MasterChugs Theater: 'Mother's Day'

With a certain holiday right around the corner (c'mon, give it a shot), MCT decided to pick a certain movie for review that's just more appropriate than, say ... Black Christmas. On the surface, one would expect Mother's Day to be another one of those holiday-themed slasher pics from the early 80s; however, this odd little flick is actually more like a combination of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I Spit on Your Grave. And, no, that isn't a good thing.

Factoid: In 1979, two horror movies began filming less than 15 miles away from each other: Friday the 13th and Mother’s Day. One, of course, went on to live in infamy while the other sank to the rank of “never heard of, seldom seen.” Both were extraordinarily stark films for their time, and both are pretty much equal in style, theme and delivery. Mother’s Day, however, has a unique pedigree: It was directed by Charles Kaufman - brother of Lloyd Kaufman who just happens to be the co-founder and President of the mighty Troma. Go ahead and let that stop you from watching the movie. It's a theory that helps explain the rest of the movie.

Mother’s Day is the story (and by story, I mean "expository narrative used to create plot and dialog," and even then, very loosely) of two redneck hillbilly inbreds and their stern, manipulatin’ mamma. She loves her boys, especially when they’re tormentin’ and choppin’ up travelers. Why does she make them do it? Who the heck knows? The point, much like “Friday the 13th”, is the randomness and insanity of it all. When three old friends--and don’cha just know they’re all gonna be women in a flick like this--who take an annual vacation together decide to take this year’s trip up in Mamma Country, well put the pig on the spit and find the fiddle and washboard player, ‘cause the fun’s gonna begin.

In any case, Jackie (one of the three friends) is singled out to be the first victim. The boys dress her up in a little girl's dress and make her carry a dolly, then they proceed to punch, kick, slap, rape and maul the tar out of her ... all the while Momma watches and claps with glee. Trina and Abbey (the other two friends) escape their bonds, find Jackie and haul ass into the woods. Jackie, unfortunately expires from her beating the night before ... so now it's REVENGE!!!!™ The rest of this twisted flick shows Trina and Abbey basically storm the house and dispatch of the evil threesome. Brother 1 gets a wire through the neck and an ax in the crotch, Brother 2 gets force fed Drano, cracked on the head with a TV and butchered with an electric knife ... and Momma? Well, Abbey suffocates Momma with an inflatable pair of boobs. No ... really.

Overall, Mother’s Day is a surprisingly solid effort from a company better known for its over-the-top, cheesy satire gorefests. At the least, it’s an interesting look at what might have been if they had decided to stick with “serious” scripts; at best it deserves an honorable mention as a fresh attempt, along with Friday the 13th, to revive a genre that was already thought to be dead. All in all, Mother's Day is a pretty despicable affair ... and if you can stomach it all the way to the end, get ready for one the more ridiculous twist endings in film history.

Recommended with some beers. Actually, make that a lot. I'm thoroughly advocating the use of alcoholism and Mother's Day.

Yes, that's right, I said that and went there.