Dia das Mães Macabro

I introduced this Troma gem to my partner when we first started dating. She is a wonderful mom and an avid horror movie fan. We now watch it every year on Mother's Day. It's just the right mix of funny, gory and '80s cheese.

This film is certainly not for everybody, but it is actually so refreshing to see a movie that is done in this way. It is exploitation at it's finest. It is comedy at it's most tragic! A simple plot mixed with darn good acting, and impressive makeup effects...you really can't go wrong.

In my opinion, while still in the same vein as Last House on the Left and I Spit on your Grave, it is not as good. Spit being the best of the 3, but each of them has something to offer.

If you're not sure you can watch it, let me give you this scene as an example...one deranged man rapes a woman while his brother takes Kodak Polaroids, and their mother instructs them and leads them on...sound bad, yeah, but take it for what it is. Silly, odd disturbing nonsense. But it was more a "mood" movie, based around the characters and settings vs. the horror of rape and disturbing shots. This kind of horror sound like your thing? Then you're in luck, it's worth it.

One of hundreds of grade-b exploitation shockers cranked out during this period; falls under the sub-category of rape and revenge films after Last House on the Left. This one has better acting and character development, but it's the addition of the crazy Mom character to the typical depraved psycho routine that makes this movie creepy and disturbing. The two brothers are scary slapstick rapists; "Can she spend the night with us tonight, Mom?" Next morning Mom asks "Where's your friend?" The boys tell her "She don't feel so good..." and they all laugh like it's Leave it to Beaver! ("they raped her to death..." my date said when we watched it in the theater back in the 80's.) This movie is also pretty funny, which really helps give you the chills. Probably only of interest to fans of this particular sub-genre. About the Troma release; I understand this movie was edited when it was first released, this version contains all the scenes. The pan and scan job is not very good, I'm surprised they did not release the film in a letter-box edition. Nothing in the movie however is as offensive as the opening promotional spots for Troma. I wanted to give them credit for attitude but I felt sorry for every one involved.

MORD39 RATING: *** out of ****

Let's get something straight: This movie is offensive. It features an old mom urging her two misfit sons to brutally rape, torture, abuse, and murder young women for her entertainment. BUT IT'S BRILLIANT, AND WELL DONE FOR ITS TYPE.

With a shlocky piece of exploitation like this, we rarely if ever get a story and character development in the mix. The story of a group of young women planning a weekend getaway for their reunion celebration first provides us with background history detailing their personalities and personal problems. We get to know these girls...and once they get "caught" by the family of crazies, we share their dilemma.

I might also say that the surprise beginning really grabbed me (I first saw the movie in a theatre in 1980 and had no clue what was going to happen), and the ending is also pretty good.

As gruesome as these killers are in the film, you almost feel for them too. You sense that the imbecile sons are victims of their overbearring mother, and have had no proper upbringing to keep them from being such animals. Even mother is pathetic in a pitiful way.

MOTHER'S DAY will probably never be respected, and it is not for everybody. But I respect it and feel it stands out far in front of zillions of other exploitation/slasher knock-off's.

When I saw that Troma produced this, I wasn't sure if I wanted to watch this. While I enjoy their films, I wasn't in the mood for something as silly as those usually are. Mother's Day, thankfully, isn't quite like any other Troma film I've seen. It's mean, bleak, and nasty at times, but also has just enough of a sense of humor to keep the movie from being unbearable.

In the film, three girlfriends reconnect for a weekend of camping and are captured by two redneck brothers and their psychotic mother who want to use them for their own sick and twisted games.

When Mother's Day wants to get nasty, it goes all the way in. The disturbing moments stick with you and make you feel lousy and disgusted. You really root for these girls to overcome their troubles and get revenge which makes the final act so much more satisfying.