Mother’s Day can bring up complicated feelings for people who have negative or nonexistent relationships to their mother. Or maybe you have a great mother but just hate the sappy, schmaltzy sentiments usually associated with the holiday.
No matter which category you fall under, mothers always loom large in our lives – here is a movie list just for you!
10. Prevenge (2016)
Writer, director and star Alice Lowe (Sightseers, Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace) conceived of Prevenge while pregnant and unable to find work. She also filmed the entire movie while 8 months pregnant. Lowe plays Ruth, a grieving single mother-to-be, whose unborn child is not content to just gestate in silence and commands her to go on a killing spree. Lowe gives a unique and fiercely funny yet blood-filled take on the violence and horrors of pregnancy, cleverly subverting the archetype of the pregnant woman.
[nextpage title=”9. The Babadook (2014)”]
Jennifer Kent’s now classic psychological horror film The Babadook brilliantly explores themes of repressed female rage. Essie Davis stars as Amelia, a grieving widow struggling to care for her rebellious and often violent son, when she realizes his imaginary monster just might be real.
[nextpage title=”8. The Brood (1979)”]
Director David Cronenberg’s early sci-fi/horror mashup The Brood is an indictment of divorce and the impact it has on families. Nola (Samantha Eggar) gives birth to a group of deadly mutant children after an radical scientific experiment. Bonus: It’s chock full of grotesque imagery, if that’s your thing.
[nextpage title=”7. Mommie Dead & Dearest (2017)”]
Erin Lee Carr’s true crime documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest is about a strange case of Munchausen syndrome by proxy. Dee Dee Blanchard kept her young daughter Gypsy in a prison of unneeded medical surgeries and treatments until eventually Gypsy rebelled by conspiring with her secret online boyfriend to murder Dee Dee. The fascinating story is also the basis for scripted series called The Act starring Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee.
[nextpage title=”6. Aliens (1986)”]
The second film in the Alien series has our heroine Lt. Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) rescued 57 years after her first battle with an alien creature (now called Xenomorphs) only to be forced into another epic alien battle of ‘good’ mother (Ripley) and the ‘bad’ mother (the alien Queen of the Xenomorphs.) It’s a spine-tingling action-filled thrill ride of monumental proportions and perfect for a Mother’s Day viewing with the whole family. 😉
[nextpage title=”5. Ever After (1998)”]
A list of the horrors of motherhood should never neglect the evil stepmother. Especially Anjelica Huston’s scenery chewing turn as Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent in the feminist take on the classic Cinderella story, Ever After, also starring Drew Barrymore in the Cinderella-role.
[nextpage title=”4. Flowers in the Attic (2014)”]
A Lifetime film based on the popular 1979 Gothic young adult novel by V. C. Andrews, and not-so-popular 1987 film, Flowers in the Attic contains not one, but two horrific mothers. The story follows four siblings locked in the attic by their religious zealot grandmother (Ellen Burstyn, who is hands down the best part of this film) after they are semi-abandoned by their selfish and materialistic mother (Heather Graham). Don’t worry, this version is light on the incest prevalent in the novel, but it’s still near-campy fun, best viewed drunk with friends.
[nextpage title=”3. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)”]
Mia Farrow stars as Rosemary, the unwitting victim of a Satanic plot by a group of neighboring witches and her husband. Poor Rosemary spends much of Rosemary’s Baby being told what to do with her body by men, culminating in her giving birth to the literal spawn of Satan. The scariest thing about this film is how relevant it still is 50 plus years later.
[nextpage title=”2. Carrie (2013)”]
Kimberly Peirce’s underrated Carrie remake opens with a harrowing birth scene, one of the major departures from the original. Julianne Moore plays another religious zealot mother, Margaret White, and in Peirce’s hands she is given a backstory that hints at her own trauma. Chloe Grace Moretz takes over the titular role and the mother/daughter relationship is more loving than the original which makes the climatic scene of matricide all the more harrowing.
[nextpage title=”1. Savage Grace (2007)”]
True crime fans will also dig Savage Grace, which depicts the murder of wealthy socialite Barbara Daly Baekeland (Julianne Moore) by her son, Tony Baekeland (Eddie Redmayne). Baekeland was a volatile, unstable and suffocating mother who repeatedly tried to ‘cure’ her son’s homosexuality, even resorting to incest as a tactic, so it surprised no one when he eventually stabbed her to death. Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!
