As "Goodnight Mommy" (2022 release; 92 min) opens, Elias and Lukas are dropped of at their mom's place, as dad hurries away after the drop-off. Much to their surprise, mom's face is in bandages, resulting from "a little procedure", per mom. Soon things feel very off. IS this really their mom? At this point we are 10 min into the movie.
Couple of comments: this is the second feature length from director Matt Sobel ("Take Me To the River"). Here he remakes the 2014 Austrian movie "Goodnight Mommy", and what we get is literally a remake, transposed to the US, nothing more, nothing less. If you've seen the Austrian original, as I did, you will almost certainly and inevitably ask yourself, like I did: "why???". There is simply no point to any of this. Some may say that it is a "faithful" remake. I call it a "pointless" and utterly unnecessary remake. The only reason that I watched it was that Naomi Watts stars as the "Mommy", not that you would know for much of the film (as of course her face is in bandages). If you have not seen the Austrian original, and are debating which version to see, by all means I strongly encourage you to check out the Austrian original, which is creepy in the best possible way. Whereas the Hollywood remake is not creepy, not scary, not fun. Not good, not bad. It just is.
"Goodnight Mommy" premiered about a week ago on Amazon Prime. Curiosity got the better of me and I finally gave in and watched it. I really shouldn't have. Of course don't take my word for it, and so whether you've seen the Austrian original or not, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
