Mother’s Day Massacre (2007) – DVD Movie Reviews

By The Vocabulariast on Saturday, 5th June 2010

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There’s nothing quite like a holiday event movie… Christmas slashers are awesome, Valentine’s Day violence is cool, and everyone loves a nice Halloween full of murder and debauchery. But Mother’s Day is an as yet untouched holiday within the horror genre, so I was excited to check out this little backwoods horror flick full of fucked up moments and randomness… unfortunately, the film had absolutely nothing to do with Mother’s Day. In the end, I’m alright with this because, honestly, how the fuck do you make an interesting movie about Mother’s Day? Still, the bait and switch title can be a little misleading.

The film tells the tale of a dude named Jim. Jim has an evil father, and his mother is a mystery to him. Meanwhile, his girlfriend oozes blood out of her vagina, and keeps insisting that Jim look up his mother. After rifling through his father’s papers, and encountering a pug dog named Mr. Pickles, Jim sets off with his friends to a remote hillbilly town in New Jersey. As they are stopped at a gas station, they are warned to watch out for Pineys, hillbilly bumpkins who are always up to no good. When asked what the Pineys do to those they catch, the little kid at the gas station informs them that they “Fuck ‘em in the butt!” He runs off gleefully, and our group of innocuous teens head off to an old plantation style house in the middle of the woods. Once there, they start drinking, fornicating, and doing what all high school kids like to do… play hide and seek. Unfortunately, the current residents of this backwoods paradise are inbred, nasty, and fond of killing people. But what is the connection between these people and Jim? Well, you’ll just have to figure that part out on your own, which you won’t mind doing if you’re a fan of cheesy horror flicks.

Mother’s Day Massacre is an excellent piece of low-grade horror that is heavy with laughs, features some solid acting, and generally entertains throughout. This isn’t high cinema by any stretch of the imagination, but writer/director Jeff Roenning definitely knows what he wants to do with this piece. He wants to have a little fun, twist the viewer around, and generally make this world as fucked up as possible. The light tone of the film is definitely a bonus, and even when people are being killed, the film still comes off as fun. Roenning finds some nice locations for his flick, and the decrepit old houses he shoots in definitely add to the ambience of the film. The pacing is awesome, and there are no real dry spots in the film. The look is great for the most part, with a few uninspiring blips in a couple of scenes.

The cast is solid throughout. No one here is going to win an award, but everyone is good enough to not be a negative. Adam Scarimbolo plays Jim, a somewhat mystifying character, with just the right amount of pushover. He’s not a big enough pussy to be detestable, but he’s also not the hero type. Heidi Kristoffer is somewhat of a hidden gem in the film as Jen, Jim’s next door neighbor. Greg Travis is awesome as Tex, the patriarch of Jim’s household. Travis’ portrayal of Tex is surly, dirty, and colorful enough to make the character stand out.

The only real dark spots in the film come from the inbred backwoods hillbillies. They are a little over the top, rather uninteresting, and generally annoying. Joe Coots’ performance as Jesus is pretty shitty. I can’t tell if this guy is actually retarded or just trying to pretend, but his physical presence never quite asserts itself, and his character doesn’t seem so much dangerous as clumsy. Mel Gorham overacts worse than a baseball manager arguing a call simply for the sake of getting his team riled up. Gorham plays Dolores, a whore who has a fondness for going on long tirades that generally suck.

The one place that Mother’s Day Massacre could improve its game is in the special effects department. There are a lot of missed opportunities in the film, and while the bodycount is satisfactory, some of the kills simply aren’t brutal enough for this type of fare. There are a couple of CGI gunshots which suck pretty bad. The best work comes in the makeup department, as many of the characters look pretty good brutalized. More interesting and violent kills would have gone a long way into making this movie a must-see.

Despite all of its flaws, I enjoyed this low-budget spectacle. It was funny, fast-paced, and always interesting. It even had a few nice twists in it that kept it going. With a bigger budget and some more terrifying/less shitty hillbillies, I’d recommend it for a buy. But as it is, I say give it a rent when you get the chance. Just don’t look for anything even remotely connected to Mother’s Day.

Final Synopsis: It’s a rent for people that enjoy low-budget horror. If you’re looking for high quality, this isn’t your type of film. It’s wacky, enjoyable, and definitely fun for the cheese enthusiast.

Points Lost: -1 for some lame special effects, -1 for the bait and switch title, -1 for some ineffective mutant hillbillies

Lesson Learned: If your friend screams in pain, it’s ok to just jump in the car and leave their ass.

Burning Question: What’s your favorite type of holiday themed horror?

Mother’s Day Massacre
7/10