Mother's Day (2010) Reviews

• Best I've Seen in a Long Time

  ladiesman2282011-05-05

  I haven't seen the original Troma film of which this is based, but I've been looking forward to this one and it was worth the wait! The movie is very well paced, were thrown straight into the horror in the first 10 Min's (and this being a film by Darren Lynn Bousman (saw 2,3,4), there is plenty of horror on show)! Were barely introduced to the characters when the blood starts pouring, but i still found myself caring for each of them! With no sense of what was going to happen next or who was going to die, i was permanently on the edge of my seat! The show belongs to De Mornay, her performance as Mother is as chilling as Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, cool and calm on second but deadly the next. With some memorable deaths, each totally unexpected, and a few twists along the way, i found this film a real surprise and one every horror fan especially should check out!

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• The Hand That Messed Up Many Cradles!

  Coventry2011-04-25

  Now THIS is the type of horror movie remake that I – and surely many other avid genre fanatics with me – certainly don't mind seeing! The new film by Darren Lynn Bousman, who should have turned his back on the "Saw" franchise much sooner, is loosely based on a 1980 flick with the same title. The original "Mother's Day" is an extremely low-budgeted and trashy production from the infamous Troma Studios. That film is obscure and totally insignificant, but at least the basic premise shows enough potential to entertain audiences even 30 years later. I really wished this is how horror remakes were usually handled. There's absolutely no necessity to recycle near-perfect classics such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" or "The Fog". We need more directors who dig up forgotten gems and unleash an updated and vastly superior version! "Mother's Day" basically your average thriller about a bunch of people getting home jacked and then subsequently submitted to humiliation, torture and emotional agony. The difference here, however, lies with the entire cast of characters. The homejackers are a totally unseen kind of dysfunctional family and yet the victims are often even more antipathetic. You know, the type of obnoxious and cowardly people prepared to sacrifice their so-called friends in order to save themselves. On the same night a tornado is about to pass through the area and cause a lot of damage, three brothers are on the lam after a failed bank robbery. The youngest one has a lethal bullet wound in his stomach and the three seek shelter in their nearby parental house. Unfortunately, their mother and sister were evicted a couple of months earlier and the house now belongs to Dan and Beth Sohapi, who're just having their friends over for a party. The Koffin brothers take the entire bunch hostage, but then their mommy arrives… Mother Koffin is an intelligent and sophisticated mature woman but, as to be expected, also a deeply disturbed and dangerous psychopath. The homejackers will not hesitate to kill, but the large amount of lies and deceits between the owners and their guests threatens to destroy them even sooner. "Mother's Day" is an exciting and occasionally even suspenseful horror tale full of gruesome torture/murder sequences and pitch black humor. It has to be said that, with a running time of 112 minutes, the film is a tad overlong and suffers from a few tedious moments near the finale. By that time, even the remarks and behavioral ticks of the mother are becoming a bit derivative. Speaking of which, the titular role means an awesome comeback for early 90's vixen Rebecca De Mornay. She was hot in that period thanks to popular thrillers like "Guilty as Sin", "Never Talk to Strangers" and especially "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" in which she already portrayed a lunatic nanny. De Mornay hasn't starred in anything significant in nearly 15 years, but now she's back and she looks more ravishing than ever. "Mother's Day" contains numerous bloody and hard-to-stomach images, including the eerie intro set in a hospital and a couple of excruciatingly painful confrontations between victims and kidnappers, so it will definitely be popular amongst young horror fanatics. The film does lack that typically raw and brutal edge, but you can hardly blame Darren Lynn Bousman for that, because true exploitation films are nearly impossible to come by these days. As stated before, this is the second film in which the young director showcases his exceptionally talented skills. This and particularly "Repo! The Genetic Opera" are really cool movies and I hope Bousman doesn't return to the long-extinct "Saw" series.

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• A spell biding thriller with great performances

  saadgkhan2011-06-15

  MOTHER'S DAY – CATCH IT ( B+ ) Ever since I heard that gorgeous & brilliant Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) has been signed on to do a thriller called "Mother's Day" I was anxiously waiting for its release. Finally last week I got hold of Mother's Day and trust me it was more than my expectations. It's not like common violent movies which start with blood & gore. The gore in the movie increases as the situation in the movie gets worse & worse. Director got the perfect cast to play "The Koffins", who invade in a house thinking their mother still lives there and hostage 8 people in the basement. The Koffins are brutal and would do anything to get what they want. Rebecca De Mornay as monstrous mother is powerful & ruthless at her heart. Patrick Flueger as eldest Koffins brother is impressive along with crazy angry Warren Kole. Matt O'Leary is shown being shot & Deborah Ann Woll did a good job as crazy isolated Koffins sister. Among the hostages the girls by far stand out from Jaime king to Briana Evigan, Kandyse McClure, Lisa Marcos & Jessie Rusu everyone did a fantastic job. Among the boys Frank Grillo and Shawn Ashmore did a great job. Alexa Vega & A.J Cook cameo was Okay it was like a "SAW touch". Overall a Mother's Day is a perfect movie to watch & enjoy on your Weekend.

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• Fantastic movie...Great acting by Rebecca Demornay

  joshdestardi2011-05-05

  I came across this movie out of the blue, and I'm really happy I did. I wasn't expecting much because of the name, 'Mother's Day'; it sounds like a cheap production. Let me say that I enjoyed this move way more than the remake of "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Last House on the Left". I was disappointed to see that it only has a 6 star rating, while the other 2 are slightly higher. The movie does start out a bit slow but if you hang with it until the end there are a few scenes that made this old horror movie lover wince, and that's saying a lot. The acting was pretty solid, and Rebecca Demornay was absolutely fantastic. See it if you enjoyed Last House on the Left.

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• Brutal but highly entertaining

  MattyGibbs2013-05-09

  This is yet another home invasion movie but one with a bit of a difference. Allied to the usual psychopathic housebreakers is the added ingredient of their mother. I didn't really buy into the set up as it's pretty far fetched however that's not really the point of these movies so it didn't spoil it for me. Rebecca De Mornay is manic and slightly over the top as the ruthless mother of the psycho's. The rest of the cast put in surprisingly convincing performances. The film takes plenty of twists and increasingly brutal and at times unrealistic turns but nevertheless always remains horribly watchable. You do almost at times question why you are entertained by the horrific happenings. The film is very brutal and there are quite a few unpleasant scenes so if you don't like these kind of films you won't like it. For horror fans though this is a well made and very watchable film which is as unpredictable as you could wish for.

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