Having just watched the original Austrian Goodnight Mommy, I went into the American remake hoping it was better than the ratings suggest. And what I got was a defanged, sanitized, and far more mainstream version of the same plot… but with the ragged edges shaved off.

Goodnight Mommy is about a pair of twins suspicious of the person claiming to be their mother after she undergoes facial surgery.

Right out of the gate, one of the biggest problems with this film is Naomi Watts. Not that she’s in any way bad… she’s a great actress. But that’s clearly Naomi Watts under the bandages and I think we’re kind of instinctively on her side in most movies. The idea that that’s some kind of evil doppelganger is lost in this version.

This film is a more traditional horror movie than the original. It’s about a couple of scared, confused kids with a lot of atmospheric jump scares and cheap dream sequences. Nothing wrong with that in isolation… but as a remake of a daring, disturbing, fucked up film, it doesn’t hold up.

The same basic events happen in this version only about 90% less cruel, sadistic, and disturbing. The new film is much less of a slow burn, making it for a more casual and more digestible in its first half. The second half is defanged and sanitized for easier viewing… whether that’s good or not depends on how terrible you felt after watching the original.

Trying to judge it on its own merits, I think this is a decent film. Certainly more palatable than the original while still maintaining some mystery and creepy elements. The acting is good all the way around and any limitations Naomi Watts brings is just because she’s so likable.

Certainly this is the version of the movie I’d recommend to my folks. I’m not sure they could handle the original… hell, I’m not sure <>I</I> could handle the original!

Score: 78