Goodnight Mommy

A sleek, state-of-the-art house in verdant Austrian countryside belies the eerie mystery at the heart of this slow-burning but atmospheric horror. The rural idyll is the playground for twins Lukas and Elias until the return of their TV hostess mother from hospital following facial cosmetic surgery. It's swiftly apparent all is not well with this bandage-wrapped mummy (Susanne Wuest), as she imposes severe restrictions on the pair and withdraws to her bedroom. The combination of strange appearance and odd behaviour convinces the siblings that she's an impostor, leading to a tit-for-tat battle that can only end in tears. But are the brothers just little monsters with a lurid imagination or is there something rum about mum? Co-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz deftly toy with audience assumptions and sympathies here, even after the sedately paced tale has taken a terrifyingly torturous turn for the worse - the use of superglue is particularly squirm-inducing. The directors' feature debut may sometimes be too enigmatic for its own good (the reasons for the surgery, the absence of dad), but it remains a disturbingly compelling watch.