Mother's Day (2010)
January 23rd 2012 04:45
Mother’s Day (1980) was one of Troma’s better efforts, but that’s not saying much. Yes, I’m the first to admit I’m no fan of the Troma oeuvre. Along with The Toxic Avenger (1984), it’s regarded highly among Troma fans, but it’s a piece of crap really. The movie poster is amusing though. It was directed by Charlie Kaufman and co-written by Kaufman and Warren Leight. Who would have thought the time had come to remake a Troma movie?! Actually the time hasn’t come, despite what the credits to Mother’s Day (2010) tell you. It says it’s based on the original screenplay, and there’s even a second credit that says the movie is based on the original movie.
So big Troma daddy Lloyd Kaufman has managed to squeeze a sweet intellectual property deal with the producers of the new movie. For the record, there are seventeen (17 - count ‘em!) producers on the re-boot. And it’s one doozy of a re-boot with almost no recognizable elements from the original. Oh what, there’s a mother, and her three sons. And there are a few house prisoners too. But that buck stops there.
The Koffin brothers, Ike (Patrick Flueger), Addley (Warren Kole), and Johnny (Matt O’Leary) return home to their mother’s pad after a bungled robbery. Johnny’s hurt real bad, bleedin’ everywhere, screamin’ blue murder. They ain’t got the stolen cash, and it turns out mama ain’t got possession of the house no more. A couple of city slickers have moved in, havin’ themselves a party. Well, there’s hell to pay. Best they start fuckin’ with the strangers ‘til mama gets there.
Mother Koffin (Rebecca De Mornay) turns up with wallflower sis Lydia (Deborah Ann Woll) and she ain’t none too pleased. Her baby son’s spillin’ tears and blood all over the sofa and she’s sure as hell them city slickers have her envelopes of cash hidden somewhere. She was sending the boys money, but the boys had been out of town, and there was foreclosure on the house. Now the Sohapi’s, Beth (Jaime King) and Daniel (Frank Grillo) - Koffin, Sohapi, gettit? - have moved in and are trying to mend their lives having lost their lil’ un, with a new bun in the oven.
Beth and Daniel are celebrating his birthday in the basement rumpus room with close friends, Annette (Briana Evigan), George (Shawn Ashmore), Julie (Lisa Marcos), Treshawn (Lyriq Bent), Gina (Kandyse McClure), Dave (Tony Nappo), and Melissa (Jessie Rusu). When the Koffin boys arrive the party quickly turns upside down. George is hauled upstairs to have his basic nurse’s skills put to use on Johnny (gaffer-taping up the gaping shotgun wound is a start), while trigger-happy meth-head Addley finds excuses to terrorise the prisoners. Soon enough there’s innocent blood spilled. Lots of it.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman gave us Saw II (2005), III (2006) and IV (2007). I guess you could say he’s skilled on the torture porn front. He keeps much of that in restraint and actually allows his competent cast to apply some generous strokes of characterisation and impressive performance. Rebecca De Mornay seems to be relishing the role as the maternal devil. She has demons in her closet, alright, and they’ll be bursting out soon enough. Jaime King provides a solid counterpoint of fragility and determination, as does Shawn Ashmore’s angry doctor, and Flueger and Kole as the two older Koffin brothers.
The movie is mostly domestic bound, and as such begins to feel like a stage play, albeit housing a vicious nightmare scenario. The home invasion is one of the more realistic nightmares to seize the modern horror movie. Mother’s Day isn’t a bad movie, and it has some moments, but there is a distinct in-one-eye-and-out-the-other feel about the production. I have a feeling it was edited down to an American R rating. The ending is left wide-open, but somehow I doubt we’ll be seeing a The Day After Mother’s Day.
Here’s the trailer:
So big Troma daddy Lloyd Kaufman has managed to squeeze a sweet intellectual property deal with the producers of the new movie. For the record, there are seventeen (17 - count ‘em!) producers on the re-boot. And it’s one doozy of a re-boot with almost no recognizable elements from the original. Oh what, there’s a mother, and her three sons. And there are a few house prisoners too. But that buck stops there.
The Koffin brothers, Ike (Patrick Flueger), Addley (Warren Kole), and Johnny (Matt O’Leary) return home to their mother’s pad after a bungled robbery. Johnny’s hurt real bad, bleedin’ everywhere, screamin’ blue murder. They ain’t got the stolen cash, and it turns out mama ain’t got possession of the house no more. A couple of city slickers have moved in, havin’ themselves a party. Well, there’s hell to pay. Best they start fuckin’ with the strangers ‘til mama gets there.
Mother Koffin (Rebecca De Mornay) turns up with wallflower sis Lydia (Deborah Ann Woll) and she ain’t none too pleased. Her baby son’s spillin’ tears and blood all over the sofa and she’s sure as hell them city slickers have her envelopes of cash hidden somewhere. She was sending the boys money, but the boys had been out of town, and there was foreclosure on the house. Now the Sohapi’s, Beth (Jaime King) and Daniel (Frank Grillo) - Koffin, Sohapi, gettit? - have moved in and are trying to mend their lives having lost their lil’ un, with a new bun in the oven.
Beth and Daniel are celebrating his birthday in the basement rumpus room with close friends, Annette (Briana Evigan), George (Shawn Ashmore), Julie (Lisa Marcos), Treshawn (Lyriq Bent), Gina (Kandyse McClure), Dave (Tony Nappo), and Melissa (Jessie Rusu). When the Koffin boys arrive the party quickly turns upside down. George is hauled upstairs to have his basic nurse’s skills put to use on Johnny (gaffer-taping up the gaping shotgun wound is a start), while trigger-happy meth-head Addley finds excuses to terrorise the prisoners. Soon enough there’s innocent blood spilled. Lots of it.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman gave us Saw II (2005), III (2006) and IV (2007). I guess you could say he’s skilled on the torture porn front. He keeps much of that in restraint and actually allows his competent cast to apply some generous strokes of characterisation and impressive performance. Rebecca De Mornay seems to be relishing the role as the maternal devil. She has demons in her closet, alright, and they’ll be bursting out soon enough. Jaime King provides a solid counterpoint of fragility and determination, as does Shawn Ashmore’s angry doctor, and Flueger and Kole as the two older Koffin brothers.
The movie is mostly domestic bound, and as such begins to feel like a stage play, albeit housing a vicious nightmare scenario. The home invasion is one of the more realistic nightmares to seize the modern horror movie. Mother’s Day isn’t a bad movie, and it has some moments, but there is a distinct in-one-eye-and-out-the-other feel about the production. I have a feeling it was edited down to an American R rating. The ending is left wide-open, but somehow I doubt we’ll be seeing a The Day After Mother’s Day.
Here’s the trailer:
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