Mother’s Day (2010) Blu-ray Review

Posted May 1st, 2012 by Brandon A. DuHamel

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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
Audio Codec: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Region: A (Region-Locked)
Rating: R
Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
Run Time: 112 Mins.
Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
Blu-ray Release Date: May 8, 2012
List Price: $29.99

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The Film

A 2010 update of the 1980 cult classic by the same name from the B-movie studio Troma, Mother’s Day is a deliciously wicked, gory and sadistic horror/thriller film that starts out as a slow-burner and builds up in intensity (and violence) as the film progresses.

As married couple Beth and Daniel Shohapi (Jaime King and Frank Grillo) have a house warming at their newly purchased home, they are invaded by three brothers who have just robbed a bank, one of them critically wounded by a gunshot. The three Koffin brothers, Jonathan (Matt O’Leary), Addley (Warren Kole), and Izaak (Patrick John Flueger) were out of contact with and unaware that their mother lost the house to foreclosure. Awaiting their mother, they terrorize the group of friends, but when their mother (Rebecca De Mornay) and younger sister Lydia (Deborah Ann Woll) arrive, the real terror begins.

Their mother is a cold and ruthless woman who has a tight grip over her children. Though initially she seems like a reasonable woman, when it is revealed that there is $10,000 somewhere in the house that “her boys” were sending to her at the address, not knowing she was no longer there, her dark side is revealed. She revels in egging her boys on to more and more sadistic behavior, especially toward the women in the house. Lydia, a shy, strange young woman, seems like she may be the only ray of light in this group of circus freaks. She grows close to George, the one doctor there whom they force to help the wounded Izaak, but Mother definitely won’t have her daughter fraternizing with any men.

De Mornay is the real star of the show here, turning in, arguably, one the best performances of her career. She’s downright creepy, evil, and hellish as the overbearing, criminally-minded mother. In all, Mother is a character study of a horror film, not unlike Saw, in which the individuals trapped begin to turn on each other. This intensifies slowly before heading towards a grand finale with a wild twist.

Video Quality

This is a pretty good looking transfer of a 35mm (2-perf) source, given that it is stuffed onto a BD-25 disc and kept at a mid-level bitrate. Although the grain structure does look just a little thick at times, the image looks film-like and detail is rather strong in the foreground. Blacks are really inky, which is what you want for a film that takes place much of the time in a really shadowy setting. There is some crush, but detail does manage to remain somewhat nuanced mots of the time and there isn’t any evidence of noise.

Audio Quality

The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack has a good balance of sounds and a hefty amount of low frequencies when needed. There were just a few spots early on where dialogue sounded just a little cluttered, but for the most part it is clear and intelligible.

Supplemental Materials

The sole supplement is an obligatory audio commentary from the director and a solitary actor, Shawn Ashmore (George Barnum).

Audio Commentary with Director Darren Bousman and Actor Shawn Ashmore (George Barnum )

The Definitive Word

Overall:

Mother is a worthy remake of cult classic, and that isn’t usually the case with films like this. Typically, these films are jut pointless, but this one is a definite winner. Pop it in on a weekend and enjoy it as blood-drenched guilty pleasure.