Mother's Day Review

Written by Stuart Cooper

Mother’s Day (2012)

Starring Rebecca De Mornay,Jaime King,Deborah Ann Woll,Shawn Ashmore,Kandyse Mcclure

There is nothing more unique and special than the relationship between a mother and her children. The film “Mother’s Day” takes this idea to the extreme. I’m going to review the 2012 version of the film, but keep in mind it is a remake of a 1980 Troma film written by Charles Kaufman. I have not seen the original, but from most critics and fans I’ve talked to, the new version is considered far superior. I will watch the original at some point and let you guys know! The film is loosely based on a real life incident referred to as the “Wichita Massacre” where a group of home owners and their guest were sexually abused and killed in a home invasion. Now this real life incident took place in 2000, 20 years after the original film, but from what I understand the new version of the film borrowed a few details from this case. After reading the details of the case I did notice quite a few similarities but it is a rather depressing news story to read, so I would not advise researching the topic unless you want to be depressed. The actual film was completed in 2009 but due to various distribution problems the film just now saw a complete release. “Mother’s Day” stars Rebecca De Mornay (Risky Business, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle) as the mother, remake scream queen Jaime King, True Blood’s Deborah Ann Woll, Shawn Ashmore (X-men trilogy, Frozen), Battlestar Galactica’s Kandyse Mcclure, and quite a few new faces. The story revolves around a deranged mother who raises stolen babies and turns them into heartless criminals. The family loses touch with each other and had a back-up plan in case anything went wrong, unfortunately that plan is to meet at their old home, which is now owned by a young couple. The couple is throwing a party at their new home when the children arrive and are just as surprised as the guests. The criminals immediately begin holding the guests hostage and that is where the nightmare begins.

The film really pulls no punches when it comes to brutality. As with most home invasion films (Last house on the Left, I Spit on Your Grave) the viewer is subjected to various acts of torture, sexual abuse, and twisted humor. The family consists of 3 brothers, 1 sister, and the mother who clearly heads the operation. One of the brothers was critically injured in a robbery earlier in the evening and thankfully for him one of the guests is a doctor who is of course forced to help the dying brother. There is an older brother who is the more reserved and logical one of the group, then there is a younger brother who appears to have undiagnosed A.D.D. and probably a few other mental disorders. The younger brother is really the one the guests have to worry about, he is very eager to fire his weapon and create chaos. The film is definitely one of those “what would you do” situations where the audience will find themselves yelling at the screen giving the guests advice on how to escape and survive. The main plot point comes when the mother of the family finally arrives at the house and informs everyone that there were several packages that had been shipped to that address over the past couple months and these packages contained money, and they simply wanted their money. The couple that moved into the house swears that they had never received any kind of package addressed to the family, let alone any amount of money. The mother does not believe the homeowners and the torture games begin. Rebecca De Mornay absolutely nails the psychotic mother role and brings a whole new level of creepiness to the film. The character she portrays is deceivingly sympathetic towards the house guests, but don’t let it fool you because she proves herself to be a true monster by the end of the film. The mother spouts off lots of motherly advice and even helps prepare a chocolate cake for the guests to snack on, while at the same time subjecting them to horrific physical and psychological torture. I believe the casting for the mother role was perfect and she definitely becomes the strongest character on screen, rightfully so. The True Blood alumnus Deborah Ann Woll plays the daughter in the family and she is actually fairly apprehensive about their actions compared to the rest of the family. She seems to be the only member of the family that feels like what they are doing is actually wrong. This angle is explored quite a bit in the film and makes for interesting tension between her and the members of the house. The final character I’ll comment on is Beth, played by Jaime King. Jaime King is casted in almost every horror remake, so I was not shocked to see her appear in this film as a central character. This character I actually did not care for because of the direction the character ends up going in the film. She of course makes many stupid decisions as with most scream queen characters, but when you get to the end of the film I’m sure you will find yourself disliking her as much as I did. Get used to this actress because she will be appearing in yet another horror remake when “Silent Night Deadly Night” comes out later this year.

The film itself actually looks great. There are several cuts that will cause you to jump. The story also takes place during the middle of a giant storm that is so bad that most of the town is actually evacuated to shelters, thus explaining the lack of police and neighbors interfering in the story. This makes for a rather eerie feeling evening full of killers stalking the characters in the rain, which is almost a staple of horror films at this point. The soundtrack is also rather good. One of my favorite groups “The Heartless Bastards” has a great track on the score that is definitely worth a listen.

Overall “Mother’s Day” is a pretty memorable home invasion flick that will most likely stick with you at least for a few hours. Rebecca De Mornay really shines as the mother and I am actually more inclined to follow her career after watching it, just to see what else she is capable of. The film keeps a solid level of intensity throughout the entire film and really comes to a peak in the climax of the film when several important details are revealed. I definitely recommend checking this one out and it is actually rather cheap at Wal-Mart right now, so I’d even recommend a blind buy. It’s only 10 dollars on DVD and 15 on Blu-ray and I’d say it’s worth every penny. The film is also available at RedBox. If anything you could at least have a movie to watch every year on Mother’s Day, and it will certainly make you appreciate the positives…and negatives of having a family.