‘Mother’s Day’ Turns 45: Troma’s Spiritual Sequel to the ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Franchise
45 years ago, Charles Kaufman’s grimy Mother’s Day arrived. Kaufman, who teamed up with Warren Leight on the script, delivers a filthy and chaotic tale about a tight-knit family that tortures and kills people for the hell of it. With its brazen and, quite frankly, mangled approach, it remains one of Troma’s best releases and worthy of being an unofficial The Texas Chainsaw Massacre sequel/spin-off – or at the very least a companion piece. Intended as its own thing, it carries the raw, unhinged spirit of Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation and could very well live within that same universe.
Mother (Beatrice Pons) and her two boys, Ike (Frederick Coffin) and Addley (Michael McCleery), live a secluded life in New Jersey’s Deep Barons. They frequently catch tourists and sightseers winding through the woods and take them back to their rickety two-story home, where they mutilate and slaughter passersby for entertainment. The film opens on a self-help seminar called E.G.O. (or Ernie’s Growth Opportunity), when attendees have finished training and are now officially “graduates.”
Mother, ironically, sits right up front and befriends a couple, Terry (Luisa Marsella) and Charlie, ultimately offering them a ride to the bus station. They have the same thing on their mind: murder. But they have no idea who they’re up against. When the car “breaks down,” Ike and Addley emerge from the surrounding woodlands and pounce on Terry and Charlie, slashing their necks and beheading them. It’s a gruesome, uncomfortable scene (the two brothers unzip their pants, in an attempt to assault Terry) that sets up the story quite nicely.
Meanwhile, good friends and former college roommates, Trina (Tiana Pierce), Abbey (Nancy Hendrickson), and Jackie (Deborah Luce), plan a camping trip to the Deep Barons. Even though they’re warned by the storekeeper and harbinger of death (Scott Lucas), they brush off his advice to continue their journey. The first few days in the woods are peaceful and relaxing, until Ike and Addley attack and trap them in their sleeping bags. Like lassoing a couple of hogs, Ike and Addley drag their flailing bodies through the woods to their home.
Much to her satisfaction, Mother expresses glee over their new catches. What transpires next is a tragically grim tale complete with physical and emotional torture, not unlike what Sally Hardesty (Marilyn Burns) experienced in the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and Jenny (Renée Zellweger) and her friends in 1995’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation.
Cinematographer Joseph Mangine, the man also behind slasher gem Alone in the Dark, slathers the screen with appropriate doses of grit and grain. It’s just sleazy enough to work! Likewise, the camera work matches the story’s frantic nature, as aloof and deranged as the family’s mental state. Paired with Daniel Loewenthal’s (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, Madman) editing style, it all unravels at a brisk pace and captures the young women’s desperation to escape. The creative team understands the assignment and lives up to expectations, combing the darkest recesses of human nature and delivering undeniable frights.
With a criminally underrated score, helmed by co-masterminds Phil Gallo and Clem Vicari Jr., the film builds masterfully creepy tension and suspense. Musical stingers and full pieces accentuate the slow build to the finale, when the captive women turn the tables and slaughter Mother, Ike, and Addley in frightening fashion. And it’s all well earned!
There’s not a single creative decision that doesn’t serve the story. The acting work, particularly Beatrice Pons, taps into primal, bloodthirsty, and unshakeable rage. She’s perfectly manic in both the bombastic and quiet moments. Frederick Coffin and Addley Michael McCleery meet her halfway with performances so wacky they’re borderline parody, but they fit snuggly into the world Kaufman has created. Can you imagine Mother, and Matthew McConaughey’s Vilmer and Joe Stevens’ W.E. from Next Generation breaking bread at the same table? It would be the most demented family on the planet!
Mother’s Day is truly underrated as a slasher-meets-exploitation flick. If you ask me, it, along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation, belongs in the same damn-good-time conversation. Decades later, both films have slowly but surely found their intended audiences. With similar styles, gritty flourishes, and acting choices, they would make one helluva double feature. Mother’s Day certainly deserves way more attention than it’s gotten over the years. At the very least, give it a chance for Beatrice Pons’s wild-eyed and over-the-top turn – it’s worth it!
Troma returns to theaters with brand new movie The Toxic Avenger on August 29.
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