Mom (1990) Review

Tagline: “Call her mad, call her a monster, just make sure you call her once a week!”

Mom (1990) Review

 

Based on the poster alone, Mom seems like it might be an underrated, mistitled gem of a monster movie. While it isn’t some cult classic, it’s also not as bad as its low budget might make it seem, and not the goofy premise you might expect, either.

The movie starts with a creepy blind guy killing a pregnant hooker at a bus stop, and as the story got underway, I became worried it was going to fall into the frustrating trap many killer animal films tend to: the audience knows what the main threat is and the main character spends the whole movie trying to figure it out, then tries to stop it in the climax. Clay is a news reporter, though, so by the half hour mark he has figured out that his elderly mother’s new tenant (the same blind killer from the opening) is a flesh-eating monster and has turned his mother into one, as well! Brion James plays Nestor Duvalier, who doesn’t specify that he’s a werewolf (“vampire, werewolf, ghoul. It’s all the same”), and I think that’s why this movie is rarely brought up in the discussion of lycanthropic films. He plays Duvalier—a “flesh eater”—with exaggerated evil, which is hilariously entertaining, but he’s taken out of the film too early, and the story turns into a blatant metaphor for looking after elderly parents and the toll it can take.

Mom was produced on a low budget by first time filmmaker Patrick Rand and carries with it an interesting concept, but the execution leaves something to be desired. It meanders for much of its runtime and doesn’t commit to fully being a horror comedy, though it has some intentionally funny moments throughout. It mostly plays the concept straight and gets steadily more tragic as it goes on. The roles become reversed from childhood as Clay is forced to send his mom to her room and treat her like a child because if he doesn’t she’ll get out and kill again. The gore is juicy, red, and raw, but it isn’t overly explicit, and the special effects for the creature are very sparse—again, likely due to budgetary constraints. The face is halfway between goofy and terrifying, but not entirely convincing, and something about it reminds me of Rawhead Rex.  

Mom is a peculiar specimen of a film. The quality of acting from the cast varies, the horror aspects are inconsistently effective, and it lacks any standout effects moments, but I wouldn’t say it’s one to avoid. For those who like atypical genre fare and have already seen every worthwhile werewolf film from this era, I think it’s worth checking out, but if you’re looking for a purer werewolf film with a more traditional scare factor, this probably isn’t the one for you.