Goodnight Mommy takeaway: What could a potential sequel to this Naomi Watt-starrer film look like? (Spoilers)

Goodnight Mommy is a suspense/thriller/horror film that premiered on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, September 16, 2022. A remake of the 2014 Austrian film of the same name, it is directed by Matt Sobel. The film follows the story of twin brothers Elias and Lukas, who visit their mother and find her with a bandaged face.

Amazon Prime Video’s synopsis of Goodnight Mommy reads:

"Twin brothers arrive at their Mother’s country home to discover her face covered in bandages—the result, she explains, of recent cosmetic surgery. As her behavior grows increasingly erratic and unusual, however, a horrifying thought takes root in the boys’ minds: the sinking suspicion that the woman beneath the gauze isn’t their mother at all."

Naomi Watts plays the mother with a suspiciously covered face, while real-life twins Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti essay the on-screen pair of twins.

Goodnight Mommy began with Elias and Lukas arriving at their mother's place for the summer. The twins were greeted by their mother, whose face was covered in bandages due to cosmetic surgery. While neither took it up further, Elias was suspicious from the beginning.

After several instances of rash behavior from their mother, which escalated to violence in a few, Lukas concluded that the woman they were staying with was their mother's imposter and not their real mother.

A still from the film (Image via IMDb)

Thus began their quest to find out the truth, which became subject to change after a plot twist revealed that Elias hallucinated about Lukas, who had died the previous year. Elias accidentally shot Lukas in the barn behind their mother's house while playing.

Elias was unable to come to terms with the reality that Lukas was dead, and in a fit of momentary rage pushed his mother to death. The film ended with Elias now hallucinating about both Lukas and his mother.

Read on to find out what a potential sequel to Goodnight Mommy could look like.

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Possible ideas for a sequel to Goodnight Mommy

The immediate aftermath of Goodnight Mommy

While Watts’ bandaged face posed a good distraction from the real theme that the film deals with, the ghost in Goodnight Mommy is not the physical manifestation of a supernatural being, but the ghosts of one’s past. Here, Elias’ past haunts him and he is reluctant to let go of it because he does not want to be alone.

The film's end makes for a good cliffhanger, which leaves questions surrounding the immediate aftermath of the barn burning down to ashes while Elias hallucinated hugging Lukas and his mother.

How was Elias rescued, and what happened after he was made to come to terms with the reality surrounding his mother's death? Did he reveal that he pushed his mother and left her unconscious after the fire broke out?

A possible sequel could look at the aforementioned questions in addition to addressing Elias' mental health situation. His mother was aware of his hallucinations, but there was no discussion on Elias' mental health in the film.

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A different setting

The sequel could move the story to a larger setting, as opposed to Goodnight Mommy's constricted and isolated environment of a farm in the middle of nowhere. Since Elias' age is in line with that of school-going kids, the next phase could see his issues with hallucinations unfold in a school where everyone would be expected to be aware of the deaths of his mother and Lukas.

The makers could also resort to a relocation for Elias, and shift him to a new place and a new school. It would also be interesting to see if Elias undergoes a diagnosis for mental health and how it will place him amid other children of his age.

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Relationship with father

In one scene, Lukas remarked, "She's our mom. She has to like us. It's her job," while in another he noted that their mother would fight millions of guys to seek them out.

Goodnight Mommy explored the mother-son relationship to an extent. Even with the elements of horror and suspense, the Matt Sobel-directorial looked at expectations from the mother and how she delivers on it. While Watts' character was aware of Elias' situation, she herself seemingly needed time to heal from her other son's death.

A possible sequel to the film could explore the dad-situation with Elias, since the father (played by Peter Hermann) only appeared for a brief moment in the beginning. In a scenario where Elias was attached to his mother, a second film could look at how the father tries and develops a bond with his only son alive, and if at all he is aware of Elias' condition and his hallucinations.

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Goodnight Mommy is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.