Ich seh, Ich seh 2014

Christy Lemire, ChristyLemire.com: This is deft and daring storytelling that will grip anyone who's willing to be a little uncomfortable - make that a lot uncomfortable - and who's willing to follow it into some dark and twisted territory. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: A hefty part of the suspense stems from the fact no one seems to be behaving rationally: not mommy, not the kids. Read more

A.A. Dowd, AV Club: Goodnight Mommy plays on the nerves with expert cruelty-so much so, actually, that by the time the film belatedly comes clean about the plot secret everyone has already guessed, you're too pummeled into submission to care. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It's tempting to call this a horror movie for people who don't like the genre, but it's more accurate to call it a movie for people who like good movies, no matter what type. Read more

Peter Keough, Boston Globe: There's enough here for several films, yet somehow it doesn't quite add up to one. Franz and Fiala are visionaries; all they need is a vision. Read more

Gwynedd Stuart, Chicago Reader: The boundlessness of the juvenile imagination is often treated as whimsical and wonderful, but in this Austrian shocker the fanciful ideas rattling around inside children's skulls grow hideously dark. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Tightly controlled in its depiction of a family dynamic that's a little too late for counseling, "Goodnight Mommy" is sporadically skillful enough to transcend its own open secret. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: The tension never lets up. Read more

Joe McGovern, Entertainment Weekly: A mad, malevolent adventure through the minds of its three characters and the house they inhabit. Read more

David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: This insidious tale of a mother-son bond gone haywire is squirm-inducing stuff. It has cult potential stamped all over it. Read more

Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times: Beginning with a gentle lullaby and ending with a tightly packed wallop, "Goodnight Mommy" is one viscerally chilling, seriously unsettling horror film. Read more

Amy Nicholson, L.A. Weekly: Since 1963, the Austrian birthrate has halved. You can't blame Goodnight Mommy for the trend, but it sure isn't helping. Read more

Mark Jenkins, NPR: Like professional conjurers, writer-directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala are masters of diversion. Read more

Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: Brahms's "Cradle Song" might play at the beginning, but that doesn't mean anyone here has the slightest chance of sleeping. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: Paced with quiet deliberation, this is the rare horror movie where the mood gets darker as the filmmakers bring more light to the visuals. Read more

Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: So intense and harrowing that it probably should have a warning label. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Here is a horror film that features very little screaming, except from the theater audience. Read more

Lenika Cruz, The Atlantic: Beneath it all is the nagging and heartbreaking feeling that these boys have lost their protector. That vulnerability-combined with their isolation, their confusion-can be harder to stomach than some of the more graphic scenes. Read more

Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail: The terror is sophisticated, chilling enough to set the hair of the art-house aficionados' goatees on end, but perhaps not to everyone's taste. Read more

Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: Writer-directors Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz keep the tension building throughout and there is a general air of disturbing creepiness, although there are diversionary slips in the script that are a slightly too obvious. Read more

Cath Clarke, Time Out: Icily effective. Read more

Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture: Goodnight Mommy is a very disquieting, very suspenseful film, but proceed with caution. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: A masterful example of genre filmmaking's ability to transcend its limitations, leaving a viewer not just frightened, but also changed. Read more