Label: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 112 mins
Video: 16:9 Widescreen (2:40:1)
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1
| Director: Darren Lynn Bousman | ||
| Cast: Shawn Ashmore, Lyriq Bent, Patrick John Flueger, Frank Grillo, Jaime King, Warren Kole, Lisa Marcos, Kandyse McClure, Rebecca De Mornay, Tony Nappo, Matt O'Leary, Deborah Ann Woll Darren Lynn Bousman's remake of the Charles Kaufman's Troma classic Mother's Day (1980) makes it's way to Blu-ray after languishing for some time on a shelf having been deprived of a theatrical release. I should mention that I watched this without the benefit of having seen the Troma exploitation original but hopefully we'll be seeing a Blu-ray of that feature in the very near future, it having been delayed numerous times not unlike the remake. Beth (Jamie King) and Daniel Sohapi (Frank Grillo) are young couple just having moved into a new home following a family tragedy. The night they host a birthday party attended by several friends the party is crashed by the Koffin Brothers, a trio of sadistic bank robbers. We have Izaac (Patrick John Flueger), Addley (Warren Cole) and the youngest of the bunch Johnny (Matt O'Leary) who suffers a nasty gunshot to the chest after a double-cross during the robbery. The trio arrive at the house under the assumption that the home belongs to their mother, not realizing it was recently foreclosed on and is now home to the young couple. Taken by surprise the party goers are forced to remain in the basement at gunpoint while one of the guests, a doctor (Shawn Ashmore) tends as best he can to the gravely injured Johnny. It's not long before mommy dearest (the awesome Rebecca De Mornay) and daughter Lydia, the gorgeous ginger-haired Deborah Ann Woll of HBO's True Blood, arrive on the scene and mom takes over. De Mornay as the steely-eyed patriarch is quite the chilling character; a strict punishment minded momma who is the scary embodiment of every quietly seething mother who's ever uttered the phrase "come here, I just wanna talk, I'm not gonna hurt you" right before she snags you by the ear and whips the snot outta ya. Only De Mornay's momma is more likely to have one of her sadistic sons poor liquor on your head and set it on fire rather than grabbing a handful of earlobe, she's a scary intense piece of work. We haven't seen the actress this scary since the thriller The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and even still that's nowhere near what we have here. There's quite a few torturous moments on display here, it's a real nail-biter. Not a splatterfest by any means but there's definitely some decent moments of gore including a couple of sweet shotgun blast to the skull. It's disturbing stuff as the twisted family pit the party guests against each other taking delight in their misery. There's a matter of missing money that fuels the horrific events throughout the film and I think it's mighty successful.I don't count myself as a fan of the few Darren Lynn Bouseman films I've seen including Saw II and Repo! The Genetic Opera but this I truly love. It's a sickening nailbiter that's pretty twisted and it's a damn shame it didn't get a wide theatrical run. 4 outta 5 |
