Charles Kaufman’s Mother’s Day was a blatant rip-off of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre when it was first released, though it seems tame by today’s standards. Or even by the standards of other Troma Team releases, Mother’s Day is fairly controlled. There is still plenty of blood and gore, and a little bit of the deviant sexuality that the studio is known for, but there is simply far less than some of the other vulgar cult classics.
The story for Mother’s Day is more than a little simple. It involves a group a wilderness dwelling madmen who all happened to be tied by blood and a psychotic mother. This crazed mother has her deranged sons brings victims back, when she isn’t luring them herself, and together they kill innocent victims for pleasure. When three college friends reuniting for a trip away together accidentally stumble on this family, it becomes a struggle for survival.
The plot somewhat resembles the onslaught of torture porn captivity films, though the violence is much more tame by today’s standards. There are a few great low budget deaths, but most of the film is built upon suspense. This is the way it must be when there are really only three victims to keep the story moving along. The true horror of the film comes from each of the uniquely deranged sons, whether filled with the desire for rape or carnage; they are individually insane in their own way.
The Blu-ray release of this 1980 horror classic contains an audio commentary, a behind-the-scenes collection of footage and even a quick blurb on the film’s significance by filmmaker and actor Eli Roth. There is also an intro from Kaufman, who now sells bread.
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