Film Review: Mother's Day (2010)

I love my mom. She shaped me into the young horror lover that I am today. So, as a special treat I invited her to sit down and watch a screener of the new film Mother's Day with me. It is a remake of the sub par Troma cult favorite of the same name. Usually I cringe when I hear of a studio remaking an older classic...however, I do like it when they choose more obscure films to remake/reboot instead of picking stuff like Halloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street. I mean....seriously...what the fuck?! Those films are already great! Why in the goddamn would you even think of remaking a film already perfect the way that it is??? Kill the bastards!! KILL ALL THE STUPID MOVIE STUDIO BASTARDS AND BURN THEIR EARS OFF!!!!!

I'm sorry. Perhaps I went a little overboard there.

But, seriously...I do sometimes enjoy it when older films are pulled from the depths of cult obscurity and given the remake/reboot treatment in which to improve on some of the flaws that kept the original from being great. The original Mother's Day wasn't great. Read Tom's review of that one here. In fact it was pretty far from great from what I remember. I haven't seen it in awhile and thought about rewatching it to compare the two films...but, instead I ended up watching Maury. Those paternity tests are intriguing!

The remake definitely improves on the original here. If you're a fan of the original...fear not...it doesn't betray the "soul" of the original. In fact it takes the original simple premise and makes everything much more interesting. The original Mother's Day focused on a bunch of female friends as they are savagely tortured by hillbilly punks and their mother during a camping trip deep in the woods.

The new film takes place in the freshly purchased home of a young couple as they throw a housewarming party with some of their close friends. The previous owners of the house return to seek refuge after a bank robbery escape which leaves one of the brothers mortally wounded. It's not long before the party turns sinister and the friends find themselves captive...fighting to survive the onslaught of the previous owners.

Then mother shows up in the form of an unhinged Rebecca De Mornay. She really knocks her performance out of the park in this updated version of Mother's Day. In fact...most of the acting is pretty tight here. It helps to actually get some good talent in your remake and take things to the next level. Jaime King, genre favorite Shawn Ashmore, Patrick John Flueger (doing his best Brad Pitt impersonation) and the insanely hot Deborah Ann Woll all lend their acting talents to the film.

Darren Lynn Bousman does a nice job of making you forget that he directed three inferior Saw films and actually shows off a good understanding of tension and suspense. This film gets me a little excited for his upcoming 11-11-11...which coincidentally hits theaters this November. See what I did? Cause...well, the film is called 11-11-11...and it comes out on November 11th...which is--oh, never mind. Sheesh...I can't try to make a funny without having you judge me...can I??

It's a nice solid effort by Bousman and stands as one of the better entries into this year's horror selections. I won't give too much away, because the film sort of unravels from the very first frame...but, there's this one scene where mother decides that she wants her mortally wounded son to experience the love of a woman before he dies. So, she goes down and picks two girls and tells their significant others to fight for their girls...and the one who loses has to forfeit his girl to go bang her son. Kinda fucked up stuff. Could you ever imagine beating the pulp out of your buddy just so your girl doesn't get raped? But, that's exactly the kind of material you'll find in this revised version of a Troma cult classic. Stuff that'll really get you thinking about what you would do if you were put in these situations.

My mom fully enjoyed herself with this film. She's a big fan of straight forward home invasion films...and while this one offered a little complexity, she found the film thrilling throughout. And for the most part, I was happily surprised after the credits rolled, myself. I didn't expect much when I first saw the trailer over at the Film Deviant YouTube Channel. Which reminds me...do not go into this film with preconceived ideas influenced by the trailer alone...because the trailer does not do the film any justice. It's much better than the trailer would lead you to believe. As a matter of fact...I don't understand the fucking marketing team's intentions with the handling of this film. This version of Mother's Day would've made a goddamn ransom at the box office if released on the same holiday weekend of its moniker...and had they promoted the film properly. I honestly don't know what in the fucky fuck is in the minds of film executives when I see shit like this. As of this writing...there's not even a fucking release date for the film.

Anyway...I'm not saying that this film is a perfect example of remaking an old Troma film...but, it is much, much closer to greatness than its predecessor is. If you are in the mood for a film full of thrills and gore that examines what human nature is capable of if pushed to that dark limit...then, I recommend this Mother's Day film to you, my dear Deviant. It's my favorite film directed by Bousman so far...with his Repo! The Genetic Opera not too far behind.

8.0 out of 10

Recommendation: See It! Whenever the studios decide to release it!

Oh...and did I mention?

Briana Evigan...

Thanks for reading,

bryan.