monkeyblog.

never wear white after labor day, people..

Like my ma says: 

“i brought you into this world, and i’ll take you out of it just like that!” 

Today is Mother’s Day and there are numerous Mom-related movie marathons on various t.v. channels.. And they include the usual suspects: STEEL MAGNOLIAS (1989, Herbert Ross), MILDRED PIERCE (1945, Michael Curtiz), SOUL FOOD (1997, George Tillman Jr.), etc.. 

But i have three very near and dear mommy movies that i’d like to share with you.. 

 

First up is SERIAL MOM (1994, John Waters). Kathleen Turner plays Beverly Sutphin, a Martha Stewart-like housewife who lives in the suburbs with her husband and kids.. She is a good mother who protects her family and her values. But she is a violent sociopath, so anyone who slights her family or even gives the slightest hint of bad manners is dead-fuckin-meat, to say the least.

When i first saw this movie somewhere in my adolescent years, it did disturb me a little bit.. 

One of the greatest murder scenes ever put to celluloid is in this film: the bludgeoning of a neighbor by a leg of lamb while ”Tomorrow” from ANNIE (1982, John Huston) blares on a nearby t.v. screen..      

Sweet.. 

 

In the waaaay-underrated film adaptation of DOLORES CLAIBOURNE (1995, Taylor Hackford), a daughter character was written into the script that wasn’t originally in the ‘first-person-told’ novel by Stephen King. The chemistry alone between Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh as respective mother and daughter is fucking phenomenal.

If you haven’t seen it yet, i suggest you put it on your rent list right away.. You will not be sorry!.. 

 

And finally.. We have THE BROOD (1979, David Cronenberg). 

Now, this is some sick shit, my babies.. 

Oliver Reed plays a psychotherapist who has created a technique called “psychoplasmics.” He encourages his patients to “go all the way through it” and allow their negative emotions (rage, fear, etc.) to cause their bodies to undergo (usually radical) physical change. 

In the case of Nola Carveth (Samantha Eggar), it causes her to to parthenogenetically birth strange, mutated children and, via a telepathic bond, have them act out whatever negative emotions the mother is feeling at the time, with disastrous consequences when her therapist brings those emotions to the surface.

According to Cronenberg, this film was partially inspired by a painful custody battle with his ex-wife for their daughter Cassandra.

In a fantastic denouement (which Mr. Cronenberg has been prone to in his entire career, in my humble opinion), we witness Nola in her den, birthin’-up them evil clones and licking the afterbirth from their demonic brows.. 

Told ya.. Sick shit.. 

 

So, there ya have it.. i’m going to end this post with a shout out to me mum Linda.. She’s always nurtured my smile, my compassion and my unhealthy obsession with movies.. 

i love you, ma.. this one’s for you! 

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