On this edition of DVD Dissection, we show you a real bad mother and her crazy family, just days from the actual holiday, with the horror suspense movie MOTHER’S DAY.
Released May 8, 2012
The Story:
Loosely based on the 1980’s Troma film, a group of criminal brothers return to their home after breaking out from prison to find their house foreclosed and under different owners. With several guest from a birthday party, the brothers take them hostage, including the new owners. The brothers torture and agonize the people inside, but it only gets worse when the boy’s sadistic mother arrives with their sister and makes everything into a true nightmare.
The Cast:
Rebecca De Mornay as “The Mother” Natalie Koffin, the mother and patriarch of the family Koffin, who arrives to help her boys escape, under any means necessary. Best known as Lana from the fim RISKY BUSINESS , she’s appeared in various movies like BACKDRAFT, the 90’s THREE MUSKETEERS movie, and WEDDING CRASHERS.
Jaime King as Beth Sohapi, the homeowner who, along with her husband, are trapped by the criminals in the house as they look to escape. She played Goldie & Wendy in the film adaption of Frank Miller’s SIN CITY, as well as played The Angel of Death Lorelei in THE SPIRIT. She was also in PEARL HARBOR, BULLETPROOF MONK, FANBOYS, and MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D.
Patrick Flueger as Izzak “Ike” Koffin, one of the brothers. He played Shawn Farrell in the TV series “The 4400” and has appeared in movies like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, BROTHERS, and the 2011 remake of FOOTLOOSE. He was also considered for the role of Captain America.
Shawn Ashmore as George Barnum, a doctor and one of the guests in the house during the invasion. Known for being Jake in the ANIMORPHS Tv series, along with playing Bobby Drake in both X2 and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, along with voicing him in THE SUPER HERO SQUAD SHOW
The Dissection:
First thing to mention is that this movie is considered a remake of the 1980 Troma cult film of the same name. That movie involved three girl friends out on a camping trip and getting kidnapped and tortured by hillbilly murders under the watch of their old mother. Though, aside from some character names, the movies are very different in various aspects and you’d be forgiven if you thought this was not a remake.
Rebecca De Mornay as The Mother Natalie Koffin
The original Troma movie is an exploitation film that goes both goofy and dark with it’s material. The 1980’s Mother’s Day had scenes of torture, sexual assault and murder, along with scenes of ridiculous death scenes and comedy bits between the brothers. However, in this movie, it’s more played as a straight horror movie, downplayed in both aspects, but still having some moments thrown in. The movie is more about home invasion horror than lost in the woods, and plays as such.
The movie is a bit formulaic in the beginning. You have people forcing someone to watch the wounded brother, while another causes havoc with the hostages. All the Koffin boys are just the typical asshole criminal role with no advancement, along with the hostages and other victims being assholes that would have continued being assholes if not for the crazy criminal going after them. It’s not bad acting-wise, just average, like you’ve probably seen it before in other movies. The big stand out, though, is De Mornay as the mother. Her character is probably one of the best villains on a DVD movie in recent memory. The rest of the cast are pretty good to decent, but her character is the most interesting and engrossing person in the movie, hands down.
"...focus on the acts of violence and the gore during murder scenes."
The story flows well for a majority of the film, but drags a bit by the third act, as well as the focus on the acts of violence and the gore during murder scenes than the plot itself. The violence itself is brutal at times to watch. As the movie is advertised to people as being from the guy who made SAW II, III, and IV, people who are into movies like SAW will probably enjoy the violence here. The movie is also nearly 2 hours long, it’s a lot of time to be watching the various torture and murder scenes, especially with how the plot shapes up later in the movie. The movie could have used some editing down a bit, a few minutes from some of the lengthy moments of the movie to keep it smoother, overall.
As for the disk itself, it’s sparse on extras. A few trailers at start up are on it, mentioned below, along with a director’s commentary track featuring the director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Shawn Ashmore, for those interested in how the movie got to release. There’s English and Spanish subtitles in the set up, but no language audio choices, and that’s pretty much it for extras.
The movie trailers, all under of the Anchor Bay label, are as follows:
SEEKING JUSTICE – A vigilante film starring Nicholas Cage, January Jones, and Guy Pearce.
THE DIVIDE – A post-apocalyptic tale that features Michael Biehn.
THE WICKER TREE – A sequel to the 1973 WICKER MAN movie, by the same director, Robin Hardy.
The Verdict:
A movie that takes a while to get started in the first act and loses some steam in the third, but it has a very interesting second act that warrants a viewing. Slasher fans and gore hounds will probably get a kick out of it, and other horror fans will probably appreciate the villain of Mother Koffin.
All in all, recommended.
Rent MOTHER’S DAY at Redbox.
http://www.redbox.com/movies/mothers-day
Watch MOTHER’S DAY on Amazon Instant.
http://www.amazon.com/Mothers-Day/dp/B008053Z0O