Bon appétit maman

Ed Chilton (Steve Buscemi) is a hardware store owner / operator still mourning the death of his mother Mabel (Miriam Margolyes) one year later. Therefore he is easy prey for a smarmy, super slick salesman, A.J. Pattle (John Glover), who's hawking the reanimation of the deceased. Ed soon agrees, and after some setbacks and price haggling, Mabel is brought by Pattle to Eds' doorstep. Naturally, as Ed and his uncle Benny (Ned Beatty) quickly realize, she's not the woman she used to be. For one thing, her new diet should come as a shock to no-one.

"Ed and His Dead Mother" is a pretty predictable black comedy, with no real inspired moments or fireworks. That said, it's still easy enough to take, and enjoy, but that itself may pose a problem for some viewers: it's NOT all that dark, or insane. One might think of it as a much milder version of Peter Jacksons' "Braindead", minus the over the top gore. What makes it as entertaining as it is is this excellent cast of familiar faces. Buscemi is endearing in the lead, the often priceless Glover is a hoot as usual, Beatty is quite funny (his character is a shameless, horny voyeur), and the under rated Margolyes has fun as the re-animated mother. The supporting cast can boast a couple of other recognizable people: Eric Christmas as a defense attorney, Gary Farmer as hardware store employee "Big Lar", Jon Gries as an ex- convict, and Rance Howard (very funny himself) as a crazed reverend. Sam Jenkins (a.k.a. Mrs. Kevin Sorbo) offers up lots of sex appeal as a new neighbor. Dawn Hudson, who has a bit as a telemarketer, became Chief Executive Officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences years later.

The movie is decently directed by Jonathan Wacks, who'd produced the cult classic "Repo Man" about a decade previous, and whose other directorial credits include "Powwow Highway" and "Mystery Date". It's also noteworthy for its stylistic choice of black & white wrap around segments, and Mason Darings' fine score.

"Ed and His Dead Mother" isn't anything great, but it does offer some fun for a well paced 91 minutes.

Six out of 10.

I don't know why, but I liked this movie. It's one of Steve Buscemi's few leading roles in a movie and I like him as an actor, but my enjoyment of this film went beyond that. I've only seen it on TV a few times (was this ever actually released in theaters?) but I enjoyed it. It has a quirky humor to it and a rather odd storyline. If you ever see this on TV on a Sunday afternoon, watch it.

Don't care what anyone says.. I love this movie! Twas the movie that got me hooked on Steve Buscemi many the year ago... Its odd, quirky, and cheesy-on-purpose. If you go into it expecting that.. You'll probably like it more. I dunno.. This is an all time fave of mine, and a lot of it has to do with the quirkiness of it (I like 'out-of-the-norm' movies.. especially comedies). If yer a Steve fan or not.. Check this movie out for some fun laughs :-)

Good one-liners and great deadpan performances by Steve Buscemi and Ned Beatty highlight this irreverent romantic comedy about death and hardware...? If you can find this little off-beat gem to watch, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Anyone familiar with the original 'Twilight Zone' series may see some familiarity to the 1964 Season 5 - Episode 32 - 'Mr. Garrity and the Graves' which was a reheat of an actual event. That story was based on an 1873 incident in Alta, Utah.

Beyond that is was a fairly enjoyable movie, I can see how it is more popular now than at its original release as it circulates out on cable and streaming services.With a cast (partial list of notables) like this the movie works well.

Steve Buscemi as the phobic, off kilter Ed Chilton, Ned Beatty as Uncle Benny with his one liners, John Glover as the consummate salesman A. J. Pattle, Sam Jenkins as Storm Reynolds, (all 5'-11" of her), Jon Gries as psycho Rob Sundheimer and Gary Farmer as the unflappable, stoic Big Lar.

I thought that the last scene fell flat but maybe they were in a hurry to wrap it up in the 1:33 runtime.