Mom

Well, I must say, this film is not that bad. There are quiet good moments. Jeanne Bates plays fantastic, as lovely elderly "mom", and

Mark Thomas Miller as her son is even good. There are some gory, gruesome moments, some dramatic, some funny and, yes, also sad...

The end is such a sad moment. Mom isn´t an ordinary horror-slasher, I would say, it´s the connection between American Werewolf and Omen.

6 of 10 stars

Mom should really be given a different title to distinguish it from all the other movies out there called Mom or with the word Mom in the title.

This is a vastly superior zombie movie to so much of the rubbish that gets churned out time after time and all end up much the same as every other zombie movie out there.

It is so different and refreshing it almost defies categorisation.

The kind old lady who takes in a creepy lodger, who just happens to be a flesh eater, who then infects the old lady who also turns into a flesh eating zombie, or ghoul, quite which exactly is not defined.

There is pathos in the story as her son realises what she has become and while at first horrified, attempts to help her by supplying 'food'. (I shall say no more about that, for fear of inserting a spoiler!) It is one of those 'quiet' movies as opposed to guns blasting, explosions raging, car chases, etc boring etc that makes so many movies all the same rubbish, but still with enough gory moments to satisfy horror fans, whilst also inserting sadness into the story, along with nice touches of humour as opposed to downright silliness of some so-called 'horror' movies.

There is a particularly nice atmospheric shot at the beginning of the film, where the old lady is sitting alone in her room with only her Christmas tree for company and looks so 'innocent', but, what she becomes!! Oh my!

A gem of a movie and even if not your thing, should at least be viewed if only once by any true horror fan.

My review was written in June 1991 after watching the movie on an RCA/Columbia video cassette.

At first an effective turnabout in posing a kindly mother as a monstrous killer, "Mom" shifts into a pretentious mode that fails to whip up pathos. Originally scheduled as a TWE video release last year, the horror comedy still bears the TWE logo bhut arrives as an RCA/Columbia title.

FIlm's prolog establishes blind Brion James as a serial killer of pregnant women, with guest star Claudia Christian his latest Christmas Eve victim.

Fiml proper has Jame arriving at kindly old Jeanne Bates' house to become a roomer. He bites Bates and turns her into a monster with a similar blood lust, though she does not copy his expectant mothers' fetish.

Bates' son is tv news reporter Mark Thomas Miller, who coincidentally is working on the same case of corpses created by James and Bates. In filmmaker Patrick Rand's wildly uneven screenplay, Miller quickly discovers James' hold over his mom, literally burns up the fiend and then covers up his parent's connection to the murders.

With many scenes played straight, "Mom" creates effective camp contrasts between the quaint old lady and the bloody mayhem she instigates. But it's difficult to keep the pot boiling, and later reels concentrating on Miller's predicament come off as silly.

Rand's in-jokes are a dud, such as Mom appearing on the stairs doing a Gloria Swanson routine from the climax of "Sunset Blvd.". Pic's best moments are provided by Stella Stevens, extremely sexy as an overage prostitute Miller brings home to mother one night.

Rest of the cast is bland, particularly Bates who never rises to a level of sympathetic fright. Makeup effects are okay but occasional ubbing of Bates with a masculine demonic voice is old hat.

I didn't like this movie at first but over a decade later I'm watching it again and have some sort of appreciation for it now.

I'd say it it ranks just below Bad Moon, but it's still a decent werewolf movie for those looking for something different.

Even if it's not laugh out loud funny it's still an amusing horror comedy that feels like it respects its audience. It's a bit of a slow burn, but it still has some fun.

By the way, I can't conclude this review without mentioning the werewolf effects. They are astoundingly bad. The gore and bloody fx are decent, the full transformed werewolf face is hilariously plastic and unconvincing.

Too bad because if this film would have had better effects I'm sure it would have solidified itself as a classic, though I'm sure a tight budget had something to do with that.

So again if you're in the mood for something a little different other than the well trodden paths of the masterpieces in the werewolf genre I do recommend at least giving this film a try. I think you might enjoy it.

I first saw this in the early 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently. The only saving grace is Brion James in a small stint. There is zero tension n suspense, the kills r offscreen n the ending a big meh.