Mother's Day (1980)

User Rating:

5.0/10   

Director:

Charles Kaufman

Writers:

Charles Kaufman (writer)
Warren Leight (writer)

Release Date:

September 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

If you go down to the woods today.

Plot:

When you go into the woods today, you're in for a big surprise. When you go into the woods today you're not going to believe your eyes...

Plot Keywords:

Reunion | Murder | Rape | Female Psychopath | Hatred

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Nancy Hendrickson	...	Abbey
Deborah Luce	...	Jackie
Tiana Pierce	...	Trina
Frederick Coffin	...	Ike (as Holden McGuire)
Michael McCleery	...	Addley (as Billy Ray McQuade)
Beatrice Pons	...	Mother (as Rose Ross)
Robert Collins	...	Ernie
Peter Fox	...	The 'Dobber' (as Karl Sandys)
Marsella Davidson	...	Terry
Kevin Lowe	...	Ted
Scott Lucas	...	Storekeeper
Ed Battle	...	Doorman
Robert Carnegie	...	Tex
Silas Davis
Stanley Kaufman	...	Older man at Pool Party

Runtime:

90 min | Australia:98 min | Germany:76 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:18 (TV rating) | Australia:(Banned) (1985 re-rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | West Germany:18 (heavily cut) | Germany:Not Rated (uncut) | Netherlands:16 | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-18 | Portugal:M/18 | UK:R | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Connecticut, USA

Company:

Duty Productions

Trivia:

Shot across the lake at the same time the original Friday the 13th (1980) was being filmed.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning, when the couple are attacked in Mother's car, there is blood on the woman's clothes before the guy is attacked.

Quotes:

Senior Citizen at Pool Party: [to a girl] What was it Kubrick said? The manipulation of light and color produces an illusion of profound intensity?
[girl walks away, man stops the next girl that walks by]
Senior Citizen at Pool Party: What was it Kubrick said?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Fear in the Dark (1991) (TV)

Soundtrack:

I think we're alone now

Mama, we're all crazee now!

Mother's Day is not only one of the earliest productions from Troma Studios, but it is also one of their more accomplished efforts (which, to be honest, isn't difficult given some of the absolute tripe they have made since they began). Although the film at first appears to be your typical Kaufmann/Herz trash, with amateurish acting, cartoonish characters, and an occasional attempt at puerile humour (the scene with the gormless stud left naked in the baseball field is a good example of this), it gradually develops into an irresistible combination of dark satire and straight-up, nasty exploitation.

Part Texas Chainsaw Massacre, part Last House on the Left, and part Friday the 13th, with just a little bit of Deliverance thrown in for good measure, Mother's Day is a gleefully twisted take on the popular backwoods horror sub-genre. Deep in the wilderness, 'mother' can enjoy all that she considers good about the city (popular culture via TV, and cheap consumer goods) without actually having to live there; the only drawback is that she lives in constant fear of attack from her savage sister Queenie, who lives wild in the woods. Fortunately she is protected by her two devoted and demented homicidal sons, Ike (Holden McGuire) and Addley (Billy Ray McQuade).

In order to keep her boys in tip-top fighting condition, she has trained them in the art of combat, using abducted hitch-hikers and back-packers to practise their techniques on. The terrible twosome bite off more than they can chew, however, when they kidnap three young women who are spending their weekend camping in the area: after one of the girls is raped and murdered by the sicko siblings, the remaining pair plan their escape and wreak bloody vengeance on their captors (attacking them with a variety of objects, including an axe, a TV set, and some Drano!).

With its wicked parody of consumerism (the hideous family greedily devour junk food and collect mass-produced merchandising), wry swipes at new-age thinking and motherhood, and a fun 'surprise' ending, this film manages to be smarter than your average Troma tat, whilst still delivering the raw violence and sleaze that fans demand.

What a shame Troma didn't continue in this vein, rather than resorting to churning out countless Z-grade B-movies designed to appeal to undiscerning adolescents.