Goodnight Mommy
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: September 11, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 24, 2015
It’s a masterful example of genre filmmaking’s ability to transcend its limitations, leaving a viewer not just frightened, but also changed. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiSep 11, 2015
An intelligently staged and executed creepfest that takes one of the most universally compelling of notions — the unbreakable bond that exists between a mother and her children — and approaches it in such a formally and narratively bleak manner that it makes the works of fellow countryman Michael Haneke seeming almost benign by comparison. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyJoe McGovernSep 3, 2015
Goodnight Mommy, a brilliantly sinister horror film in the recent art-house mold of "The Babadook" and "It Follows," has a premise that cracks like the whip of a devil’s tail. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenSep 10, 2015
Beginning with a gentle lullaby and ending with a tightly packed wallop, Goodnight Mommy is one viscerally chilling, seriously unsettling horror film. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneySep 13, 2014
The story's acceleration from anxiety to panic to hellish chaos is expertly managed, but more impressively, so is the control of internal narrative logic. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperSep 24, 2015
Goodnight Mommy is the kind of movie you should experience without watching the trailer or learning too much about it — and then experience again with the full knowledge of what happened, so you can admire the ways in which the puzzle was put together. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Sep 9, 2015
This elegantly nasty little potboiler should satisfy those brave enough to brave it. They might see the big reveal coming, but that won’t help them unsee the horrors leading up to it. Read full review
80
EmpireDamon WiseMar 7, 2016
A visceral, artful horror about childbirth and trauma released in the UK just in time for Mother’s Day. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNov 23, 2015
Goodnight Mommy is a very disquieting, very suspenseful film, but proceed with caution. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzOct 2, 2015
Good movies create their own worlds, and that’s certainly true of Goodnight Mommy — even if it’s a world you wouldn’t want to live in. Read full review
80
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisSep 10, 2015
Unspooling with virtually no music and a seriously unsettling sound design, Goodnight Mommy gains significant traction from small moments. Read full review
80
VarietyPeter DebrugeSep 13, 2014
Shooting in sleek 35mm, Franz and Fiala have dreamt up a home-invasion scenario where the aggressors lived there all along. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 9, 2015
An unnerving descent into the extreme, anxious corners of a mother’s relationship to and comprehension of her 9-year-old twin sons – and vice versa – gone weirdly haywire, Goodnight Mommy is required viewing for both lovers of neo-gothic paranoia and mommy-haters everywhere. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianMarc MohanOct 6, 2015
Most of the time, Goodnight Mommy creates its air of supreme unease quietly, even subtly, but even hardened horror fans might be shocked by some of what goes down in the movie's second half. Read full review
75
The PlaylistJessica KiangJul 22, 2015
It's a resonant, atmospheric horror film that treats its genre and its audience with unusual respect, before escalating in its last moments to a brilliantly uncompromised finale. Read full review
70
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonSep 8, 2015
Goodnight Mommy is a well-crafted cheat with a killer punch. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 24, 2015
Flashes of Goodnight Mommy are forceful and blackly funny. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineChris CabinMar 18, 2015
In the third act, the film devolves into an extremely unsettling series of sadistic tortures, the kind of stuff that would appeal largely to fans of Funny Games. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 13, 2014
Perhaps a more unassuming genre director would have tightened this movie’s cables a little, so that it had more tension and less revulsion. At all events, it delivers some nasty shocks. Read full review
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