Goodnight Mommy Review: Naomi Watts' American Remake Is a Bland Imitator

What could be more terrifying to a child than the slow realization that the woman who says she is your mother is actually an imposter? Fertile ground for a horror film, no? Goodnight Mommy, an Amazon Prime Video exclusive from director Matt Sobel (based on an Austrian film from 2014), adds additional creepy elements (twins! a barn with bloodstains! Naomi Watts covered in gauze!) but somehow fails to find the scary. Like a match that won't spark a flame no matter how many times you strike it, this is a movie that should work, but, frustratingly, does not.

It begins with some rectangular cellphone video (already becoming a cliché) of Watts, a happy mother, singing her twin boys to sleep, with Dad (Peter Hermann) watching with pride. After a time jump we learn that the parents are now separated and Dad is dropping pre-teens Elias and Lucas (Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti) off at Mom's. She's been "away" for a while and now is mostly recovered, but, no, Dad says it is probably for the best if he doesn't walk the two boys inside.

Once there, we meet Mom, a little timid, but then strangely demanding, and wearing an elaborate set of bandages over her entire head. She looks eerie (maybe even a little absurd) but that's nothing compared to how she is acting. Whatever it was that kept her away from the family is clearly still making its way though her system; any maternal warmth feels phony, like an act.

Soon Elias, the more sensitive of the two lads, starts wondering if, under that Claude Rains Invisible Man getup, it's actually Mom at all. When the boys sneak into her bedroom (where they were told not to go) and witness her doing a very un-Mom-like saucy dance — and Elias finds that she's tossed the heartfelt drawing he made for her in the trash — even the carefree Lucas starts to become convinced.

3.5

Goodnight Mommy

at Prime Video

Like

• There is one element of the twist that manages to surprise

Dislike

• The story is very predictable otherwise
• The filmmaking is flat and uninspired

Elias watching his mother in a private moment of eroticism calls to mind the famous scene from Blue Velvet, but it is shot in a flat, uninspired manner. With the frame itself lifeless, Sobel tries to cover his tracks with music, and cranks "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins, a Bowie-esque one-hit wonder from 1994. It was at this point when I realized that the movie itself felt like an artifact from the early 1990s, and I don't mean that in a fun, nostalgic way.

Back then, you see, when the concept of the "American Indie" was really taking off (as was "alternative" music), one was a bit more forgiving of low budget filmmakers feeling their way through a project, considering just how difficult it was to get anything inexpensive (and not-schlock) off the ground in a pre-digitial time. There was a real sense in the culture of a grassroots movement away from corporatism, and supporting insurgent artists.

Goodnight Mommy is not that. It has none of the good stuff found in, say, releases by October Films, but all of the pitfalls. With mostly one location, essentially three characters, and very little in the way of special effects, it's got to get by on performances and tone, and, unfortunately, it comes up very short.

For example, the one location is a large, modern house in a farm setting. (Mom is an actress of enough notoriety that a cop asks for an selfie.) Considering how few cards Sobel has to play with, you'd think he'd shoot these interiors in a way that amps up its sterile quality. Missed opportunity. And when the boys finally do take action against their mother and it seems like things are going to at least finally get gross, it is strangely reserved.

Also, despite the fact that I write about movies, I'll let you in on a little secret: I almost never predict twists. I get rooked every time. (I fall for every mask pull in a Mission: Impossible picture; I am a total rube.) Anyway, Goodnight Mommy is a rare example of me, about five minutes in, thinking, "Gee, I bet at the end we'll learn that _____," and being absolutely right. Luckily there's a little cherry on top I didn't see coming, but the main revelation is pretty obvious.

Naomi Watts is fine, though not great, but the kids are a little stagey. Sobel, whose first feature, Take Me to the River, showed much promise, unfortunately has a dud on his hands here. This is clearly a COVID-era production, so hopefully this is just a goodnight and not a goodbye.

Premieres: Friday, Sept. 16 on Amazon Prime Video
Who's in it: Naomi Watts, Cameron Crovetti, Nicholas Crovetti, Peter Hermann
Who's behind it: Matt Sobel (director), Kyle Warren (screenwriter)
For fans of: Naomi Watts, '90s indie movies