The filmmakers manage to funnel a dark, dangerous energy even into seemingly fun, boisterous activities like the twins bouncing on a trampoline or running in the woods. For the most part, the reactions of Lukas and Elias are not those of frightened kids but of cornered prey relying on animal cunning, and where necessary, savagery. And the removal of every photograph of their father from the house hints there’s nobody to whom they can go with their doubts.Ĭhildhood games figure throughout (the original title is the German-language equivalent of “I spy with my little eye …”), but loss of carefree innocence is the key theme.
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Where once she was affectionate, now she’s chilly and severe, snarling orders about the new house rules imposing silence, peace and semi-darkness while she recovers.īrooding shots of her watching them from behind windows or doors, fractured glimpses of her reconstructed face, or simply a bloodshot eye in the mirror as she changes bandages all feed the audience’s suspicions as well as those of the boys. When the boys’ mother ( Susanne Wuest) returns from extensive facial surgery - her bandaged head makes her look more mummy than Mommy - she seems a stranger to them.
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They also provide a sharp contrast with the ultramodern sleekness of the family retreat, a sterile showplace full of overpowering statement art, some of it a blurred representation of the lady of the house.
The sinister homemade animal mask worn by one of the boys sets up the disturbing recurring motif of hidden faces.Ĭinematographer Martin Gschlacht‘s lush widescreen images of the surrounding woodlands, lake and fields, shot in heightened colors that practically sing, establish the isolation of the gorgeous setting. The co-directors then jump to a bracing sequence set within the vivid green foliage of a cornfield, where Lukas and Elias (played by brothers Lukas and Elias Schwarz) are in the midst of a vigorous game of tag. The 10-year-old identical brothers at the center of Goodnight Mommy are a fine addition to that canon, even if the initial threat of evil has its source elsewhere.įranz and Fiala kick off on a sly note with the most wholesome image of Austrian family togetherness, the Von Trapp children and their stepmother singing a sweet lullaby.
“Forever and ever and ever.” From Margot Kidder and her formerly conjoined sibling in Brian De Palma‘s early Sisters through a demented Jeremy Irons times two in David Cronenberg‘s Dead Ringers, there’s a rich history of horror exploiting the potential for intuitive communication, conspiracy, loyalty, betrayal and creepiness in twins. “Come play with us, Danny,” beckoned the terrifying ghost girls in The Shining.
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