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Mother’s Day (Blu-ray Review)

Since that most sacred day is coming up this weekend, we here at Why So Blu thought it best to review the new remake of the 1980 cult-classic, Mother’s Day starring Rebecca De Mornay and Jaime King. Mother’s Day is a modern day remake of the old school flick that was written, produced, and directed by Charles Kaufman and produced by his brother, Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Films). This remake was directed by Darren Lynn Bousman who was director of the Saw films 2-4, and Repo! The Genetic Opera. With actors who have extensive experience in front of the camera doing thrillers, to directors who have extensive experience crafting horror thrillers behind the camera – I was curious to tackle Mother’s Day on Blu-ray. Let’s see if my curiosity was satisfied in the following review. 

 

 

Film   

After a bank robbery gone wrong, three brothers on the run from the law escape to their mother’s home, which is no longer her home, because it was lost in a foreclosure. The new owners and their guests are in for an unbelievable night of terror as “Mother” Koffin (get it?) is on  her way to clarify things in her own special way. It’s going to be one hell of a long night for all of those involved.

I wasn’t necessarily in the mood for another remake this early in the reviewing game, but I had seen the trailer for Mother’s Day in some of the most recent Anchor Bay release promotional materials, so I began to warm to it. That, and it also helped that Rebecca De Mornay was the lead. Have mercy, she’s still gorgeous. Of course, other familiar players would be involved in the picture like Jaime King (My Bloody Valentine 3-D), Alexa Vega (Repo! The Genetic Opera), and Shawn Ashmore (X2: X-Men United). I was in.

I’ll also be honest right here, right now, and say that I have NOT seen the original film, which was released in 1980 by the Kaufman Brothers. I did read the synopsis and it read more or less like a Texas Chainsaw Massacre film light on the scares, but full of dimwits. I wouldn’t say that the remake of Mother’s Day follows that same storyline at all. What a relief. Here you’ve got the setting of a small town that is about to be hit by a tornado and everyone is preparing for the worse, but hoping for the best when circumstance and fate take over. There are bad men involved who have committed crimes, and there mother, who in essence is the ringleader, comes in to try and salvage the situation, collateral damage be damned.

De Mornay is scary and electrifying as Mother Koffin, and watching her her family interact with her is pretty cool in that they love their mother dearly, but also fear and respect her. She wields lots of power over her family in plain view of the hostages, which makes it even scarier for them as they witness what she is capable of doing. I also like that Mother Koffin was played as a classy, strong, and intelligent character and not some backwoods-type one. That only enhanced her character and made me fear her. Honestly, she played the shit out of Mother Koffin.

The rest of the cast were more than capable in there parts and all had more than enough screen time to go around. I bought into their dilemmas and what they were going through and also enjoyed Mother Koffin’s 3rd degree techniques used to extract information from them.

Mother’s Day had one scene that confused the hell out of me only to be resolved later when I least expected it too. I’m assuming most of you will know what scene that is, so please be patient as it will be cleared up. The film runs at a hearty 112 minutes, which is great. It’s not one of these “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” jobs go for horror thrillers these days. There’s lots to cover in Mother’s Day and this Mother’s Day should be the perfect opportunity to experience this thriller on Blu-ray. I’m only joking…or am I? 😉

 

Video 

Mother’s Day is presented in 1080p, 2.40:1 widescreen. Wow, I was floored by the transfer on this Blu-ray. I’d say that 75% of the film takes place in the interior of the home. The cinematography is brilliant. I love the low light aesthetic that was used throughout the house of terrors. All this violence is happening around everyone, but the house looks solid, from the low lights to the hardwood floors, etc. Flesh tones look healthy and natural with exception to certain characters that have been injured or worse. Black levels are extremely dark, inky, and never crushed. Contrast levels also remained steady in that they never came off as boosted or artificially tampered with. Color levels were rich and I never noticed any instances of banding or pixelation. Mother’s Day looks brilliant on Blu-ray.

Audio 

Mother’s Day is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless surround sound. Dialogue is even, balanced, and audible. The center channel never clipped or distorted no matter how loud the screams of terror or pain got. That’s a serious testament to the sound engineering and overall transfer of this disc. The high pitch sounds were all captured to perfection. LFE (subwoofer) is low and deep and there’s a rumble here and there that adds to the dread. Ambient surround sound noise is filtered throughout the sound field, which creates a more in-depth listening experience. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

 

Extras 

I’m quite puzzled by the lack of extras considering Darren Lynn Bousman makes references to extra material and a longer cut of the film, etc., but not having any of that in the supplements package is a bummer. Not even a trailer. What we do get is an extremely solid audio commentary by Bousman and actor Shawn Ashmore. It’s a very lively audio track and the chaps sound like they’re having a great time talking about the film. Other than the audio commentary included, there is nothing else on this disc. The overall score will be affected by the lack of extras.

• Audio Commentary with Director Darren Lynn Bousman and Actor Shawn Ashmore

 

Summary 

Mother’s Day is an extremely brutal film, but it’s an entertaining one. I don’t really know why it was shelved for so long, because it has all the makings of an instant contemporary cult-classic in its own right. The overall cast rocks with what they’ve got and everyone seems to be having a great time and really put their hearts into the project. Rebecca De Mornay is back and sexier than ever; this is one hot mom you DO NOT want to mess with. Check it out!

 

 

 

 

Order Mother’s Day on Blu-ray!