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Cast: Jaime King, Warren Kole, Frank Grillo, Lyriq Bent, Matt O'Leary, Tony Nappo, Shawn Ashmore, Kandyse McClure, Lisa Marcos, Deborah Ann Woll, Patrick John Flueger, Rebecca De Mornay
From the maker of Saw II, III and IV, Mother's Day is a graphic remake of the Troma horror classic, Mother's Day. After a bank robbery gone wrong, three brothers go home to hideout...only to discover that their Mother (Rebecca De Mornay) lost their house in a foreclosure. The new owners and their party guests become the depraved brothers' unwitting hostages. Their sadistic Mother soon arrives and brilliantly takes control of the situation, ratcheting up the terror. As the hostages struggle desperately to survive the harrowing torture, they realize that there is nothing a Mother won't do to protect her children.
As the film opens you see a hospital and a infant ward where a nurse is checking on the newborns for the evening. Someone enters the hospital and walks right past the guard and in the elevator and makes their way up and into the infants ward where they decide to abduct the child, you will get the explanation about this scene later in the movie. The scene quickly switches to a car with three teens, one who is shot and in need of a doctor. The teens decide to go back to their house since they cannot get their mother or sister on the phone. The problem is their mother no longer owns the home because it was foreclosed months earlier and new owners bought it and are having a party with friends. When the teens enter the home chaos ensues and when their mother finally makes it to the house the situation becomes even deadlier.
As many of you already know from past reviews I am not a fan of remakes. I can only justify a remake if it can in some way improve on the original production wise and/or acting wise and that doesn't happen very often but I am pleased to say that "Mother's Day" does improve on the original film in many ways. I wouldn't call it a horror movie since it's more a crime thriller with a good bit of drama tossed in but it also has it's gory and violent moments as well as suspenseful and tension-filled moments as well. The film has a 113 minute runtime so you would think that it might have some slow moments but Director, Darren Lynn Bousman keeps things moving at a fast and furious pace.
There's a good bit of characters in the film and each and every actor does a terrific job but my two stand-outs would have to be Rebecca De Mornay who is crazy good here, much in the same way she was in "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" and Jamie king who bought the home with her husband and is dealing with both past and present marital problems. I would think that it had to be an honor for Jamie to play opposite Rebecca in the film but don't sell Jamie short here, she does a terrific job and stands toe to toe with Rebecca as far as performance goes.
Production wise the film looks great and the gore effects a done extremely well. This is a very violent film so if that sort of thing bothers you then I suggest not watching it but if you're a fan of this type of home invasion thriller then I highly recommend picking it up. Hollywood is known for releasing water down PG-13 horror films so it was great to see this with a R rating the way the genre should be. "Mother's Day" opened in theaters this past Friday for a limited time so if it's playing in your area I highly recommend checking it out and supporting a R rated thriller for a change. This is a edge of your seat thriller that grabs your attention from it's opening scene and it doesn't stop shocking till the credits begin to roll. Be sure to check it out, you will be glad you did.
Available on DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack, both comes with Special Features that include:
Audio Commentary with Director Darren Lynn Bousman and Actor Shawn Ashmore
You can order the packing of your choice HERE.
Released by Anchor Bay Entertainment
**** Out Of *****