Review: In this modern day of cinema it's seems as if films with cult classic statures are being picked up one by one and then being remade or "re-imagined". For me I find some of the remakes to work well and in one special case with Last House On The Left it was something I was wanting to see that they did a truly good job with. Then there is the other side and they just plain suck and should of never been made. In this case they took a Troma classic that was a bit more goofy and turned it into a way more serious film, but the question is did it work for them to change the tone of the original?
Hell yeah it did! Director Darren Lynn Bousman took a campy cult film and turned it into something very tense and hard hitting. Now I am not going to really compare the two films because it honestly would not be fair because they are both quite different in alot of ways. The biggest things I will say that they did keep from the original is the characters of the sinister and very manipulative mother and the sons, other than that this film takes place in a suburb and the characters are not some goofy stereotypical backwoods killers. They are way more realistic and they are actually scary, especially the mother. Now she was one very disturbed woman who comes out as a very tender loving person until it comes down to business then she turns into a fucking psycho! I have to give it up to Rebecca De Mornay as Natalie "Mother" Koffin because she played the character very well and very much believable.
Now as far as the rest of the cast I did enjoy the children of Natalie, each one brought a good balance of sanity and insanity to the film. Oddly though Warren Kole as Addley Koffin reminded me of Jason Mewes for some reason. The best part of the film is there was no throw away characters when it came to the victims of this film, all were each vital in one way or another. Even the guy who gets his hairpiece violently ripped of his head. Overall Mother's Day had a great cast of characters and actors. Really In the end there is nothing that I did not like about this remake, it ranks up there with the Last House On The Left remake which I really enjoyed alot.
There is only one thing I can really say that was a let down from this release is the lack of special features, all you get is 1 commentary with director Darren Lynn Bousman and actor Shawn Ashmore. If they would of at least added a behind the scenes documentary or even a feature that has interviews with cast members and even possible the director of the original Charles Kaufman, hell they could of even put him on there with a split commentary with the director of the remake. That really is the only ball that Anchor Bay dropped on this release, because when it comes to the picture quality everything is spot on as well as the audio.
Bottomline is that this is one of the better remakes and even would stand strong on it's own if it had another title. If you are a fan of films like Funny Games then I highly recommend you giving this one a shot!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Darren Lynn Bousman
Genre: Horror/Suspense
Blu-Ray Release Year: 2012
Theatrical Release Year: 2010
Time Length: 112 mins.
Company: Anchor Bay/Starz Films
