Watch This Goodnight Mommy Trailer To Ensure That You’ll Never Have Children ~ Cinenus

Monday, 3 August 2015

Watch This Goodnight Mommy Trailer To Ensure That You’ll Never Have Children

I lost an entire afternoon to a screening of Goodnight Mommy last year during Fantastic Fest. It was some of the more unnerving, discomforting and tense cinema I’ve experienced in a long time. Granted, I don’t go seeking such experiences — I’ve got a delicate, sensible soul — but I found myself face-to-face with this wicked slow-burn from filmmakers Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz and I’ll be damned if it didn’t stick with me.

The German thriller is the story of two boys whose mother has just returned home from extensive cosmetic surgery. The mother is distant and begins acting strangely, leading the boys to believe that she’s been replaced by someone else. The paranoia this generates in a story told almost completely from the perspective from the boys is overwhelming. The film itself spirals into utter chaos. It was one of those experiences that I didn’t enjoy and will never forget.

Some of you will undoubtedly enjoy it. Our own Rob Hunter caught it last week at Fantasia and seemed to like it very much. As he explained, it’s the kind of film that “holds your attention hostage even as the urge to look away from the terror grows within you.” Though he did also say that it is “more effective than abstinence.” I agree on both points.

Goodnight Mommy is due in theaters September 11.