their significant other. While Asians, girls in particular, quite literally jump up and start screaming in their chairs; once again living up to everything you’ve seen in those hilarious YouTube videos online. And then there’s the Blacks and the Latinos, who you can always rely on to yell as loudly as they possibly can "Aw hell naw! Girl, get yo ass out the house now! All of whom, quickly reaffirm everything what you’ve come to expect from their demographics at this point.

So whenever I see news stories about people who have either survived or lost their lives to intruders or predators, I’m never really surprised by the outcomes, because typically their behaviors are reflective of their horror movie reactions.

Now the reason I say all of this is because I knew right off the bat how the two brothers in Goodnight Mommy would react to their particular situation when I saw that their "mom" gave them some refreshing Kool-Aid to drink for a snack one afternoon. Granted it was from one of those fancy pitchers and she poured into in a nice glass, but the point remains, there weren’t any Hi-C boxes for these kids! I guess they keep things gangsta rural Austria!

Anyway, I put mom in quotes because the story starts when two young brothers, Lukas and Elias, come home one day and see their mother’s face completely wrapped in bandages. She apparently has had serious plastic or reconstructive surgery done to her face, but the reason for it is never fully disclosed. You do learn however that she is a television personality of some sort, so you can’t help but believe that that had something to do with it.

The issue for the two boys is that she is not acting anywhere near the way their mother used to before she had the surgery. She doesn’t seem to be picking up on certain things that a normal mother would, she’s short and testy with them, and she displays oddball behavior like randomly punishing one of them and only cooking dinner for the other. Things get so bad in fact, that at one point in the movie that the boys decide to run away and seek help from the local priest. But he of course doesn’t believe them, so it’s up to them to find out once and for all if it’s really her or if it’s simply someone who is there to hurt them.

Now this isn’t a horror movie in the traditional sense of the word; there aren’t any hatchet men or killer clowns that randomly show up. It instead works as a mind bending suspense thriller that takes you all the way back to the days of Alfred Hitchcock. The weird angles and creepy set design the directors use to tell the story adds to the overall chilling nature of what’s happening to these two inseparable boys. And the fact that they basically look alike, makes you wonder if twins should be added to the list of common phobias like clowns are.

But towards the end of the film, you finally get what you came to see, a horror classic that ranks right up there with the likes of The Shining and Children of the Corn. Things all of a sudden take a turn for the weird and you find yourself squirming in your seat from all of the haunting images you see on screen; some of which will last with you for weeks. And by the time you walk out of the theater, you will feel great about the fact that you’re not a parent and that you don’t have to spend a significant amount of time around any children.

I loved this movie simply for the fact that it literally had me thinking about every scene I saw in it, just to be sure that I didn’t miss anything. And any horror movie that has blood and boobs in it, instantly has me sold. I rate this movie as very FRESH and I suggest that you go see it.