The last several years have been quite good to the horror genre, with movies from both the Hollywood space and other countries having contributed to this “renaissance” period. As an example of the latter, 2015 saw the wide release of Goodnight Mommy, an Austrian psychological horror movie that scored a lot of positive reception, including being named one of the Top 5 Foreign Language Films of 2015 by the National Board of Review. Well, word’s come in that Amazon now has a remake of Goodnight Mommy in the works.
Naomi Watts, who’s no stranger to horror thanks to playing Rachel Keller in The Ring and The Ring Two, has been tapped to star in and executive produce Amazon Studios’ Goodnight Mommy remake. Take Me To The River director Matt Sobel will helm the remake, working off a script written by Kyle Warren. The new take on Goodnight Mommy hails from the Animal Kingdom indie label and production company Playtime, the latter of which acquired the remake writes. Amazon is handling the financing and will release its version of Goodnight Mommy worldwide. Here’s what Sobel said about the project to Variety:
My favorite films are those that invite the audience to step inside their protagonist’s journey. In our re-imagining of Goodnight Mommy, fear of abandonment — and the dreadful realization that those close to us may not be who they seem — create an immersive nightmare, with visceral sensations front and center. I can’t wait to create this heart-stopping story with Amazon and the peerless Naomi Watts.
For those unfamiliar with Goodnight Mommy, the original movie followed twin adolescent brothers who are sent to live with their mother, whose head is bandaged following cosmetic facial surgery, making only her eyes and mouth visible. The boys soon notice that their mother is behaving abnormally, and it eventually gets to the point where they believe that she is actually an impostor, which leads them to take drastic actions to learn the truth. Goodnight Mommy was so well received that it was selected to be Austria’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards, but it didn’t make the final cut.
So now Naomi Watts gets to add another American remake of a foreign horror movie to her resume, as The Ring was based on the 1998’s Ring from Japan, which itself was based on the same-named novel by Koji Suzuki. As far as Watts’ work in recent years go, the Academy Award-nominated actress’ credits include The Glass Castle, Ophelia, The Loudest Voice and Penguin Bloom, and she most recently popped up in the Frank Grillo and Mel Gibson-led action movie Boss Level (alas, her Game of Thrones prequel isn’t moving forward). Since development on the Goodnight Mommy remake is still in the early stages, it’ll be a while until we get a first look at the Amazon production, but fingers crossed this remake will be a captivating watch, just like its predecessor.
While we wait for more news concerning Amazon’s version of Goodnight Mommy, check out our upcoming 2021 movies schedule to learn what’s hitting theaters later this year, or you’re welcome to read through CinemaBlend’s picks for the best horror movies of 2020.
