Review: Mother’s Day (Blu-ray)

Things aren’t going so well for the Koffin boys, as they just botched a bank holdup and one of them has been shot. So they go to the only place they can to retreat, regroup, and plan their next move: mother’s house.

Well, there’s a slight snag as mother has lost her home to foreclosure and a yuppie couple has moved in. When the boys realize their childhood home has new occupants, all hell breaks loose.

Daniel and Beth Sohapi (Frank Grillo and Jaime King) are the new owners and are fighting for their lives along with four of their friends. Things go from bad to worse when the boys call their mother (Rebecca De Mornay). As any good mother would, she is over in a flash to rescue them.

Although four children, three sons, and a daughter surround her, this really is mother’s show, and De Mornay is fantastic in the role. Her reasoning and moralizing at times almost makes you feel for her plight. But it all becomes too much to handle as she is constantly schooling everyone on how they should be acting and reacting to any given situation as dictated by her twisted logic.

As far as home invasion thrillers go, it’s a decent one. The script has some interesting plot points and characters in it, but there is simply too much of everything. There are too many characters to keep track of, too many attempted escapes, and too many moments of De Mornay grandstanding. It’s all bursting at the seams, and leads to a film that reaches an almost two hour runtime with no real reason for it.

Director Darren Lynn Bousman, who is known mainly for the Saw films shows a measure of restraint where the gore is concerned, focusing more on the characters and their dilemma than the showmanship of gleeful torture by the family. Yes, some of the scenes are cringe worthy at times, but the overall focus is where it should be.

Visually, Bousman has created an attractively bleak world, and the Blu-ray from Anchor Bay shows it off nicely. It’s not the sharpest and most detailed encode I’ve seen but it’s adequate enough. The disc has a nice audio track with crystal clear dialogue, and the score is never intrusive. The subtitles are limited to English and Spanish. Extra features include a commentary by Bousman and star Shawn Ashmore.

Darren Lynn Bousman has proven himself a valuable commodity in the horror community, with three of the better Saw sequels under his belt, and the fantastically polarizing Repo! The Genetic Opera, which I loved. He has put a small feather in his cap with this “remake” of Mother’s Day. It showcases a great performance from De Mornay, who does an admirable job at keeping things afloat, but there is just too much of it and everything else in this film. With that being said, I would still give it a solid recommendation for fans of home invasion thrillers and horror in general. It's not as good as it could have been, but it's smarter than most of what's out there.

Film Score: 2.5/5 Disc Score: 2.5/5