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Sep 11, 2015 By Zach Hollwedel Web Exclusive

If you haven’t seen it yet, trust that the trailer for Goodnight Mommy is inarguably one of the most terrifying movie previews in years. From writer-director team Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz, the Austrian thriller tells of nine-year-old twin brothers whose mother returns home from a cosmetic operation, face and head completely swaddled in bandages, with only the creepiest slits for her eyes and mouth exposed. Her reemergence is pronounced by odd, increasingly suspicious behavior that soon has the boys convinced this is not the woman that birthed them. Or so the trailer suggests.

In reality, Goodnight Mommy is a slightly different experience, though no less disturbing. The film takes its time, setting up a mystery that will have you watching with the lights on. The tension builds ever so steadily, crawling under your skin, disturbing you to the point of sleeplessness, especially as the film takes a graphically violent turn. It’s hard to look away from Fiala and Franz’s horror achievement, which achieves glorious levels of unsettling. Twin brothers Lukas and Elias Schwarz (so named in the film, too) and Susanne Wuest, who plays their mother, are a perfectly cast trio whose immense and obvious talent deftly propel the film to great heights.

Much of this praise, however—and the disquieting and unnerving nature of the film—is at risk of dissipating if you guess the hook. Like with any “gotcha” moment, some people will see it coming from a mile away; for them, the upheaval will be so obvious, every minute of their viewing experience will be punctuated by discerning further proof of the grand reveal. Fortunately, and in a testament to them, Fiala and Franz create an intrinsically hair-raising enough world that even prophetic viewers will gladly sit through the movie until the final credits roll. For others, the film will be a highway collision they desperately want to but cannot tear their eyes from. It will be a terrifying, goose bump inducing 100 minutes, one of the most twisted horror films of this generation. It’s freaky, unique, and hands-down captivating. Watch through your fingers, as Lukas and Elias deal with their mother-impersonating intruder, and don’t say I didn’t warn you when you call in sick the next day with the heebie-jeebies.

radiustwc.com/releases/goodnight-mommy

Author rating: 6/10