The film is most unsettling when it exploits the gaps in the audience’s knowledge, gaps that don’t initially seem to exist but that become apparent as the film turns darker. There are no neighbors for miles-instead, the family’s isolation is fortified by cornfields, a lake, a forest, and, sometimes, locks on the doors. Like Stanley Kubrick in The Shining, Franz and Fiala expertly harvest the natural claustrophobia that can crop up even in a physically expansive setting. The story takes place in a gorgeous family home, but in the hands of directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the property’s stylish modernism and blog-worthy decor quickly start to feel oppressive as the house feels more prison-like. (It’s a great watch for those who think modern horror films are all rubbish.) Visually and tonally, it’s quite beautiful, a welcome break from the recycled, low-budget fare that’s recently been dominating the annual scary-movie menu. Goodnight Mommy’s title-punched up for English-language audiences from its original German name Ich seh Ich seh (or I See I See)-cheapens the film’s highbrow aspirations. The result is a deeply sad, and at times intensely violent, parable about the love between a parent and child-and the horrifying consequences when that love appears to be lost. The three move like leashed animals throughout the house, tiptoeing around each other as the boys try to unmask her, both literally and figuratively.

But something seems off about her to the boys-she’s more distant, she’s forgetful, she’s sleeping a lot, not to mention she cuts a terrifying figure with her bony frame and a head swathed in bandages. The Terrifying Future of the American Right David BrooksĬreepy props aside, the minimalist Austrian horror film focuses on just three main characters-a woman (Susanne Wuest) who returns home from having facial surgery to her young twin sons Elias and Lukas (played by actors of the same names).

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