Goodnight Mommy (Ich Seh, Ich Seh) - Umbrella Collector's Edition

How do we deal with loss? How do we process grief? There are healthy ways to do it and there are unhealthy ways to do it. Goodnight Mommy, the 2014 horror film written and directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala has no interest in the healthy ways people process pain. It looks at two cases of dealing with these emotions in an unhealthy, paranoid vacuum and lights a fuse to either end.

Twins Elias and Lukas disappear into a world of make-believe, where it’s unclear whether many of the things we’re seeing are actually happening if they’re pure fantasy, or if they’re exaggerated forms of some kind of truth, the way a child might view something and misunderstand, or blow it way out of proportion. When Mommy is angry and grumbling, in a moment where she thinks she’s alone, to the twins she looks unhinged. To her, it may look more like she’s just having a bad day.

Mommy works in television. She’s gotten reconstructive surgery to take some years off her face, to help her career. But there seems to be more to it than that. It feels like she wants to reinvent herself and this is one way for her to crawl out of her skin and begin her life anew, as someone else. In her need to reinvent herself, she’s triggered a paranoid response from her twin sons who believe that she literally is someone else, and they believe her to be a monster.

The term “body horror” gets used a lot, and a lot of the time someone really just means “extremely gory”, but damn if that term doesn’t fit a lot of what Goodnight Mommy throws up on the screen, with fantasies of surgical incisions leading to a body cavity filled with hissing cockroaches that come tumbling out in waves. Goodnight Mommy is at times a clinical examination at how fear can compel us to make decisions while obsessing over themes like our sense of self and what makes us who we are. As the film builds and builds toward its climax, the questions get repositioned and asked in different ways. If we strip ourselves of our physical appearances, are we still us? Were we ever really us to begin with?

I saw Goodnight Mommy ten years ago when it was new and I liked it fine then, and I like it fine now. I think the film is comprised of a lot of interesting ideas and themes that work up to a point, but the story fails those ideas. And much of the film’s success is unfortunately predicated on the idea that the film’s “shocking” conclusion will shock anyone. It’s fairly obvious to the point that I was surprised that the movie even required a “big reveal” for it at all. But nothing is ever done with it beyond allowing it to exist. And a lot of what happens feels like a trend in horror movies that are every bit as exploitative as any self-proclaimed exploitation film, with a heaping helping of pretention on top.

If it sounds like I’m being hard on Goodnight Mommy it’s because it has all the makings of a great movie that unfortunately falls short of that greatness as it gets too hung up on the outright horror aspect of its horror when it works so much better occupying the space in between. The first two-thirds of the film are excellent, while the final third, the dénouement, falls short, offers cheap thrills, and a big reveal that’s nowhere near as shocking as the film believes it to be. All in all, an excellent two-thirds followed by a somewhat disappointing final reel still make the film worthy of seeing, especially when I seem to be in the minority on this. I feel like most people will agree that it’s excellent throughout, while I feel it’s “merely” excellent nearly throughout.

Goodnight Mommy still represents an uncompromising vision of terror viewed through the eyes of a broken child and compared to its 2022 remake for Amazon, it’s a far superior film.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The packaging on this Blu-ray is sure to wow any fan of Goodnight Mommy and the Collector's Edition from Umbrella Entertainment pulls out all the stops. Inside the box set, there are 8 art cards featuring screenshots from the film and a 48-page booklet featuring an essay from Emma Westwood, and Q&A with filmmakers Franz and Fiala. The film and all special features are found on a single disc housed in a standard case. The case contains reversible artwork that is remarkably similar on either side, one side simply removes the rating and descriptor that it contains mature themes for adult viewers. Also found inside the case is a poster with original artwork on one side, and new artwork on the other.

Goodnight Mommy was shot on 35mm film this Blu-ray’s 1080p presentation shows off Martin Gschlacht’s cinematography. The film boasts a softer color palate with lots of whites and neutrals. Much of the action takes place in one location, a modern-looking house with a sleek design and modern architecture. Outside, shots are bathed in a natural, golden sunlight that runs corollary to the stark, foreboding décor of the interiors and there’s a direct contrast between the two. A few shots represent the boys staring into a vacuous cavern of total blackness—a deep, dark, true black, with their skin tone and clothing popping out against it. The composition of shots, whether inside of outside, building tension or simply filling the audience in on key details, is meticulous. Fine details are easily noticeable throughout, and the presentation is absolutely stellar.

The sound design on Goodnight Mommy is boundlessly clever. There are two options available encoded in DTS-HD MA, a 5.1 surround mix and a 2.0 stereo mix. While I would recommend the 2.0 stereo mix for anyone using their TV speakers or a two-channel soundbar, if you have a proper surround sound setup with rear speakers, etc., you will 100% want to default to the 5.1 mix which is excellent. While it’s not wall-to-wall cacophonous sound, and much of the mix is rather subtle and simple in its elegance, rear speaker activity is at a near-constant level, through a sound design that seems cognizant of off-screen sounds that would ping the rear of the soundstage. Whether its footsteps, rain and thunder, the eerie melodic score, or even someone clearing their throat offscreen, these effects are given thoughtful consideration in assembling the overall soundstage and the effect is remarkably immersive. It feels so organically assembled and naturalistic.

While special features on the disc itself are somewhat limited, the features that are there are solid and fans in particular will be excited about a brand-new audio commentary with critic and writer, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. There is also a video essay by critic Andy Marshall-Roberts that examines Goodnight Mommy in relation to its influences and films it has gone on to influence, and how these films examine similar themes.

• Audio Commentary with critic and writer Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• Video Essay by critic Andy Marshall-Roberts (HD 22:39)
• Stockholm Film Festival Interview with Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala (HD 14:24)
• Trailer

The following features are only available with the Goodnight Mommy Collector’s Edition:

• A 48-page Book featuring an essay from Emma Westwood, behind-the-scenes, experiences and art
• New original poster art rigid case
• Custom art slipcase by Lucas Peverill
• 8 art cards
• A3 reversible poster

Through its faults, Goodnight Mommy is an audacious, unflinching horror movie that keenly observes grief and how it fuels paranoia, and how that paranoia, if left unchecked, can poison the mind and cause the bereaved to act out in unhealthy, violent ways. Filming many of these sequences through the perspective of a child, who may not understand their grief, or may exaggerate and overanalyze someone else’s grief (or what appears to be a lack thereof), is the film’s strength. The visual presentation is gorgeous and the audio mix is clever in its thoughtfulness. Along with the special features, both on the disc and in the box set, make Goodnight Mommy from Umbrella Entertainment Highly Recommended.