goodnight mommy

Twins are creepy.

With all due respect to real-life identical siblings, there's just something unnatural about two people looking exactly alike. As the filmmakers behind Goodnight Mommy (2014) explain, "You just can't trust them."

Writer/director team Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala use this audience predisposition to maximum effect in their film which creates an almost Kubrickian sense of dread around the story of a mother whose twin boys suspect she's been replaced by an imposter after returning wrapped in post-cosmetic surgical bandages.

Elias and Lukas live in their own sheltered world of secrets and adventures. Mother's reappearance (actress Susanne Wuest's character goes unnamed otherwise through the film) seems to set them off on a dangerous game as they first question her behavior, then her very identity...leading to a disturbing torture session that is extremely difficult to watch.

Goodnight Mommy is unsettling both in terms of content and execution. Franz and Fiala have crafted a cruelly beautiful film that both commands attention and repulses at the same time. The script skillfully drops hints of a big twist that most viewers will guess early on. As many critics have pointed out, it's an unnecessary gimmick in a movie that has enough dramatic tension without pulling a "Shyamalan."

The film isn't a pleasant watch. There are echoes of the Saw franchise here bumping uncomfortably against classier twin stories like Robert Mulligan's The Other (1972). But psychologically and cinematically, one can't help but respect what the film manages to accomplish: leaving the viewer in an emotional state akin to a quivering bowl of Jello.

Anchor Bay's Blu-ray is simply the best way to view Franz and Fiala's film, which consists of elegantly counterpoised images of nature and IKEA-inspired architecture. The German soundtrack is subtitled only and comes with a brief interview with the filmmakers.