Goodnight Mommy (2015)

In the heat of the summer. A lonesome house in the countryside between woods and corn fields. Nine-year-old twin brothers are waiting for their mother. When she comes home, bandaged after cosmetic surgery, nothing is like before. The children start to doubt that this woman is actually their mother. It emerges an existential struggle for identity and fundamental trust. (imdb)
Cast and Information
Directed By: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Written By: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala
Starring: Susanne Wuest, Hans Escher, Elfriede Schatz, Karl Purker, Georg Deliovsky, Elias Schwarz, Christian Steindl, Lukas Schwarz, Christian Schatz, Erwin Schmalzbauer
Genres: Drama, Suspense/Thriller, Horror
AKA: Ich seh, Ich seh
Country: Austria
Where to Stream
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Goodnight Mommy belongs to 26 collections
1. Female Directors (collaborative: moderated by djross - 90 stars)
2. Edgar Wright 1000 Favorite Movies (Aug 2016) (collaborative: moderated by Aron Ericson - 17 stars)
3. Directorial debut (collaborative: moderated by djross - 16 stars)
4. Children in lead role (collaborative: moderated by PeaceAnarchy - 8 stars)
5. Arthouse Horror (collaborative: moderated by BeeDub - 6 stars)
6. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
7. Brothers (collaborative: moderated by djross - 5 stars)
8. edkrak films to see (public: edkrak - 4 stars)
9. Horror (public: fruititself - 4 stars)
10. Horror (public: horrorjames - 4 stars)
11. Twins (collaborative: moderated by djross - 3 stars)
12. Directed collaboratively (collaborative: moderated by djross - 3 stars)
13. Tom & Bitches' Infinite Watchlist (collaborative - 1 star)
14. Austria (collaborative: moderated by livelove - 1 star)
15. 2015 Foreign Movies (public: NhanLa - 1 star)
16. Fantastic Fest 2014 (collaborative)
17. Incorrect criticker release dates (collaborative: moderated by JooJoo)
18. Foreign - Austria (public: NhanLa)
19. Edgar Wright's 1000 Favorite Movies (public: coldesser)
20. Edgar 256 (public: caffe)
21. Tom's Movies (public: tomwalsh)
22. unheimlich (public: egebasaran)
23. Fiumabe (public: Schmidiator)
24. 2022 Horror list (public: terrymac)
25. BI - GP (public: Jobs-Bronson)
26. Bary (public: Jobs-Bronson)
Browse the full list of collections
Stars | User | Rating | |
6 | theficionado | 37 34th |
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Nearly every moment in this movie is telegraphed so early in advance that the experience of sitting through it becomes mere prelude to the eventual, inevitable scenes of torture (not to mention the banal equation of trauma and psychotic violence). The obviousness of the twists even dulls and undermines the film's more modest pleasures -- two kids playfully slapping each other in the bathtub & playing in the hail, the largely unremarked-upon creepy fairy-tale vibe of the first half, etc
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5 | ![]() |
HiResDes | 55 14th |
The plot went in a direction that left me completely unsatisfied, never truly capitalizing on all the strong symbolism and mood set in the beginning, and culminating the driving action with a M. Night-esque twist that ultimately drove the final stake in the movie. I thought it was going to be a deep psychological horror film backed by grotesque body modification that offered some sort of social commentary on gender/identity, but what I got instead was some sub Eli Roth level torture porn.
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Dean Franz | 18 18th |
Grindingly dull and drearily pretentious arthouse horror. Watching "Ich Seh, Ich Seh" is akin to having a long conversation with a complete fucking shitwit in a turtleneck sweater who labors under the misconception that he's wicked smaahhrt.
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Paxton | 50 20th |
The way that the twist ending is presented is so glaringly obvious I started to have a really good time thinking about how amazing it would be to mess around with that. I actually got excited at the prospect of the twist itself being a red herring that I was misreading and then it was just exactly what they'd been hinting at and my shoulders each said, "Shrug." Makes A Tale of Two Sisters look exactly as good as it always was. The Clone Returns Home is how you destroy a viewer using twins.
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Alex Watkins | 4 70th |
Telegraphs much, but is so methodically creepy and intense that it hardly matters. More Michael Haneke than Michael Myers.
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frederic_g54 | 4 14th |
The exact opposite of what arthouse cinema should strive for: an irritatingly shallow horror flick masquerading as a profound psychological thriller. While the film is successful in its simplicity and sterile setting, the heavily telegraphed plot twist kept the film from ever reaching the nail-biting, let alone emotional heights it was clearly aiming for. Haneke must be rolling in his not-grave.
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moraesfelipe | 30 5th |
Even with that silly plot twist, this could've been much more than this artsy Haneke-esque torture porn suspense.
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Judo Koala | 43 8th |
Its first two acts succeed in their establishing a taut, tense atmosphere (that nonetheless impersonates Haneke to his fullest) before coming completely undone by its silly final act that is as nonsensical as it is telegraphed and clichéd. How disappointing. I'm not even mad about 'knowing' the 'twist;' I'm just mad it existed in the first place because it's so silly.
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NothingsGood | 35 27th |
Based solely on the script I want to give this movie a 0 because it's so poorly put together and executed. This is A Tale of Two Sisters meets Audition by way of Michael Haneke and Eli Roth. While a lot of the compositions are well choreographed and put together, the movie is a hollow mess cleverness void of ideas, characters or realism. It's just a 90 minute plot twist waiting to happen that's predictable by the film's third scene and a vanity theme that's never explored.
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goremeat | 60 43rd |
Less than surprising twist - but a grating gnawing tense exploration of being uncomfortable in ones own home. A twisted fairy tale start leads to a hellishly fallen mother-son relationship.
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schnofel | 9 1st |
This is horrible, hermetic filmmaking - pretentious because it believes rigorous set design and slow camera moves can elevate a basic Twilight Zone concept to an art-film, dull and uncomfortable because it lacks the audience-pleasing chops to deliver thrills and real-world resonance. The Haneke school really turns out to be a curse on Austrian cinema.
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Cowman | 70 56th |
All Austrian films look the same. Thank you Haneke. Fuck you Haneke.
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AFlickering | 2 19th |
puts way, way more thought and effort into the how than into the what and why, but the how is pretty fascinating to be fair; there are numerous images here that deserved a more meaningful movie. also i'm never giving money to the red cross ever again.
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wetwillies | 60 10th |
Viewed December 30, 2015. Like a Haneke movie with all of the good parts taken out. It doesn't know what it wants to say, but is filled with cruel/fascinating ways of saying it. When tension is absent, torture only gets you so far.
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bakcheia | 45 36th |
I guessed the twist within the first ten minutes of the movie, and the rest of the movie became a slog to sit through soon after. The premise of this film fits squarely into the realm of The Babadook, but whereas the Babadook insights a gleeful atmosphere of terror in its dramatic lighting and ambiguity, Goodnight Mommy does the opposite. The movie is far too restrained at most points, and I yearned for more of the dread the film offers at the beginning when the mother is covered up. Ehhhh
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1 | kwacker | 75 32nd |
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A slow burner, with a good 20 minutes of extreme stress and horror at the end. Appreciate it for a really good twist ending, stunning shots, and the possibility of a great feminist interpretation (if you're so inclined).
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1 | ShitMarquis | 1 8th |
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Stupid, with an obvious twist and no tension. Don't waste your time.
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Average Percentile 48.4% from 839 Ratings | ![]() |