Okay, I know that remakes are far from new for Hollywood, but when I think about how this is now the second time I’ve looked at the remake of a film I’ve already reviewed… I feel old. Thinking back to when I first watched this back in December of 2015, even though it wasn’t that long ago in the grand scheme of things, I can’t help but feel every one of those seven years hit me like the Ghost of Amateur Blogging Past just plopped down and sat right on my chest.
Anyways, it’s also another English-language remake of a foreign film, and considering The Guilty managed to do pretty well in translating its narrative as well as its filmmaking ethos, maybe this’ll work out too. Or maybe it’ll just be more ammo for the “just learn to read subtitles” crowd.
The plot has been kept the same here, with young Elias (Cameron Crovetti) and Lucas (Nicholas Crovetti) becoming concerned about the changed behaviour of their mother (Naomi Watts) after she has cosmetic surgery on her face. It still banks on the paranoia of the twins about why their mother is being so cold towards them, and wondering if this even is their mother at all. The bedrock for psycho-horror that gave the original its push is still here… but the edges have sanded down so much, it’s become a sphere.
Watts, to her credit, definitely nails down the maternal side of things, along with her character’s self-image issues that led to the surgery in the first place. However, she comes across as just way too nice as a source of potential terror for the kids, not to mention the audience. Beyond just her mannerisms not being as creepy here (although some of her actions are still questionable, as per the original), her face doesn’t have the right effect either. Where Susanne Wuest had the bloodshot eyes and the prominent bruising on her face, Watts literally just has the bandage on and nothing else. It’s like comparing the original Phantom Of The Opera to the Gerard Butler version.
The attempts to build atmosphere are also incredibly muted. The house the story takes place in still fits the bill, even if the colour scheme for it isn’t particularly spooky, but it’s lacking the creepier locales around it and they aren’t really replaced with anything. No shifting ground, no creepy-ass skeleton cave; just a big barn.
Not that the lack of tension is all physical, though; it’s present in the drama as well. Hell, the fact that I’m describing it as ‘drama’ is already a bad sign, because this really isn’t that scary. Because Watts presents the mother as being this sympathetic, it’s difficult to buy into how fearful Elias and Lucas get in the story, which has also been toned down here. Not only that, but once things really start going, it’s amazingly tame stuff to do with duct tape, rather than the chilling use of superglue. It doesn’t help that the film’s infamous twists are painfully telegraphed, and I’m not just saying that because this will be the 3rd time I’ve seen this story played out; by the halfway point, it’s basically screaming it at the audience, and since that twist is the only real source of tension in this thing now, it kills the mood dead.
I just don’t get why this turned out like this. Hell, the makers of the original Goodnight Mommy themselves already did something of an English-language take on this story with The Lodge, which had its problems but was at least filmed like a horror movie. This, ironically for a film about the deception of appearances, is a drama or maybe a tragedy wearing the face of horror without actually being it. The performances are good, but at the wrong things, making the characters easy to feel for but difficult to feel scared of. I mean, the idea could have worked, but it would’ve involved much more reworking than has been done with this script, leaving it adrift between what might have been an interesting family drama, and a horror movie it cannot hope to compare to.
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