Goodnight Mommy (2014)

We haven’t had a good “creepy kid” movie in awhile, so I’m glad that these arty Austrians decided to take a crack at it. Due to a certain shaggy dog plot twist, it’s not quite a classic, but it at least offers the best sadistic use of Krazy Glue that I’ve seen all week. Watch the wimps head straight for the theater exit during that scene. Also watch out for Cockroach Trauma, Dead Cat in an Aquarium Trauma, Scissors Trauma, Fire Trauma, Creepy Post-Op Face Bandages Trauma, Isolated House in the Woods Trauma and Slow Paced European Movie With Lots of Dream Sequences Trauma. It’s a story that finds the horror in how parents and children are sometimes equally perplexed by each other. Writer/directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz here make one of those films that take time to build a chilly atmosphere for over an hour before it suddenly lobs a blood-splattered brick at our heads for the climax. Its strongest moments are vividly nightmarish, mysterious scenes in which we’re not sure who’s sympathetic or not. Fiala and Franz make their non-documentary feature film debut here. They’re names to watch.