Goodnight Mommy

When their mother (Susanne Wuest) returns after cosmetic surgery—with her face swathed in bandages—adolescent twins Lukas and Elias (Lukas and Elias Schwarz) suspect that the woman beneath the mask might be a different person. No longer a sweet, loving parent, mom makes a point of conspicuously ignoring Elias. And in going through the family scrapbooks—from which all photos of their absent father have been systematically removed—the twins find pictures of their mother appearing alongside a friend who looks very much like her. Believing that a switch has occurred, the boys take the woman prisoner and resort to extreme measures to make her prove she's their mother or admit she's not. Filmmakers Verokina Franz and Severin Fiala's unsettling thriller Goodnight Mommy eventually turns quite gruesome, but amidst the gore it boasts some nicely sustained suspense sequences, while the casting is spot-on. A portrait of a family who are far past mere eccentricity—every one is a bit off from the start, and all become positively unhinged—this is miles removed from most of today's cookie-cutter horror movies, serving up a genuinely troubling tale of domestic dysfunction grounded in natural causes. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a conversation with filmmakers Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala (13 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a winning chiller.] (F. Swietek)