Lloyd Kaufman’s 1980 Troma production of his
brother Charles’ original ‘Mother’s Day’ was not scary in the slightest. This
rape and revenge film was a hilariously crazy over the top cheesfest with wacky
characterization and a in your face social sub-text that has garnered a strong
cult following within the horror/exploitation community for those very reasons.
Finally getting a US Blu-ray/DVD release this year on the 8th May
after several delays Brett Ratner’s 2010 production of Darren Lynn Bousman’s
pseudo-remake takes basic elements from its source material for nodding
references in homage minus the rape. It is a complete reimagining with entirely
different plot and characters turning the premise into a brutally intense home
invasion thriller.
The movie opens in the maternity ward of a hospital with the abduction of a newborn baby by a woman disguised as a nurse with the help of a man dressed up as a security guard. Their identities are concealed to the audience. We then cut to the soon to be invaded home where we are introduced to the eight soon to be hostages at an ill-timed birthday party while their relationships to each other are established. This is cross cut with a scene featuring three men in a car going at high speed. We learn that they are the Koffin bothers - Ike (Patrick Flueger), Addley (Warren Kole) and Johnny (Matt O'Leary). The youngest of the three siblings Johnny is wounded by a gunshot to the stomach and we hear about how their non-family partner in crime has stabbed them in the back making off with their money during a botched bank robbery. The group dynamics tell us that the oldest Ike is the leader with his head screwed on right under pressure and Addly is the unstable unpredictable loony.
The fugitive brothers arrive at what they assume
to be their mother’s house hoping she can help with their getaway but instead gatecrash
the party that is being held downstairs in the basement. The music is so loud
the people downstairs cannot hear the three of them. They make first contact
with each other when the partygoers hear a single sound from upstairs and the
head of the household and birthday boy Daniel (Frank Grillo) goes up to
investigate thinking that it is another guest arriving. While Johnny is
bleeding out on the couch the other two brothers question Daniel at gunpoint
about what has happened to their family home. Daniel explains that he and his
estate agent wife Beth (Jamie King) bought the house in a foreclosure.
When his
wife Beth comes up to see what is going on she tries to escape. Caught and
brought back into the house by Ike before any neighbours can see Beth then
explains that her brother George (Shawn Ashmore) is a doctor and can help their
brother. After Beth brings up George from the basement without letting on to
the rest of the party under instruction from Ike, he receives a phone call from
the brothers’ younger sister Lydia
(Deborah Ann Woll) after she got Ike’s messages. He tells her that Johnny has
been severely injured and could die and with that mother is on the way. We find
out later that Ike lost the emergency phone to be able to speak his mother so
she was unable to tell him that she lost the house.
When another guest Julie (Lisa Marcos)
stumbles upon them and screams running back downstairs, Addly goes down after
her and takes control of everybody in the basement. When their mother turns up
the brothers find out that she has not been receiving the money they had been
sending her to this address. When Daniel and Beth claim to know no knowledge of
the money mother and her boys make everybody give up their valuables and ATM
cards with pin numbers to get the cash together they desperately need for their
contact at the Canadian border for their escape. Ike and Beth are sent out to
go get it.
Aside from the ambiguous opening sequence,
the rest of the first 20-minutes concerning the set-up are so hackneyed though
it does get straight into the action at a ferocious pace. We have the
conflicting personalities of the two stereotypical villains one who is
commanding and on the ball and the other who is so unbalanced and willing to
off their captives locking horns due to their differing views on how to handle
their dire situation. Oh, and one of the guests of the small group of eight
just so happens to be a doctor to be able to tend to their wounded younger
brother. However, George’s profession actually serves another purpose later, as
it is through his professional skills that he uncovers the dysfunctional
twisted family’s secret. Despite two stock antagonists and other clichés that
crop up throughout its smidge under 2-hours running time, Bousman’s execution
makes the material engaging and tense viewing.
Although, there are more deep and intricate
details of the screenplay that helps raise the film above average in the home
invasion torture sub-genre turning into something solidly entertaining as the
director balances its psychological aspects with some disgustingly unpleasant
violence. Darren Lynn Bousman manages to overcome these flaws in Steve Millam’s
script bringing out effectively its strengths in other departments in the other
characters’ development and its nice touches of twists and turns. The writer
and director team take what is essentially a run of the mill captives versus
captors story and turns it into something more complex as this predicament
brings to the surface the characters’ hidden secrets and they are punished for
their sins.
This happens through the presence of the
coldly calculating "The Mother" Natalie Koffin played by Rebecca
De Mornay in a stellar turn. Anybody who has seen her knockout performance in Curtis
Hanson’s hugely enjoyable ‘The Hand That Rocks the Cradle’ (1992) will know
that this immensely talented actress is perfectly capable of playing a chillingly
convincing creepy psychopath. She cleverly manipulates her hostages forcing
them to turn on each other as they struggle to survive and she will resort to
extreme measures for the safety of her children. De Mornay is the stand out of
the cast but the acting is strong all round. With the aid of some strong
characterization of the captives, the actors really bring across their
believability. The women on the whole are the more likable and stronger
characters here while some of the men are portrayed as pathetic and selfish. A
neat narrative device concerning the dangerous threat of an impending tornado
amp up the peril stakes for the luckless victims of this home invasion as there
is hardly anybody about as the neighbourhood continues to be emptied by people
fleeing.
This is combined with Bousman’s
gifted knack of executing horrific scenes of sadistic torture. This was
previously evidenced in the more elaborate set-pieces of two of the better
entries in the Saw franchise - ‘Saw II’ (2005) and ‘Saw III’ (2006) - and in
one of the lesser instalments in 2007’s ‘Saw IV’. These scenarios are very well
choreographed and played out
making for terrifyingly nerve-shredding and unsettling viewing. Though these
sequences are not of the over splattery kind they are every bit squirm inducing
with the gore coming from the graphic
gunshot moments with some exceptional special make-up effects with no CGI blood
in sight.
‘Mother’s Day’ is nicely shot, edited and scored and while far from
perfect despite its flaws it is an overall smart and suspenseful yet
bleak and disturbing piece of gritty entertainment that does not
contain one dull moment pulling no punches with its subject matter.
Overall, it is well worth a look. Recommended.
*** out of ****
Dave J. Wilson
©2012
Cinematic Shocks, Dave J. Wilson - All work is the property of the credited
author and may not be reprinted or reproduced elsewhere without permission.
I agree that Rebecca De Mornay was brilliantly chilling in this new version. I forgot that the orginal was a Troma release. Yeah when it come to legitimate scares. This new version beats it hands down. Great post
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jason.
DeleteDe Mornay is a hugely talented actress and it's a shame we don't get to see her much these days.
This is definitely superior although it differs very significantly to the original just taking certain elements from it and is very much its own film.