Were
the original Mother's Day (1980) took place in the woods, the story
here is almost the same only it takes place at a home. Back then it
was released by Troma and for the geeks they know what they could
expect. But the so-called remake is a major Hollywood release and I
won't compare them further.
Mother's
Day sees a gang of ruthless criminals, the Koffin brothers, narrowly
escape the clutches of law to the safety of their childhood home only
to discover that their domineering mother has foreclosed on the
property due to lack of funds, and that the house now belongs to a
married couple, Daniel and Beth Sohapi (Frank Grillo and Jaime
King).
With Johnny Koffin slowly bleeding to death from a gunshot wound and a tornado on the way, the desperate brothers hold the current owners and their friends at gunpoint until they can get in touch with 'mother'. When their twisted matriarch (played with relish by Rebecca De Mornay) eventually arrives, she finds that that her 'good little boys' have regularly been sending her cash in the post—money that she has never received and that Daniel and his wife claim to know nothing about. Mother isn't convinced by their pleas of innocence, however, and so begins a night of unimaginable terror for the Sohapis and their unfortunate pals.
The cast all give great performances, and the script delivers a few surprises along the way, but what I like best about this film is its unrelenting tension and no-holds-barred nastiness: as the captive couples in the basement gradually realise that survival is most unlikely, they become more and more desperate in their actions, resulting in some stomach churning bouts of violence, with any character—good or bad—a contender for some serious pain and misery. Lynn Bousman masterfully orchestrates this bloody mayhem with seeming ease, wringing every ounce of dread from his simple set-up, aided by some nauseatingly bloody effects (a shotgun blast to the face being the juiciest moment). It all goes to make for one hell of a disturbing, edge-of-the-seat experience.
As far as modern-day horror remakes go, this is definitely one of the best!
With Johnny Koffin slowly bleeding to death from a gunshot wound and a tornado on the way, the desperate brothers hold the current owners and their friends at gunpoint until they can get in touch with 'mother'. When their twisted matriarch (played with relish by Rebecca De Mornay) eventually arrives, she finds that that her 'good little boys' have regularly been sending her cash in the post—money that she has never received and that Daniel and his wife claim to know nothing about. Mother isn't convinced by their pleas of innocence, however, and so begins a night of unimaginable terror for the Sohapis and their unfortunate pals.
The cast all give great performances, and the script delivers a few surprises along the way, but what I like best about this film is its unrelenting tension and no-holds-barred nastiness: as the captive couples in the basement gradually realise that survival is most unlikely, they become more and more desperate in their actions, resulting in some stomach churning bouts of violence, with any character—good or bad—a contender for some serious pain and misery. Lynn Bousman masterfully orchestrates this bloody mayhem with seeming ease, wringing every ounce of dread from his simple set-up, aided by some nauseatingly bloody effects (a shotgun blast to the face being the juiciest moment). It all goes to make for one hell of a disturbing, edge-of-the-seat experience.
As far as modern-day horror remakes go, this is definitely one of the best!
6.0
6.3 IMDB
No comments:
Post a Comment