Mom

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.

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.

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.

Oddball horror/comedy about a sweet grey haired mother who is bitten by a werewolf or some sort of creature of the night (played by the always great Brion James) and transforms her into a bloodthirsty creature of the night, much to the consternation of her yuppie adult son who only wants to help her and stop her from killing. The film really grabbed me with the opening of Brion James as a blind man attacking a prostitute played by Claudia Christian. James then goes on to ingratiate himself to the titular mother who invites him into her home, only for him to attack her and turn her into a werewolf. The dark humor around a sweet old lady with blood dripping down her matronly house dresses is pretty funny and does go a long way, but the rest of the film isn't all that clever or interesting. Art Evans and Stella Stevens also appear in the film, but horror/comedies rarely seem to work and outside of seeing a kindly old lady viciously killing, there ins't a lot to recommend here.

An old lady's boarder Nestor Duvalier(Brion James)turns out to be a cannibalistic monster terrorizing Los Angeles,and promptly turns her into one too.It's up to her son to stop the carnage."Mom" is a perfect flick for few laughs.There is a good amount of gore,but if you're searching for suspense-packed horror avoid this one at all costs.All in all "Mom" is worth checking out for some undemanding horror fans,so if you get the chance watch it.My rating:5 out of 10.