Anyone who’s kept pace with “Revenge of the Remakes” here on Bloody Disgusting knows I’m a rather outspoken advocate for horror remakes. They’re inevitable, serve multiple purposes, and aren’t the poison to filmmaking culture some claim. That said? Matt Sobel’s American remake of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s Goodnight Mommy exemplifies everything you hate to see from such filmmaking practices. The Americanization bug strikes again, not even a decade since the Austrian dread machine’s 2014 release.
What’s worse? Sobel and screenwriter Kyle Warren rightfully approach Goodnight Mommy with an alternate vision. Unfortunately, it’s born from lullaby-babied intentions and uttered words that drive horror audiences bonkers. As Sobel reveals in his director’s statement: “We saw the opportunity to do something quite common in theater but unusual in cinema: to adhere roughly to the original plot but reframe it in a way that completely changes its meaning — and perhaps even its genre.”
In other words: “What happens if we strip away the horror from Goodnight Mommy?”
The Approach
‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2014)
Matt Sobel and Kyle Warren recontextualize Goodnight Mommy by applying a “Homely Hallmark Channel” filter. The freshly streamable version on Prime Video features no cockroach-filled bellies, creepy arts-and-crafts masks, or bruised, sunken eyes behind freakishly wrapped gauze. Sobel’s directorial trademarks are much cleaner, less aggressive, and way more talkative because American studios don’t trust their audiences to stay attentive without blatant storytelling outlines. Everything about Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s original clings onto immeasurably dreadful moods that sustain an eerie doppelgänger spinetingler — Sobel ditches the shadows and focuses on human drama that dulls edges and smooths barbed points.
Naomi Watts stars as the update’s “Mommy,” an ailing celebrity still recovering from facial reconstruction surgery. Her separated ex-husband drops off their sons Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lucas (Nicholas Crovetti) for an extended visitation, quickly turning sour when the boys suspect their mother isn’t herself anymore. Elias and Lucas are convinced “Mommy” has been swapped with an unknown entity, so they start acting out or trying to flee. Mommy becomes more frustrated and is overheard on the phone saying she needs to separate the siblings, which sets a battle of wits in motion between imaginatively confused children and whoever’s calling herself “Mommy.”
Warren’s screenplay leans heavier on dialogue, putting unnecessary pressure on the Crovettis as all-American boys who no longer obsess over insects or superglue mommy’s mouth shut. Elias and Lucas speak their way through scene after scene of brotherly companionship, giving more opportunity to spoil the milestone surprise. The same way Watts has more chances to burst into bedrooms flying off the handle at random or speaking in circles around the shocking twist that awaits. Sobel’s oversold enthusiasm for exploring the psychological horrors behind Goodnight Mommy misunderstands what makes Franz and Fiala’s simmering domestic imprisonment so heart-wrenchingly and visually devastating — a reduction that cooks off any enticing genre flavor.
Does It Work?
‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2022)
It’s impossible to watch Matt Sobel’s remake with any sense of appreciation if you’ve seen Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s leaps-and-bounds superior original. Sobel’s is less Goodnight Mommy and more Goodnight Audience. Whatever technical merit exists through sharply framed cinematography or workable performances is lost to unavoidable comparisons. Sobel’s instincts are like a wet blanket atop Elias and Lucas’ frantic defenses against mommy as we yearn to feel the gut-rot hopelessness that Franz and Fiala churn within our stomachs. Why would you take one of horror’s most accomplished feel-bad stunners of the 2010s and reckon to find out what happens if you tell the same story but without specific points of critical praise?
Sobel fumbles the Crovettis’ iterations of Elias and Lucas, no longer minor sociopaths who keep audiences on their toes. They’re meant to sell as victims and Watts’ mother a stark-raving lunatic because there’s no suspenseful command elsewhere. Where Franz and Fiala “show” to tremendous effect — the dead cat aquarium, the midnight roach snack, the crossbow — Sobel only knows how to “tell.” Elias and Lucas have to vocalize every pivot of their plan, each fault in their mother’s personality, which becomes a tedious chore. The same goes for Watts’ interactions with police officers or when tearing into Elias with out-of-character explosions that bluntly scream “BAD PERSON” at viewers. There’s zero trust in the audience’s comprehensive abilities, leaving no room for anything besides conversational drama.
Expect stumble after blunder as Sobel brightens and polishes 2022’s Goodnight Mommy. Watt’s web-clothed bandage situation lacks grim imposition, nor does her face resemble any leftover surgical traces. Cinematography does away with all the hunt-and-chase shadowplay that accentuates Susanne Wuest’s ghastly “Mother” figure as she obstructs doorways or peers down hallways. Gone are the audible gasps, elements of pedophobia, and imagery stingers that whittle away at our nerves. Sobel’s reworking favors nothing that excites horror fans, which is baffling since the core audience for Goodnight Mommy will be those who praise 2014’s savagely inclined source.
The Result
‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2022)
As a horror movie, 2014’s Goodnight Mommy knocks pitch after pitch out of the park. Shockingly enough, the only sequences where Sobel welcomes terror into his revamp are the most intriguing bites. Watts plays alien in her skin rather well, as Matt Sobel allows two nightmare fantasies where Elias sees her mother peel back flesh to reveal the monster underneath — although, even these glimpses fail to challenge the genre’s boundaries. America’s Goodnight Mommy represents the worst cornerstones of American horror: cheap scares, flatlined moods, and one dimension.
It’s almost like Sobel shields his audience from harm, whereas Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala strive to traumatize. Whatever evaluations of mental health exist both in Elias’ hyper interactivity with Lucas and his mother’s unpredictable responses to Elias’ constant inclusion of Lucas are weakened with so much expositional chatter. That’s not to say the Crovettis or Watts fail as actors — tonal imbalances, reliances on dialogue, and lazier attention to Lucas’ whereabouts in terms of camera placement are unshakable toxic traits. Sobel kidnaps one of the most dangerous horror tales since its release and gives it a lobotomy to produce a docile, obedient Goodnight Mommy that my horror-hating mamma might stamp with approval.
Everything that happens after Elias and Lucas duct tape their mother to her bed epitomizes why American horror remakes fail compared to their foreign originals. It’s not even about the dehumanization of Wuest’s mother as she lies in her urine, spewing blood, with a magnifying glass burn on her cheek. Sobel could achieved suspense without violent gore — countless filmmakers have prior. It’s more about an ending that spoils itself before Watts’ mother even begins to remind Elias about Lucas’ fate, neutering impact before Elias sees his ghost family smiling back, happily ever after. Franz and Fiala maliciously toy with our emotions until tearing away the rug to reveal a pit of spikes that is their goodnight to mommy — Sobel straps our swimmies on and throws us in the shallow end with a guardian’s supervision.
The Lesson
‘Goodnight Mommy’ (2022)
Matt Sobel’s Goodnight Mommy follows my golden rule regarding remakes, especially without much time between releases — differentiate yourself. Sobel and Kyle Warren chart their own course, they’re just woefully inefficient. Goodnight Mommy is a passable-at-best standalone that’s embarrassingly realized as a remake of Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s modern masochistic marvel. Both will leave your jaw on the floor — 2014’s from shock and awe, 2022’s from yawning too often. It’s like swapping a juicy, handcrafted, butcher-ground bratwurst with a factory-processed, slimy, assembly line hot dog. Why would you?
So what did we learn?
● Finding a way to differentiate your remake from its original is always the right decision — execution is another story.
● Understanding what makes said original successful is crucial and should probably be somewhat retained in future iterations.
● Yanking the “horror” out of a horror remake will never win you points with its core audience.
● The comparative timidness of American mainstream horror boundaries is most evident in remakes like the soulless Goodnight Mommy. There was no chance we’d see anything as extreme or expressive as Austria’s soulsucker (compliment).
Since I’ve seen Goodnight Mommy, I’m allowed to ask the following question: Why? There’s no honor in prejudging films before release, but afterward? Critique is fair game, and Goodnight Mommy represents everything that leads to horror remake stigmas. Prime Video’s far more accessible reimagining exhibits nothing that conveys why the original is so talked about, which surely won’t drive newcomer audiences to the international, subtitled inspiration. It exists as an alternative that so hard-headedly opposes Franz and Fiala’s magnum-to-the-head opus, in a way that only detracts, never adds, nor multiplies. To honor Goodnight Mommy with something so pedestrian and unspectacular is purely an insult.
In Revenge of the Remakes, columnist Matt Donato takes us on a journey through the world of horror remakes. We all complain about Hollywood’s lack of originality whenever studios announce new remakes, reboots, and reimaginings, but the reality? Far more positive examples of refurbished classics and updated legacies exist than you’re willing to remember (or admit). The good, the bad, the unnecessary – Matt’s recounting them all.
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