10 Horror Movies Audiences Couldn't Handle

Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala’s German-language horror Goodnight Mommy brings many parents’ darkest fears to the fore by having the kids turn on them.

Just out of hospital after extensive cosmetic surgery, the mother (Susanne Wuest; only ever referred to by her familial designation, never by name) returns home to her twin boys Elias and Lukas (Elias and Lukas Schwarz). Thanks to her heavily bandaged appearance and unusual behaviour, the mother’s complex relationship with her sons develops in strange directions within the confines of their large, isolated house. The boys question her identity, wondering if she is actually their mother, and react accordingly. What follows is one hour and 40 minutes of suspicion, tension, and outlandish behaviour, as Elias and Lukas take their mother hostage and torture her for answers.

It's a difficult watch, but for some, it proved just too much to take. At the film’s premiere, most struggled not to wince and close their eyes during its second half, when the violence and sadism ratchet up several notches, and two people even fainted.