Mother’s Day (2010)

The sadistic members of a villainous family return to their childhood home to terrorize the new home owners and their guests.

I originally wrote this review back when I started my site in June, and I think about 2 people read it. Now a few more visit here, I felt it deserved a re-release, as the film is great and I hope it encourages at least some of you to maybe try and track a copy down.

Mother’s Day is a remake of the 1980 Charles Kaufman version of the same name. I haven’t seen the original film so I can’t say how true to it this version is. All I know is that the original director gave his blessing and even made a cameo in this version. This time around it is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman who is most famous for directing Saw II, III & IV. Being a big Saw fan I was excited to see Bousman take on another violent film rather than the rock opera he got into after Saw. I read his blog regularly and he is a fascinating guy who is very honest about the problems and issues within the film industry. The fact that he was going for a ‘hard R’ rated film and it was filled with a great cast made my expectations for Mother’s Day very high.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the film to receive any kind of release, I had to wait until this year to finally catch the film on Blu Ray. It never actually got a proper release and despite being produced by Brett Ratner it was released in 3 theater’s and then put out on DVD/Blu Ray the week after. That’s 3 years the film sat on a shelf before it saw any kind of release. Despite all these issues, Mother’s Day is a great film and one that deserved much better treatment than it got. Anyway, enough of the crazy side of Hollywood and onto the actual movie.

After a bank robbery gone wrong, three brothers on the run from the law head for home, hoping their Mother can provide them with an escape from the trouble they are in. The youngest brother has been shot in the fracas and their back-stabbing former partner has escaped with all the cash. When the brothers get home, they find that all their stuff is gone and Mother is nowhere to be found. We then find out she actually lost the house months ago in a foreclosure. The new owners, Beth and Daniel Sohapi, have some friends round for an ill-timed birthday party, and they become the brothers unwitting hostages. Eventually Mother arrives, along with the boys’ sister Lydia, and it soon becomes clear that Mother will do absolutely anything to protect her children. We are then treated to a film full of suspense, twists and turns as the friends fight for survival and a way out of this nightmare, all the while learning secrets about themselves and not knowing who they can trust.

Mother’s Day has a brilliant ensemble cast which is full of superb performances. The brothers are played by Patrick John Flueger (Ike), Warren Kole (Addley) and Matt O’Leary (Johnny) with their sister played by True Blood’s Deborah Ann Woll (Lydia). The new home owners Beth and Daniel Sohapi are played by Jamie King (My Bloody Valentine) and Frank Grillo (The Grey), and their friends are rounded out by some familiar faces if you’re a fan of the Saw franchise with Lyriq Bent and Tony Nappo on show. We also get Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), Briana Evigan and AJ Cook along with a whole host of other recognisable faces. Saving the best till last we have the incredible Rebecca De Mornay as Mother who channels her psychotic tendencies from ‘The Hand That Rocks The Cradle’ and then some to create the frightening head of the family. Cool, calm, calculating, manipulative and just plain evil are just some of the words you could use to describe this version of Mother. Her performance alone is reason enough to see the film, and it’s such a shame that not enough people will get to witness it.

After directing 3 separate Saw films, director Bousman brings his trademark style to Mother’s Day and we are treated to lots of fast cuts and scene transitions. The soundtrack is great and my favourite part of the movie is a fight scene with Do-Wacka-Do playing in the background. Very surreal but it combines violence and humour perfectly. There are plenty of violent scenes and lots of blood spilled which is to be expected given the directors background. Not one for the squeamish, but for fans of R rated thrillers with a great story and a few different death scenes then Mother’s Day is the film for you.

Posted by Tysoncarter182 on October 15, 2012

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