User reviews

I had a feel when she arrived in the film of Hand That Rocks The Cradle flashbacks. Rebecca De Mornay has that vibe, that ominous character development to which she is mesmerizing on the screen. The film sounds like it would be an epic fail but is a very good suspense, thriller and drama.

The plot is pretty original as a couple are having a birthday party with friends and they are in a sound proof basement. Upstairs three men enter one which is wounded. It comes across this used to be their childhood home. These men are criminals as we find out and in comes MOTHER. The ferocity, soul stealing vibe we get from mother is critical for the film to capture the plot.

The acting was very well done and two in particular Patrick John Flueger (Ike) and Warren Kole (Addley) were very sadistic and extremely well portrayed. Jaime King (Beth) was pretty solid in her own right.

I give this film a solid 7 out of 10 for it's writing, plot and decent acting.

Yet another remake that has been churned out from Hollywood over the recent years, and although I've never seen the original I can't really compare the two, but this as a stand alone movie is really good well paced slasher/thriller.

The plot = Three brothers on the run from the police after a botched bank robbery. Unable to escape the small town they're in due to road blocks covering the exits. They make their way back to their old house where they hope to find Mother, whom is the mastermind behind these group of criminals. Unbeknownst to the brothers, their mother recently lost the home due to a foreclosure and it's now the new home to a young couple, who just happen to be having a little house-warming party. The brothers hold them hostage, as they await the return of Mother.

I've only ever seen clips of the original, but from what I can tell that this is almost completely different, such as the setting instead of in the backwoods America we get a suburban house-hold in which I was slightly disappointed, being a huge fan of backwoods survival flicks, but accepted and understood the necessity for the change. The backdrop definitely made it a more realistic take on the story, which seemed to be what the filmmakers were going for. With all the changes, the movie is now more of a home invasion crime thriller than the horror flick that many might've thought it'd be.

The performances in this movie are top notch especially Rebecca De Mornay who plays the sadistic mother showing the audience a kind (yet still devious) and sadistic side of her character and the great lengths that she'd go to protect her family, and it's also nice to see her back in movies again I loved her in "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" back in the early 90's. Other great performances came from recent slasher stars Jaime King (My Bloody Valentine 3D) and Briana Evigan (Sorority Row) they were great together, Jaime King hits all the right notes especially in her scenes alongside Rebecca De Mornay.

All in all this movie was violent and brutal at all the right times and offered some decent tense parts that involved our hostages attempting to escape, definitely worth watching.

Now THIS is the type of horror movie remake that I – and surely many other avid genre fanatics with me – certainly don't mind seeing! The new film by Darren Lynn Bousman, who should have turned his back on the "Saw" franchise much sooner, is loosely based on a 1980 flick with the same title. The original "Mother's Day" is an extremely low-budgeted and trashy production from the infamous Troma Studios. That film is obscure and totally insignificant, but at least the basic premise shows enough potential to entertain audiences even 30 years later. I really wished this is how horror remakes were usually handled. There's absolutely no necessity to recycle near-perfect classics such as "A Nightmare on Elm Street" or "The Fog". We need more directors who dig up forgotten gems and unleash an updated and vastly superior version!

"Mother's Day" basically your average thriller about a bunch of people getting home jacked and then subsequently submitted to humiliation, torture and emotional agony. The difference here, however, lies with the entire cast of characters. The homejackers are a totally unseen kind of dysfunctional family and yet the victims are often even more antipathetic. You know, the type of obnoxious and cowardly people prepared to sacrifice their so-called friends in order to save themselves. On the same night a tornado is about to pass through the area and cause a lot of damage, three brothers are on the lam after a failed bank robbery. The youngest one has a lethal bullet wound in his stomach and the three seek shelter in their nearby parental house. Unfortunately, their mother and sister were evicted a couple of months earlier and the house now belongs to Dan and Beth Sohapi, who're just having their friends over for a party. The Koffin brothers take the entire bunch hostage, but then their mommy arrives… Mother Koffin is an intelligent and sophisticated mature woman but, as to be expected, also a deeply disturbed and dangerous psychopath. The homejackers will not hesitate to kill, but the large amount of lies and deceits between the owners and their guests threatens to destroy them even sooner.

"Mother's Day" is an exciting and occasionally even suspenseful horror tale full of gruesome torture/murder sequences and pitch black humor. It has to be said that, with a running time of 112 minutes, the film is a tad overlong and suffers from a few tedious moments near the finale. By that time, even the remarks and behavioral ticks of the mother are becoming a bit derivative. Speaking of which, the titular role means an awesome comeback for early 90's vixen Rebecca De Mornay. She was hot in that period thanks to popular thrillers like "Guilty as Sin", "Never Talk to Strangers" and especially "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" in which she already portrayed a lunatic nanny. De Mornay hasn't starred in anything significant in nearly 15 years, but now she's back and she looks more ravishing than ever. "Mother's Day" contains numerous bloody and hard-to-stomach images, including the eerie intro set in a hospital and a couple of excruciatingly painful confrontations between victims and kidnappers, so it will definitely be popular amongst young horror fanatics. The film does lack that typically raw and brutal edge, but you can hardly blame Darren Lynn Bousman for that, because true exploitation films are nearly impossible to come by these days. As stated before, this is the second film in which the young director showcases his exceptionally talented skills. This and particularly "Repo! The Genetic Opera" are really cool movies and I hope Bousman doesn't return to the long-extinct "Saw" series.

MOTHER'S DAY – CATCH IT ( B ) Ever since I heard that gorgeous & brilliant Deborah Ann Woll (True Blood) has been signed on to do a thriller called "Mother's Day" I was anxiously waiting for its release. Finally last week I got hold of Mother's Day and trust me it was more than my expectations. It's not like common violent movies which start with blood & gore. The gore in the movie increases as the situation in the movie gets worse & worse. Director got the perfect cast to play "The Koffins", who invade in a house thinking their mother still lives there and hostage 8 people in the basement. The Koffins are brutal and would do anything to get what they want. Rebecca De Mornay as monstrous mother is powerful & ruthless at her heart. Patrick Flueger as eldest Koffins brother is impressive along with crazy angry Warren Kole. Matt O'Leary is shown being shot & Deborah Ann Woll did a good job as crazy isolated Koffins sister. Among the hostages the girls by far stand out from Jaime king to Briana Evigan, Kandyse McClure, Lisa Marcos & Jessie Rusu everyone did a fantastic job. Among the boys Frank Grillo and Shawn Ashmore did a great job. Alexa Vega & A.J Cook cameo was Okay it was like a "SAW touch". Overall a Mother's Day is a perfect movie to watch & enjoy on your Weekend.

This is yet another home invasion movie but one with a bit of a difference. Allied to the usual psychopathic housebreakers is the added ingredient of their mother.

I didn't really buy into the set up as it's pretty far fetched however that's not really the point of these movies so it didn't spoil it for me. Rebecca De Mornay is manic and slightly over the top as the ruthless mother of the psycho's. The rest of the cast put in surprisingly convincing performances.

The film takes plenty of twists and increasingly brutal and at times unrealistic turns but nevertheless always remains horribly watchable. You do almost at times question why you are entertained by the horrific happenings.

The film is very brutal and there are quite a few unpleasant scenes so if you don't like these kind of films you won't like it. For horror fans though this is a well made and very watchable film which is as unpredictable as you could wish for.

The sadistic members of a villainous family return to their childhood home, which has since been sold, and terrorize the new home owners and their guests.

Right off the bat, I have to give full credit to Rebecca DeMornay. She knows crazy, and she knows how to make it both believable and intense. Despite any flaws this film may have, I find it hard to imagine anyone faulting DeMornay for her role.

Also, I have to say this is a noticeable improvement over the Troma version. I love Troma, and there are enough differences that this could be seen as a different movie rather than a remake, but the production value and professional cast involved made this a top-notch film.

That being said, the film's biggest problem is its length. Running almost two hours, the plot is far too simple for such a length. Cut ten or fifteen minutes out, speed up the pacing, and you have a good film. I kept thinking the confrontations were too long -- get down to it already. I have to admit I lost interest near the end...

I haven't seen the original Troma film of which this is based, but I've been looking forward to this one and it was worth the wait! The movie is very well paced, were thrown straight into the horror in the first 10 Min's (and this being a film by Darren Lynn Bousman (saw 2,3,4), there is plenty of horror on show)! Were barely introduced to the characters when the blood starts pouring, but i still found myself caring for each of them! With no sense of what was going to happen next or who was going to die, i was permanently on the edge of my seat! The show belongs to De Mornay, her performance as Mother is as chilling as Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, cool and calm on second but deadly the next. With some memorable deaths, each totally unexpected, and a few twists along the way, i found this film a real surprise and one every horror fan especially should check out!

Returning to their home like normal following a botched bank robbery, a group of criminals begin to terrorize and torment the new owners for the money they believe is being hidden away from them, forcing them into a deadly battle to escape.

Hyper-stylized remake that has a lot of rather poor points rather detrimental in nature. The most obvious is the film's extremely long running time which has a lot of extra time in useless scenes or subplots that drag the film's running time out, from the useless antics of the group out on the errands to the different failed escape attempts as the group bickers and complains about everything, leaving this one exceedingly long. Another rather big problem is the stupidity of the villains, since not only do they fail to keep a check on the group but the whole manner of stumbling into the situation is lazy and feels way too contrived, as well as denigrating into a typical Torture Film routine to deliver the majority of it's scares. While the big confrontations are rewarding action scenes and there's plenty of gore to be had, it's too flawed to overcome them.

Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language

I came across this movie out of the blue, and I'm really happy I did.

I wasn't expecting much because of the name, 'Mother's Day'; it sounds like a cheap production.

Let me say that I enjoyed this move way more than the remake of "I Spit On Your Grave" and "Last House on the Left".

I was disappointed to see that it only has a 6 star rating, while the other 2 are slightly higher.

The movie does start out a bit slow but if you hang with it until the end there are a few scenes that made this old horror movie lover wince, and that's saying a lot.

The acting was pretty solid, and Rebecca Demornay was absolutely fantastic.

See it if you enjoyed Last House on the Left.

Rebecca De Mornay is always a great villain in every capacity and this is no different. Her performance is fantastic and generally keeps the film from falling. The rest of the cast do an adequate job, but it is De Mornay who keeps the tension high and makes sure the thrills come fast.

The film is shot nicely, just enough gore and violence to keep you wincing, but not too much that the film is driven by it. The script though nothing special gives the villains of the piece something to play with. The victims however seem to fall at this hurdle speaking the same lines you expect to hear from this type of film. Jaime King is the biggest disappointment, her performance is flat and her characters motives are idiotic.

The plot is the biggest problem here, the holes in the plot can be seen from space and characters just don't mesh into the story properly. Despite an intriguing premise and knock out lead antagonist, Mother's Day falls in with a lot of sub-standard mainstream horror/thriller's of the moment.

I enjoyed the film a lot, but the plot holes unfortunately left me feeling underwhelmed. I spent more of film tutting at it than sitting back and enjoying it. And I'm pretty sure the intention of the film wasn't for me to be rooting for the "bad" guys at the end.

Once seen, never forgotten. That's my feeling regarding Rebecca De Mornay's role in THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE; she was one of the most chilling psychopaths ever seen on screen. Others must agree with me, because she repeats a similar role in this home invasion horror story that's apparently a remake of a Z-grade Troma movie from yesteryear.

MOTHER'S DAY is an unpleasant film, there are no two ways about it. Much of the film feels like a glorification of violence, and the rest is all about the suspense building up to the next violent encounter. The storyline is simplicity in itself – a household full of partygoers having a good time is invaded by some on-the-run criminals, who think nothing of murdering anybody who gets in their way. Much of the 'entertainment' value – if you can call it that – comes from second-guessing who's going to be the next to bite it, or attempting to work out how the good guys are going to extricate themselves from the situation.

I tend to enjoy home invasion movies, not because of their subject matter, but because it's relatively easy to make a successful one. The single location settings bring claustrophobia to the audience and characters, and I always enjoy seeing the captives turning the tables on their captors come the climax. Funnily enough, I recently saw the LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT remake which covers much the same ground as this movie, with much the same style.

One of the benefits of MOTHER'S DAY is a pretty large cast which allows plenty of situations, showdowns and scenarios to be explored. One thing that quickly becomes tiresome is having the criminals making the hostages commit violent acts on one another, derivative gestures that are way too reminiscent of the SAW series (with whom MOTHER'S DAY shares its director). The cast is mixed, with De Mornay giving a typically intense performance that really pays off, but Jaime King is so poor as the supposed heroine that you'll be rooting for the bad guys to wipe her out. Supporting players like Lyriq Bent and Shawn Ashmore are much more interesting, but get short shift from the screenplay.

Also watch out for the silly twist ending, which is a step too far for this viewer and an entirely unsatisfying way to tie things up. In fact, the whole back story bookending De Mornay's character seems pointless; villains work better with less exposition, not more. Keeping the action within the house would have tightened things up nicely. Still, MOTHER'S DAY works well as a grisly, thrill-a-minute '70s throwback and horror fans should be in their element.

"Look at me, if someone's lying there will be consequences. I guarantee it." After three teens commit a crime they run to their mother's house for safety. When they get there they find out that the home was foreclosed on and there are now new people living there. The mother (De Mornay) shows up and begins to take control to get her and her boys out safe. I have to say that going in I was expecting a pretty lame B movie. This was much better then I thought. Very tense and pretty scary in the fact that this movie could actually happen. Imagine having a party with your friends when a group of criminals with guns show up thinking it's their house. What would you do. This movie is made for me by the fact that Rebecca De Mornay is playing a similar character that she played in "Hand That Rocks The Cradle". She has the same level of "normal-creepiness" that is makes her seem at once normal and insane. To me that is creepy. This is a good watch. Overall, if the woman from "Hand That Rocks The Cradle" grew up this is the type of person and movie it would become. I give it a B.

Three brothers are speeding away from a bank robbery. One of them has been shot and needs help. They drive to their mothers house...unaware that she no longer lives there. She lost the house in foreclosure. Now a young couple live there and are having a party with a bunch of friends. The psychos take over and get their mother (Rebecca DeMornay) to come and help them.

This is yet another movie where psychos torture and kill innocent people. Personally I can't stand those types of movies. They're unpleasant and sick--not scary. This is just one more of them. Even worse the acting is so good by everyone it's hard to shake off. The only surprise is that there was no gratuitous female nudity (that's a plus). WAY too long to with a stupid ending. The only reason to watch this is DeMornay. She's incredible in her role. She's so likable but she will kill people without blinking an eyelash. The final fight between her and the "final girl" will have you cheering for DeMorney to get what's coming to her. But it's VERY unpleasant and far too long. I give it a 5.

Excellent remake of Troma's schlocky 80s original. Story has three criminal brothers on the run from a bank robbery gone wrong and they plan to hide out in their childhood home. Unfortunately it's not their home anymore, so they take the couple living there and their party guests hostage and violence becomes the order of the day; especially with the arrival of the boys' psychotic mother...

It's bloody and bloody intense as director Darren Lynn Bousman updates the original to modern times. Featuring torture and humiliation, it's not what you would call a comfortable date movie experience, but the makers manage to blend the trashy exploitation of the source with today's horrifying home invasion themes with considerable success. The narrative is not perfect, with leaps of faith required for some twists and credulity is stretched to breaking point, but with Rebecca De Mornay on fire as the mad matriarch, the flaws are easily forgiven. 8/10

The story is actually pretty silly. A group of eight friends are having a party at one couple's home. That couple have only just moved into the house a couple of months before. Unknown to them, the previous owners of the house were a completely dysfunctional criminal family. One night, fleeing from the police, the family arrives back at their own house and take the eight hostage, looking for money that they claimed had been being sent to the house for them.

The story was standard home invasion stuff. There was nothing especially interesting about it. There's a lot of violence and a lot of blood. People get hurt and people get humiliated. Standard stuff. What makes this rise above other movies with a similar story, though, is the study of group dynamics involved.

There is of course the dynamic of the dysfunctional family. The three kids have an overbearing, demanding mother who insists on being in total control of their lives and has kept them isolated, allowing them no friends and home schooling them to keep them isolated. She's devoted to them - and they are to her - but in an obsessive, unbalanced kind of way that leads to a tragically sad and hopeless family who have no concern for anyone but themselves.

More interesting was the look at the dynamic between the eight friends who find themselves as the objects of this nightmare. I suppose that when faced with any kind of crisis, a group can move in two directions: they either pull together and support each other, or they fall apart and turn on each other. In this story, it was the latter that occurred. Few of the eight came across as noble, or even as particularly good friends. They were selfish and they allowed fear to control them. It became very much a "look out for number one" type of environment, to the point at which you weren't sure if couples really cared much about each other, and where friends trying to kill each other became totally unsurprising.

I enjoyed the group dynamic portrayal very much. It was well done, and - in spite of it being set in the context of a far-fetched movie - it was surprisingly believable. Frankly, the last scene of the movie isn't necessary. It takes an already far-fetched movie to yet another unfortunate extreme in "far-fetchedness!" That aside, though, this was a surprisingly exciting and relatively interesting movie that doesn't just go over the well-worn "home invasion" plot. (7/10)

This is a frightfully entertaining mother show as well as a thought-provoking movie that keeps you wondering about the duality in human nature (evil and good) and how people's real identity revealed only when they are being put under pressure. To some extent, it is similar to the sequence of "SAW" but this what I call a unique film that worths every minute of your time. Unfortunately, it wasn't perfect due to its lack of more gripping events; however, it was an absolute worthy nonetheless. It touches upon many topics for instance infertility and opportunism and many other life lessons, all of that in my opinion makes this film a cardinal to watch. This hostage kind of movies that will never fail to thrill you, that's what I guarantee you.

The movie starts pretty good. The first 40 minutes were so exciting I didn't even realize how long it had been. But after that, I got so disappointed. The story started to be so ridiculous and by the end there were so many plot holes and nonsensical situations. There're still some good scenes though so it's not that bad of a movie. But such a shame! The beginning was so promising.

No way. This is a wrong movie, the plot completely wrong. From the beginning you feel they all gonna eat it, I had a small hope that they'll make the "mother" suffer at the end, but the script is to stupid for even that. It gives her a prize. No vision in this film only bad gore and cry baby. I rate it stupid. Some of the actors do play fairly good, but not being able to understand their motives doesn't help accepting them. In a movie I need someone I can relate to, here none. Not the crying and sniffing victims neither the bad guys who seem to act more by stupidity than anything else. I really would wish that they'll stop making movies about making other (inocent or not is not the point) suffer and getting off on top. Hated it.

Her performance alone was enough to give this film a decent review. Of course the movie is filled with ludicrous, unrealistic situations. Of course the movie has horribly written, stupid, unlikeable characters. But it was entertaining I'll give it that. The film has almost nothing to do with the original 1980 Hixploitation horror film by Charlie Kaufman except for some of the themes and some script lines. And that's ok since that film was even more terrible. Besides the huge amount of suspension of disbelief and the implausible situations and ending, Rebecca De Mornay and Shawn Ashmore's performances were great. It was fun to see Mrs. De Mornay find her The Hand That Rocks The Cradle juicy evilness again (in hillbilly form of course). Couldn't feel sympathy for any of the characters except for George (Ashmore). Still was a fun, gory popcorn thriller.

Using the 1980 classic as an extremely vague springboard, Mother's Day hops into 2010 successfully shocking and scaring, as its inspiration did 30 years ago. Rebecca DeMorany proves she is still the mother of all bitches two decades after she terrified yuppie moms around the globe in "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle". The pacing is great, I usually find myself bored during the third act of most scary movies, but this one had me on the edge of my seat. Like most great slasher flicks, this movie will have you yelling at the screen "Don't go back in there!" or "What the hell are you doing??". There is enough gore and nasty moments to please horror fans and repulse the general public but it is not completely over-the-top (like the "Saw" movies). Jaime King is once again very likable, sympathetic and relatable, she did a great job in the "My Bloody Valentine" remake and she is on point here. Nice job!