Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala direct Susanne Wuest, Elias and Lukas Schwarz in this tense thriller of pre-adolescent twins who think their beloved mother has been replaced by a monster.

Bless the Austrians. While most nations push their most blandly prestigious or tragically historical movies at the Academy as their contender for Best Foreign Language Oscar each year, here is one country who thought “Our incredibly well made nasty domestic horror is Austria’s best shot for 2015.” So bleak, bloody and challenging it had no chance of getting even nominated but for the horror fan this is a well performed, interestingly shot and edited treat. I have criticised a lot of movies this week of not delivering on their promise, whereas this little shocker completely pulled the wool over my usually wide open and jaded eyes. The central mystery is so compelling it distracts you from the actual outcome with a magician’s deftness. The sparsely populated rural setting, the off the spectrum casting and eventual full on violence all create a stirring symphony of disturbing cinema.

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