Goodnight, Mommy: In Hindsight...

Goodnight Mummy has been praised as a truly horrific foreign film and not many write-ups give the details away. It's another long, slow-burn that focuses on isolation and atmosphere to deliver the scares.

The plot follows two boys whose mother has just had restorative plastic surgery. Only something's wrong.

It's a good hook, and the film draws you in from the outset. Mommy's bandages and threatening aura do make her a tense character. Both boys do a brilliant job of carrying the movie and stay distinct characters. Their relationship is believable and heartfelt, and is what drives the force of the narrative.

Unfortunately, it's obvious from the first scene with the mother what the twist is. Maybe the subtitles were just too on the nose, but I guessed it quick. It does dampen the impact of the reveal a little, which is a shame.

So it's a good thing the film doesn't go how you'd expect. Halfway through, our antagonists and protagonists switch places. Then the ball gets rolling. The scenes become heavy and hard to watch (in the way you'd want from a horror movie), and you're left guessing whether the boys are right or not. It's uncomfortable in a way that makes it deserve its place on disturbing movie lists. It's this question of the film that keeps you on your toes and justifies the long run time.

Again, there's an unfortunate side to this. There's so much set up in the first half that makes the reveal of the truth...interesting. The film goes out of its way to show how oddly the mother is acting that the sudden pivot, and real story leaves some questions. Perhaps the odd behaviour is all in the boys' heads. Otherwise, watching it back knowing the twist would make it absurd.

It either needed to lean entirely into the odd behaviour and dream sequences to have us entirely on the boys' side, or explain a little more on the other side. As it stands, the mother's excuses are logical but not all the way understandable and we're left with more questions than answers. It's the way of films that win awards, particularly horror, but its not always satisfying to the viewer. We're left with too many questions in a frustrating ending. Was that worth the slow burn horror? Especially when some of the most pivotal questions are left unanswered?

And let's not talk about the cat. Killing an animal is always a cheap blow in horror. Again, here, it seems much too evil than the second half of the film would have us believe.

It's worth giving a shot if you can turn the plot-twist guessing part of your brain off for a bit, but be prepared to be googling that ending.