Mother's Boys - Not The Best Movie To Represent Mother's Day

(1994, Dir. by Yves Simoneau.)

Last year, FMWL celebrated Mother's Day the right way.  Actually, we honored The Mike's awesome Masha hardcore.  It's not that there aren't more awesome things I could say about my Masha, who's continued to be an awesome inspiration to me through another year of trials and tribulations and is one of the coolest people of ever to boot, but I decided to take a different route this Mother's Day.  (P.S. - Love ya Masha! And yes, I should.)

Meanwhile, we've got Mother's Boys. A few weeks ago I made fun of Mother's Boys during Scream Week, commenting that I didn't think there was a person out there who saw this mostly maligned thriller from the mid-'90s.  I was proved wrong by E from Shredded Cheddar, and thus decided that I needed to see Mother's Boys now. After all, it is a horror-ish movie starring Jamie Lee Curtis. If anyone out there has served as a cinematic mother to me by setting good examples of how to survive life's trials and tribulations, it's Jamie Lee Curtis.

That said, this is NOT - in any way - a situation where I should follow the lead of the usually trusted JLC.

Curtis stars as Jude, an absentee mother who returns from a hiatus and attempts to reconnect with her husband (American Beauty's Peter Gallagher) and, most importantly, her three young sons.  Much to her displeasure, Gallagher's Robert is now very much dating a younger woman who works at the kids' school (played by Joanne Whalley(-no-longer)-Kilmer, who was married to the awesome Val Kilmer at the time in the real!), and doesn't have much interest in this unhinged woman who has run out on him and the boys twice before.  Jude is not one to be dissuaded, and as she wanders around her classy apartment she devises her own ways to win over her children and her husband. (It should be noted that the couple's divorce had not been finalized due to Jude's absence, which sets up an interesting moral dilemma that the film toys with only briefly.)

Jude is certainly not the most interesting sociopath we've seen on screen, but Curtis does what she can to keep things fresh throughout the film. The film takes several sexual twists regarding her character, and as Jude walks around taking every opportunity to show off her chest it becomes increasingly evident that her sexuality is her primary weapon.  A couple of early scenes are interesting statements on human sexuality, as Jude - who isn't too appealing to the viewer and is seen as repulsive by her husband - tries to seduce Robert and is dangerously close to succeeding simply because she presses the issue so forcefully by touching or showing off the right places.  Robert's relationship with his estranged wife is kind of like when you grow up loving a McDonalds cheeseburger and then realize they're not good for you.  Despite all the things you know, when one gets put in your face you're probably going to bite. (If you didn't follow that analogy, yes, I mean a crazy JLC is like a McDonalds cheeseburger.)

(In contrast, it's interesting to me that Jude - who uses her body like a dog owner uses a Milkbone - consistently refers to Whalley's character as a whore, despite the fact that her relationship with Robert is scarcely shown in a sexual context. This may be the film's best way of showing how far gone from reality Jude really is.)

But it's not the marital relationship that is the film's crux, it's Jude's attempts to regain the trust of her children. The three young boys each have different feelings about their mother's return, and the interactions between them are interesting when they're not being dominated by the eldest son, Kes (What the heck kind of name is Kes? That seriously bugged me THE ENTIRE MOVIE.), who fits that "First Born = Mom's Favorite" cliche to a T.  Kes rubbed me the wrong way for the entirety of the film. While I think the intention of his mental changes was to make him the closest link to being "like his mother", I must admit I spent much of the film wanting to smack him upside the head and tell him to stop being so emo.  As the film goes on it becomes more and more centered on being Jude and Kes' story, and it also becomes more ridiculous each time the childrens' trusty handcuffs or a cut brake line become part of the story.

Going in to Mother's Boys with only a brief memory of an awful trailer from a VHS tape, I expected something far worse than what I got. French-Canadian director Yves Simoneau infuses the film with a lot of psychological intrigue at times - not to mention one really effective jump scare that put my hair on end - but the whole product resembles the lead character a bit too much. Like Jude, things go from a high point of real intrigue to a laughable point of over-the-top drama far too often as Mother's Boys makes its way toward the finish line. There are far better sleazy thrillers of this sort - The Good Son instantly comes to mind - to find; Mother's Boys will probably just stick in my mind as an intriguing miss that at least brought Curtis and Dimension Films together so they could later make two Halloween sequels.

The Midnight Warriors Know Their Mothers of Horror!

 

When I decided to cover a less than iconic film as my Mothers of Horror choice, I did so with faith that the Midnight Warriors would come through with some amazing picks that would make up for my decided lack of awesomeness.  And boy howdy, they did.  With no further rambling, here's what they put together!

First up is the tubular Emily from the equally tubular Without Obsession Life Is Nothing.  Emily takes a moment to remind us of one of the most horrifying mothers to ever grace the screen, who was also one of the greatest mothers to ever star on the silver screen.  That's right, she's got a look at Faye Dunaway as Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest!

Next up is another return Midnight Warrior, Trick or Treat Pete/Petunia Scareum of Deadly Serious.  She takes a look at one of the all-time battles between mothers, one of the biggest slobberknockers on land or in space!  It's the Alien Queen vs. Ellen Ripley in Aliens, and you'll be surprised to see where Pete's allegiance is!

Morgan from The Kid in The Hall is back again for Midnight Warrior duties, and she's got a wicked cool list of Mothers of Horror who might not be the best role models.  But, she talks about Scream 2, and that's more than enough to get The Mike to send many waves of awesomeness in her direction!  And she honors her own awesome mother, too!

Rumors abound that she owes someone a Coke, but that doesn't stop friend of FMWL Jinx of Totally Jinxed from being a true Midnight Warrior.  She's got an awesome gallery of Mothers of Horror for your perusal!  (I will admit that it's quite hard for me to move past staring at Margot Kidder...but that's probably just me.  You all should go peruse anyway, and not just because I love saying peruse.)  And she honors her mother of justice as well!

Emily C. of The Quest to Each Every Movie Ever is another loyal return Midnight Warrior!  She's got a wicked Top 10 Mothers in Horror that includes plenty of mothers I considered writing about, particularly the bodacious Stevie Wayne from The Fog as played by Adrienne Barbeau!  And of course there's Poltergeist's Jo Beth Williams, as pictured above...whose house may or may not be clear.

Last, but not least, to the party is a new Midnight Warrior who's totally my homeboy (true story; we lived together once upon a time.)  He's Jason of BoxOfficeBoredom.com, and he chose to honor some cool Mothers of Horror despite his horror resignations.  His choice of Dark Water kind of made me do one of those "AWWW, THAT'S SO GOOD! I SHOULDA PICKED THAT!" things; so go check it out and tell him he doesn't suck at horror.

On behalf of myself, on behalf of From Midnight, With Love, and on behalf of The Masha: I say thanks to you, Midnight Warriors.  You've done Mothers of Horror proud, and I look forward to our next Midnight Warrior excursion!

*Actual Road Warriors not included.

The Mike's Tribute to a Beloved Mother of Horror

"There's nothing like a brush with mortality to teach you to appreciate life; a little bite of death can make you grow up real quick".

As our latest Midnight Warriors journey rolls to a close, I couldn't be happier to see so many great friends of FMWL honoring Mothers of Horror (and occasionally their own mothers!) in their own ways.  I'll be sharing all the fine links with you all later this evening (There's still time to participate if you'd like!), and the amount of thought put into them all gave me plenty of moments of deep thought.  But there was one Mother of Horror that stuck in my head throughout the last couple of weeks, and I couldn't think of a better choice to study than the mother played by Barbara Hershey in Stephen King's Riding the Bullet.

(There's an unfortunate side to this selection.  Riding the Bullet is a relatively inconsequential horror flick from the deepest depths of six years ago, and I understand that many probably haven't seen it.  I've got something I want to say about it regardless....so you might fall into reading some spoilers here.  Be wary if you tread forth!)

This call to action was born out of my own overactive mind while worried about my own dear Masha, and I'm happy to say that - thanks to good doctors, a boat load of faith, and all graces from above - things are looking up for her.   It's kind of fantastic how much things can change in just a couple of weeks in today's society, but it's also a statement about human nature.  When it really boils down to it, our relationships with those we love can change drastically in the blink of an eye - for better or worse.

Riding the Bullet, which was born from the keyboard of King and made it to the silver screen (briefly) in 2004 via Mick Garris, builds its horror around one of those moments.  It doesn't do so particularly well, mostly because the film cries wolf more often than Bella from Twilight, but the central relationship of the film is incredibly rich.

The focal point of King's story is not the mother Jean Parker, but her son Alan (played by Jonathan Jackson).  Alan is a morbid 21 year-old college student who usually sees the worst side of life.  His girlfriend is considering dumping him on his birthday, and a combination of drugs and depression rope him into an accidental suicide attempt.  But that's nothing compared to what he hears the next day (which happens to be Halloween), when his mother suffers a stroke and is hospitalized.  Alan is shaken by the news and has to find his way home by any means possible.  In this case, that means hitchhiking with several strange and potentially dangerous forces.

Along the way, a paranoid and possibly delusional Alan spends a lot of time looking back at his life.  Several strange things happen along the way, but two are most pertinent as I look back on the film.  Firstly, Alan vividly remembers the time when he decided he was ready to ride the town roller coaster - the titular Bullet - and then backed out, upsetting his mother so much that she struck him upside the head.  Secondly, Alan runs into an undead fiend (hammily played by David Arquette), who claims he must take Alan's life or his mother's.  In a moment of panic, Alan condemns his mother...only to escape before the faux-reaper can claim his prize.

As Alan's mother is revealed through is flashbacks, it's easy to see that she has been a kind and caring mother to her only son.  It's been a struggle for her - which is evidenced by her chain smoking and occasional drunken moments - but she has always been looking out for her boy.  It's clear that Alan loves her too, but it's not all roses.  In a poignant scene, Alan envisions his mother in her hospital gown and with her IVs attached walking along the road, asking if he wants to see her before she dies and scolding him for turning down rides.  She's not scolding him solely because he's foolish, she's trying to remind him to focus on the important things in life; the same way she focused on him for years.

Surviving a prolonged encounter with the undead Arquette, Alan makes it to his sedated mother's hospital bed as she's slipping away for the evening.  Despite her medical condition and the medications in her veins, her eyes seem to sparkle and her smile brightens the room.  Pleasantries are exchanged, and Alan seems to have finally gained some perspective regarding what he almost lost.  He is too scared to mention his journey, aside from the fact that he hitchhiked home, but his mother isn't above getting sentimental.  As she's drifting into sleep, she lets him know that she dreamt of the time when he declined to ride The Bullet...and apologizes for being short with him on that fateful day.

 After relaying the quote which started this post, a mature Alan reminisces about the lessons learned that night and the ensuing time with his mother before her eventual passing.  What was once a silly horror film full of holes suddenly becomes a charmer, and leaves me smiling completely.  It doesn't hurt that Hershey is as charismatic as ever as Jean Parker - especially since Jackson is a pretty vanilla actor - because a lesser actress may have rendered King's dramatic touches obsolete.  As it is, Riding the Bullet's motherly drama hooks me well. 

Jean Parker rings true to me because her love for her son despite his inability to focus or express himself reminds me of my mother.  This is one of the best examples of unconditional love I've ever seen in horror, because it feels so real.  Alan Parker went face-to-face with evil and put his own life ahead of his mother's - while she may have been dying - and all she's worried about is that he's OK and that he's not mad at her about something that happened several years earlier.

I don't know how parents do it, but I'm glad they do.  I'm also glad that my Masha is still fighting the good fight while looking out for me, and I'm glad to sing the praises of good mothers any day.  Though the horror genre is full of bad examples of family love, I'm glad that King, Garris, and Hershey - despite the fact that much of their story/film is ridiculous - offered us this vision of a truly fabulous Mother of Horror.

Hey, Midnight Warriors....Let's Talk About Mothers!

I've been doing a lot of thinking about mothers lately.  Specifically, mine.  She had a birthday this weekend, and by the time you're all reading this in the morning I'll be sitting nervously in a hospital as she fights against a second dose of The Disease Which Shall Not Be Named.  Of course, I know we'll come out the other side OK - any Masha awesome enough to birth me is awesome enough to beat this gunk - but it's still had me thinking. 

I know it will come as a shock to most of you, but when I think I tend to gravitate toward horror films.  And when I started to think about mothers and horror films, I was surprised to find that there aren't a lot of positive examples of awesome mothers.  I'm just rolling this off the top of my head, but they're a hard bunch to read.

Looking back at the Universal Monster films that most claim started the horror craze, there aren't many mothers to be found.  Frankenstein's Monster is perhaps horror's most famous motherless child, and we don't hear Bela Lugosi's Dracula waxing about his mother either.  Lon Chaney Jr. only has memories of his mother while papa Claude Rains has to deal with his Wolf side, and my beloved Creature from the Black Lagoon has no Gill-Mama to be found.  Considering that most of the films of this era were built to shock audiences that were less jaded than we are, perhaps the filmmakers felt mothers would provide unneeded security to the viewers.

Psycho is of course the home of horror's most famous mother.  You most likely already know that this film presents the mother as an overbearing and vicious character, and there's little love to be found.  What people don't often consider is that Marion Crane, whose actions set the film in motion, is also affected by the memory of her mother, going out of her way to point out that her relationship couldn't occur with her mother's portrait on the wall.  While we know that Norman Bates is influenced by his mom, it's safe to say that the guilt which leads Marion to crime could be at least partially due to the morals her mother preached toward her.  Hitchcock also focused on mother issues in his other horror film, The Birds, where Tippi Hedren's awkward relationship with Jessica Tandy adds to the tension of her situation.

In the late 1960s and the 1970s mothers stepped up in the horror world - just don't remind Night of the Living Dead's Johnny and Barbara, who were sent to their demise on an errand for their mother.  Rosemary Woodhouse might be as loyal to her Baby as any mother out there, even if she definitely had some trouble warming up to the role of mother.  The Exorcist's Chris MacNeil also went to extremes to protect her child, though she did end up turning the reigns over to not one but TWO Fathers when the soup hit the fan.  The Omen's Kathy Thorn unfortunately struggled to accept motherhood, and it's clear that little Damien didn't like the harsh words flung at his biologically mother. 

The modern slasher craze also neglected to give motherhood a positive spin.  Laurie Strode's mother does not appear in Halloween, and Michael Myers' mother just stares dumbfounded as her father unveils his first kill.  Jason Voorhees' mother is another dedicated mother, but her methods aren't exactly comforting.  I think we're best not to start on Ronee Blakely's take on motherhood in A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Wes Craven would continue to blame mothers for their daughters' plights when Scream came around.

I guess my point is pretty obvious - Mothers don't seem to have the best track record in horror films.  But I also know that my gaze is pretty narrow when I'm spitballing.  So I want to hear from you, Midnight Warriors!  I don't really have a specific question here, so feel free to come up with whatever you can about mothers in horror.  Perhaps you have a favorite horror mother who I forgot. or want to sing the praises of an evil horror mother?  Maybe you have your own theories about why mothers seem to be so poorly represented in horror?  Whatever you got, I want to hear it!  Consider it Mothers of Horror time at FMWL!

As always, there are two ways you can participate.  If you have your own site, post something, send me the link, and I'll post it in a wrap-up post here.  If you don't, or if you'd rather not use your own site, just send me a write-up (Anything from one paragraph to a full post is welcome), and I'll post it here too!  Of course, all credit will be given to each Midnight Warrior who contributes, and sites can earn a spot in the list of previous Midnight Warriors listed on the right side of the page!  (If you want to see what The Midnight Warriors have done in the past, or want to find some Midnight Warrior banners and badges for your own use, CLICK HERE!)

I'll accept entries through December 5th, and in the meantime I'll be covering mothers in a few posts here too!  Just send your posts/links to The Mike at frommidnightwithlove gmail com by the 5th, and let's celebrate the good and the bad mother....

SHUT YO MOUTHS!