Mother's Day

The sadistic members of a villainous family return to their childhood home, which has since been sold, and terrorize the new home owners and their guests.

Right off the bat, I have to give full credit to Rebecca DeMornay. She knows crazy, and she knows how to make it both believable and intense. Despite any flaws this film may have, I find it hard to imagine anyone faulting DeMornay for her role.

Also, I have to say this is a noticeable improvement over the Troma version. I love Troma, and there are enough differences that this could be seen as a different movie rather than a remake, but the production value and professional cast involved made this a top-notch film.

That being said, the film's biggest problem is its length. Running almost two hours, the plot is far too simple for such a length. Cut ten or fifteen minutes out, speed up the pacing, and you have a good film. I kept thinking the confrontations were too long -- get down to it already. I have to admit I lost interest near the end...

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.

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.

Yet another remake that has been churned out from Hollywood over the recent years, and although I've never seen the original I can't really compare the two, but this as a stand alone movie is really good well paced slasher/thriller.

The plot = Three brothers on the run from the police after a botched bank robbery. Unable to escape the small town they're in due to road blocks covering the exits. They make their way back to their old house where they hope to find Mother, whom is the mastermind behind these group of criminals. Unbeknownst to the brothers, their mother recently lost the home due to a foreclosure and it's now the new home to a young couple, who just happen to be having a little house-warming party. The brothers hold them hostage, as they await the return of Mother.

I've only ever seen clips of the original, but from what I can tell that this is almost completely different, such as the setting instead of in the backwoods America we get a suburban house-hold in which I was slightly disappointed, being a huge fan of backwoods survival flicks, but accepted and understood the necessity for the change. The backdrop definitely made it a more realistic take on the story, which seemed to be what the filmmakers were going for. With all the changes, the movie is now more of a home invasion crime thriller than the horror flick that many might've thought it'd be.

The performances in this movie are top notch especially Rebecca De Mornay who plays the sadistic mother showing the audience a kind (yet still devious) and sadistic side of her character and the great lengths that she'd go to protect her family, and it's also nice to see her back in movies again I loved her in "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" back in the early 90's. Other great performances came from recent slasher stars Jaime King (My Bloody Valentine 3D) and Briana Evigan (Sorority Row) they were great together, Jaime King hits all the right notes especially in her scenes alongside Rebecca De Mornay.

All in all this movie was violent and brutal at all the right times and offered some decent tense parts that involved our hostages attempting to escape, definitely worth watching.

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.