Taglines: Don’t misbehave.
In Stonewall, the couple Beth and Daniel Sohapi are celebrating in their recently bought house with their friends Gina and Treshawn ‘Trey’ Jackson; Melissa McGuire and George Barnum; Annette Langston and Dave Lowe; and Daniel’s partner Julie Ross. Beth and Daniel have lost their son in an accident, and Daniel has a secret affair with Julie. Meanwhile, the thieves and brothers Izaak ‘Ike’ Koffin, Addley Koffin and Jonathan ‘Johnny’ Koffin are fleeing to the house of their mother in Stonewall after a heist of the First Omaha Bank.
Johnny is seriously wounded by a shot and the gang has been double-crossed by their partner Ethan Poe that robbed the stolen money. When the criminals arrive at home, they discover that their mother Natalie Koffin and their sister Lydia Koffin lost their house two months ago and now Beth and Daniel are the owners of the place. They violently dominate the nine adults and George, who is a doctor, is summoned to help Johnny. Ike calls his mother and sister to join them in the house.
The deranged mother calms down the friends and tells them that they will leave the house early in the morning, after the tornado that is threatening the city. However, when she learns that Ike has been sending money for her for two months, she decides to know who has received the letters and kept the money, in the beginning of a night of horror and sadism for Beth, Daniel and their friends.
Mother’s Day is a 2010 American psychological horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. It is a loose remake of Charles Kaufman’s Mother’s Day and was written by Scott Milam and produced by Brett Ratner. The film is about three brothers who fail to rob a bank then run to their mother so she can help them get away. The brothers discover that their mother has lost her house in a foreclosure. The brothers hold the new owners and their guests hostage. When their mother arrives, she takes control of the situation.
Film Review for Mother’s Day
Mom can be a source of comfort, stability, unconditional love and support, at least for those who have a good one (like I do). In horror that concept leaves some “wiggle room” to be played with, and Darren Lynn Bousman’sMother’s Day takes that concept to an extreme and exposes the dark underbelly of psychotic motherly love.
What begins as a fun get-together among friends (who all have serious lies and secrets between them) goes terribly wrong when a band of thugs on the run burst onto the scene, one of them sporting a gunshot wound that is already near-fatal. It isn’t by mere happenstance that the criminals stumble upon this particular house – it used to be their house. It seems the home was lost to foreclosure while the boys were off running amok and picked up for a song by the Sohapi family (Frank Grillo and Jamie King). Nice effort to apply some timeliness and social relevance to the scenario.
The men on the run terrorize the partiers extensively, but all are waiting for the arrival of the ringleader and guest of honor: Mother. When Mother gets here, she’ll know what to do. Indeed, when Mother gets here things are certainly going to take a turn for the worse.
Mother’s Day is quite a surprise. Having known nothing at all about this film other than the director, Darren Lynn Bousman, also helmed Saw II – IV and Repo! The Genetic Opera along with a couple of higher profile horror films recently – 11-11-11 (2011) and The Devil’s Carnival (2012) – The appearance of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Alum Rebecca De Mornay was quite a treat indeed. Had that villain not died at the end of that 1992 film Mother’s Day could almost be a sequel. De Mornay is quite amazing in this offering – quite amazing indeed.
When I saw her as a hooker in Risky Business (1983) I really thought she was terrible and hoped I’d never see her again, but her performance in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was spectacular and I was a convert. So creepy, so much happening under the cover or normalcy… just awesome. De Morney’s performance in Mother’s Day continues on that vein and then some, and every second she is on screen is nothing short of electrifying. I don’t think I’ve used that word in a review before because it’s so cheesy, but it’s true.
The rest of the performances in Mother’s Day are definitely credible, and the story works fine – not to gush, but it’s hard to notice much of anything other than De Mornay who carries this film completely and secures it’s success almost single-handedly. In case you missed it, she is really fantastic in this film.
Mother’s Day is recommended, and I will mention that those who watched and enjoyed The Hand That Rocked the Cradle and enjoyed it will likely enjoy Mother’s Day more than those who haven’t. It almost makes sense to make it a double feature and drudge up that film first. On my next viewing of this one I intend to do just that – and there absolutely will be a next viewing.
Mother’s Day (2012)
Directed by: Darren Lynn Bousman
Starring: Rebecca De Mornay, Jaime King, Shawn Ashmore, Patrick John Flueger, Warren Kole, Deborah Ann Woll, Briana Evigan, Frank Grillo, Kandyse McClure, Lyriq Bent, Lisa Marcos
Screenplay by: Scott Milam
Production Design by: Anthony A. Ianni
Cinematography by: Joseph White
Film Editing by: Hunter M. Via
Costume Design by: Leslie Kavanagh
Set Decoration by: Craig Sandells
Art Direction by: Réjean Labrie
Music by: Bobby Johnston
MPAA Rating: R for strong brutal bloody violence and torture, pervasive language and some sexual content.
Distributed by: Anchor Bay Films
Release Date: May 4, 2012
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