a_chinn
Oddball horror/comedy about a sweet grey haired mother who is bitten by a werewolf or some sort of creature of the night (played by the always great Brion James) and transforms her into a bloodthirsty creature of the night, much to the consternation of her yuppie adult son who only wants to help her and stop her from killing. The film really grabbed me with the opening of Brion James as a blind man attacking a prostitute played by Claudia Christian. James then goes on to ingratiate himself to the titular mother who invites him into her home, only for him to attack her and turn her into a werewolf. The dark humor around a sweet old lady with blood dripping down her matronly house dresses is pretty funny and does go a long way, but the rest of the film isn't all that clever or interesting. Art Evans and Stella Stevens also appear in the film, but horror/comedies rarely seem to work and outside of seeing a kindly old lady viciously killing, there ins't a lot to recommend here.
musicman37
All of a sudden everybody's Roger Ebert.People who gave this film a bad review missed the whole point.This is NOT a slasher/gore-fest like they've been making since "Friday the 13th" entered the landscape and ruined almost all horror films ever since. It is a throwback to subtle horror films with emotional resonance and fleshed-out (sorry for the pun) characters. True, no back-story is given, so the origin of Nestor Duvalier is unknown.But the film is played straight (this is not a horror-comedy, as some reviewers have insisted) and the tone is set early in the film, a story of how a family is thrown into turmoil by the unlucky intrusion of a monster.Jeanne Bates is totally sympathetic as Emily Dwyer, a woman who lives alone, is somewhat neglected by her kids, and wants not only some extra cash, but some companionship. She shows she's worse at picking tenants than Matthew Modine and Melanie Griffith in "Pacific Heights"!!! The rest of the cast acquits themselves very nicely, this is not Shakespeare, it's a low-budget fright flick. And as such, it delivers 90 minutes of old-fashioned fright fun.
artilevel
Mom should really be given a different title to distinguish it from all the other movies out there called Mom or with the word Mom in the title.This is a vastly superior zombie movie to so much of the rubbish that gets churned out time after time and all end up much the same as every other zombie movie out there.It is so different and refreshing it almost defies categorisation.The kind old lady who takes in a creepy lodger, who just happens to be a flesh eater, who then infects the old lady who also turns into a flesh eating zombie, or ghoul, quite which exactly is not defined.There is pathos in the story as her son realises what she has become and while at first horrified, attempts to help her by supplying 'food'. (I shall say no more about that, for fear of inserting a spoiler!) It is one of those 'quiet' movies as opposed to guns blasting, explosions raging, car chases, etc boring etc that makes so many movies all the same rubbish, but still with enough gory moments to satisfy horror fans, whilst also inserting sadness into the story, along with nice touches of humour as opposed to downright silliness of some so-called 'horror' movies.There is a particularly nice atmospheric shot at the beginning of the film, where the old lady is sitting alone in her room with only her Christmas tree for company and looks so 'innocent', but, what she becomes!! Oh my! A gem of a movie and even if not your thing, should at least be viewed if only once by any true horror fan.
HumanoidOfFlesh
An old lady's boarder Nestor Duvalier(Brion James)turns out to be a cannibalistic monster terrorizing Los Angeles,and promptly turns her into one too.It's up to her son to stop the carnage."Mom" is a perfect flick for few laughs.There is a good amount of gore,but if you're searching for suspense-packed horror avoid this one at all costs.All in all "Mom" is worth checking out for some undemanding horror fans,so if you get the chance watch it.My rating:5 out of 10.
AD
