Mother's Day is sick, twisted and demented but this is a Troma movie and they wouldn't want it any other way! Falling somewhere between a regular slasher of the 1980's and early tropes of what a Troma movie has come to represent (exploitation, graphic gore, cartoon violence, surreal ideas, dark humour and of course a very low budget) this early effort from founder and producer Lloyd Kaufman and his kid brother director Charles Kaufman find their way into the horror market with quite a well made and albeit controversial film that I was ready to dislike but found strangely compelling.
Later Troma movies feel more tacky, more self deprecating, silly and shoddy but Mother's Day wants to earn it's horror chops so it's not quite as extreme or as exploitative as later output from the studio however this is still an uncomfortable watch as it effortlessly sucks you into a world of depravity.
A group of girl friends go camping for their annual meet up only to be violently attacked by two strange feral like men who rape, kill and torture just for fun, with the twist here being they are doing it to gain their Mother's approval and for her amusement. The family are clearly insane and should be locked up but they are on the loose for our entertainment and it's up to the group of friends to survive the ordeal and fight back.
Veteran actress Beatrice Pons, best known for being in the 1960's TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You hams it up to chilling effect as the sick Mother who demands more depravity from her sons who are more than willing to please her every whim. The characters are not as one dimensional as you might expect from a movie like this and it has some shocking moments of gore to keep horror fans happy but the overall feel of hopeless dread, decay and filth is where it's most effective with tense moments and consistent nastiness of the brothers played with terrifying glee by Michael McCleery and Gary Pollard.
Troma would go on to develop cult characters, be more extreme with horror and violence and add a dark cartoonish humour to the likes of The Toxic Avenger (1984), Sgt Kabukiman N. Y. P. D. (1990) and Class of Nuke 'em High (1986) to name of few. Followed by a remake in 2010.
Later Troma movies feel more tacky, more self deprecating, silly and shoddy but Mother's Day wants to earn it's horror chops so it's not quite as extreme or as exploitative as later output from the studio however this is still an uncomfortable watch as it effortlessly sucks you into a world of depravity.
A group of girl friends go camping for their annual meet up only to be violently attacked by two strange feral like men who rape, kill and torture just for fun, with the twist here being they are doing it to gain their Mother's approval and for her amusement. The family are clearly insane and should be locked up but they are on the loose for our entertainment and it's up to the group of friends to survive the ordeal and fight back.
Veteran actress Beatrice Pons, best known for being in the 1960's TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You hams it up to chilling effect as the sick Mother who demands more depravity from her sons who are more than willing to please her every whim. The characters are not as one dimensional as you might expect from a movie like this and it has some shocking moments of gore to keep horror fans happy but the overall feel of hopeless dread, decay and filth is where it's most effective with tense moments and consistent nastiness of the brothers played with terrifying glee by Michael McCleery and Gary Pollard.
Troma would go on to develop cult characters, be more extreme with horror and violence and add a dark cartoonish humour to the likes of The Toxic Avenger (1984), Sgt Kabukiman N. Y. P. D. (1990) and Class of Nuke 'em High (1986) to name of few. Followed by a remake in 2010.