Mother's Day Massacre (2007) User Reviews

No-budget low-life indie redneck slasher trash

[Wuchakk · 3/10 · 22 September 2017]

RELEASED TO VIDEO IN 2007 and directed/written by Jeff Roenning, "Mother's Day Massacre" is a slasher revolving around a group of New Jersey teens going to Redneckville to find the long lost mother of one of them. Havoc ensues when a couple of psycho rednecks attack.

The catchy oddball rock song by House of X that plays over the creative opening credits and the girl who plays Steph (whose role is brief) are the only reasons for maybe watching this trash. The other two females are okay and the overall filmmaking isn't bad for amateurs. There are attempts at goofy, crude humor. It could've worked, but it's brought down by irrelevant, nonsensical scenes and a sleazy, vulgar degenerate tone. Too much of the runtime takes place in a rank dilapidated house.

THE MOVIE RUNS 77 minutes and was shot in northern New Jersey.

GRADE: D

It's a massacre alright

[TheLittleSongbird · 2/10 · 5 November 2019]

The concept was sort of intriguing, although it was clear from the get go even from reading the concept, looking at the advertising and even the title itself what tone 'Mother's Day Massacre' was going to take. And that it was definitely going to be a film that would amuse some and disgust many others, and be a film to not expect too much from. Saw it with an open mind and with the absolute intent to not take it too seriously, that is the honest truth.

'Mother's Day Massacre' just didn't do anything for me and didn't enjoy a single moment really one bit. Have seen worse films, comedy, horror, films combining both and overall, and it was not completely irredeemable, but that didn't stop 'Mother's Day Massacre' from being a mess in almost every way. If people enjoyed it, while saying that it was more a guilty pleasure than a legitimately good film, good for them, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth and this is coming from somebody who really didn't try to take it too seriously and really wanted to be entertained, scared and shocked. The film failed badly on the first two and the saying that it left me shocked is not meant in a good way.

Will start with the little that was good. The opening titles were quite creative.

Greg Travis also has fun while overdoing so, and comes over as sinister enough.

Otherwise, the rest of the acting was really, really weak. Mel Gorham devouring the scenery to tiny pieces truly got on the nerves very fast. There is nothing interesting development-wise with the characters and almost all of them are incredibly annoying, especially Dolores. Profane is too generous summing up the utter trash that is the script, also want to make something clear right now. This reviewer is someone who appreciates comedy and tries to appreciate all types and all decades, the crude type is not my favourite kind of humour but there is no bias against it and it can be done well. The vulgarity just got really over the top and often not needed, to distasteful levels and never once was it remotely amusing, my sense of humour is just fine thank you very much but the humour here was not my cup of tea.

Also failing completely is the horror. No suspense, it's predictable, it looks cheap even for a film made on minimal budget, it has no creativity and most of it is gratuitous meaning popping up randomly and for no reason other than to pad the film out. The story is incredibly padded which makes the pace really plodding, and what little there is of it doesn't make any sense whatsoever (borderline incoherent) and too many scenes are completely superfluous and muddle what's going on. The less said about the insultingly nonsensical ending the better. The minimal budget is evident throughout and to amateurish effect, the photography made me nauseous. The direction was barely existent and the music belonged in another film entirely, it didn't gel at all, was too intrusive, too loud, too random and the only placement that didn't jar was on the opening credits.

In conclusion, despite a real effort to take it for what it was and what it was trying to do and be this didn't work at all. 2/10

Amusingly Offensive

[FilmFatale · 5/10 · 9 August 2015]

Maybe I'm feeling charitable, but I thought Mother's Day Massacre was pretty fun. Not that it's not a total mess - there are a whole bunch of plot threads and some of them intersect and some of them don't (and some that do still don't make sense) but I thought it was an amusing play on the hillbilly horror subgenre and I was able to recognize quite a few nods to other exploitation flicks. Greg Travis has a blast as Tex, father of our main character and cause of all the action that ensues. The teens are likable enough, the villains are over the top, and what it lacks in explicit gore it makes up for in perverse ideas. I can't really disagree with those who hated it, because this is only gonna work for a select few but I'd always prefer to watch an entertaining mess over a competent bore-fest.

I know I'll never get those I.Q points back.

[Five-Dollar-Bin-Fanatic · 1/10 · 20 June 2011]

SURPRISE! You have an STD! You know what, I actually WOULDN'T be surprised if I got and STD from this piece of eye raping crap that some people would call "Mother's Day Massacre". I got this in a four movie collection from Echo Bridge Entertainment (and, for the record, they have a tendency to produce such crap, so whenever I see their logo, I die a little inside) known as "Backwoods Butchers", and none of them were worth watching twice. As for this one in particular, it isn't worth watching AT ALL. It's about some guy, who looks for his mother in some town, and meets some retarded kids who's mother is some weird Mexican chick who wants to kill the kid because his dad won't pay for their taken pot. First of all, the beginning made no sense, and I didn't click together that the chick who gets killed is even the main characters mother, and I didn't care enough to even gave a crap about the fact that he got his girlfriend pregnant, because frankly, I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW HE GOT HER PREGNANT! See, when we first meet them both they were afraid to take a bubble bath together. He wasn't even allowed to look at her boobs! So, how they even got to have sex, I'll never know. But, just, promise me you'll never watch this movie. It makes no sense, and insults the intelligence of every horror film buff, and even lowers a person's I.Q a few DOZEN points. Oh, and God, I want that hour of my life back.

COMES UP SHORT, EVEN AS A GRINDHOUSE

[nogodnomasters · 5/10 · 20 May 2019]

This is a grindhouse style movie. 1990: A woman is at her gyno (David Chen) who claims she has a mild case of VD, maybe she got from a public toilet seat, according to her ill informed doctor. She knows the woman who infected her husband and goes to her house for some kind of justice, only to get her head smashed in with a frying pan. Key grindhouse death metal music, run opening credits.

We now come to modern day. Jim (Adam Scarimbolo) is at home with his girlfriend Doreen (Emily Grace). They are taking a bath together, apparently as a prelude to their first time together. Then suddenly his dad, Tex (Greg Travis, a native of Texas whose accent sounds fake) is home and an instant later in the bathroom with them as the girl "hides" behind a frosted glass shower door, her outline clearly visible. Dad demonstrates he is somewhat psychotic. The incident however does not deter teen hormones and 8 weeks later Doreen has morning sickness...in the afternoon.

Doreen located Jim's mother, who abandoned him, on the Internet as his dad's crudeness escalates. Jim finds an old 8mm/16mm film in his dad's private shed which he shares with the neighbor Jen (Heidi Kristoffer). Meanwhile his dad visits a hypnotherapist friend Sid (Albert Insinnia). They take turns sexually assaulting a hypnotized female patient.

Jim and Doreen head into the Piney's to locate his mom. Jen and her bf Bobby (Noah Fleiss)come along because they saw some pot fields down that way (dark green with red hairs oozing with resin). Their dork friend Gary (Bryan Farrell Wilson, normally a stunt man) joins them as well as his gf Steph(Lauren Waisbren Nathanson) who we discover has vaginal dryness issues.

Our cigarette smoking beer drinking group arrives at what appears to be abandoned homes (with mowed lawns) and decide to play hide-n-seek. They enter through busted out windows and use the word "disgusting" frequently to describe the smell and surroundings. When Jim and Doreen find a bed with blood stained Polaroid snuff pictures they decide it is time to leave. But wait, they are missing 2 people and Bobby wants to see the snuff photos....

It is now a question of who lives and who dies and how does this all tie together with that early 1990 scene.

One Piney has a pop-eye, sign of inbreeding, at least in the movies. Another Piney wields an ax. You know someone is going to die when his death metal theme music is played.

About this time the movie takes a twist and ties up some plot points, but creates plot problems.

The plot is very weak. The acting weak. The music good, but not enough of it. While these are characteristics we expect in a grindhouse film, this one didn't meet the standard. This is a good first attempt for Jeff Roenning, but clearly he has not mastered the genre.

A very frustrating movie to watch.

[Dikinsd · 1/10 · 26 June 2011]

This is the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. Do not waste your time. This movie makes no sense at all and is nothing more than boring. I do not want to consume any more of my time with this complete junk of film yet I feel a review is necessary. Heed the warning as pointed out in another review. I have no idea what this film is about and neither will you. This film is unwatchable and complete garbage. A detriment to good film. I still want that hour of my life back. It contains terrible acting with a lousy storyline basically copying other Massacre titles. An unsavory frustrating cinematic experience. This movie isn't worth watching at all.

Perverted OBGYN's, White Trash Father, Latino Witch and Redneck Man-Children abound!!

[dbs630-697-952794 · 9/10 · 22 September 2011]

I was impressed with the professional look of this movie. For the indie scene these guys did it right. The acting was on par with the old indie films of the early 80s. I have to say I really enjoyed the Redneck Father, his dialogue was great. Good actor. The girls were hot and played off the coy, sexy, teen-tease part really well. The overall story line was predictable but presented in a humorous fashion that made me laugh. I especially liked the hot-blooded Latino "den mother from Hell" part, that was an interesting twist from your standard white trash "den mother from Hell." The fact that the Fat Redneck kid is named "Jesus" made me smirk. There were some impressive CGI visual effect head shots at the end that really took me by surprise. I would have liked it to be just a little bit longer but I can overlook that. I thought the ending was clever and well designed, though I would have liked "Jim" to hook up with "Jen" before they knocked her off. I half expected the kid in the overalls at the end to say something like "F-ing Pineys" when the truck drove by but I'll take it as it is. Great indie flick, very impressed with the cinematography and the editing. Highly recommend viewing this one.

Enjoyably cruddy backwoods horror trash

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 6 July 2011]

Awkward teen Jim Cavanaugh (a likable portrayal by Adam Scarimbolo) and his friends go searching in some remote forest for Jim's long lost mother. Naturally, Jim and company run afoul of a family of murderous rednecks. Man, does this uproariously awful and idiotic turkey possess all the right wrong stuff to qualify as a real four star stinkeroonie: The hopelessly inept (mis)direction by Jeff Roenning (who also wrote the nonsensical script), a meandering narrative that plods along at a poky pace, clumsy outbursts of raw bloody violence, the hit-or-miss acting from an extremely variable cast (Greg Travis does well as Jim's evil and abusive dad Tex while Mel Gorham overacts up an atrocious storm as shrill and venomous matriarch Dolores), the shaky hand-held cinematography, no tension or creepy atmosphere to speak of, an utterly inappropriate roaring rock soundtrack, the annoying one-note characters, a hilariously sick sense of seriously perverse humor (one of the hillbilly psycho's kills someone while sporting a huge erection!), the excessively profane dialogue, and the completely ridiculous "you gotta be kidding me!" open-ended sequel set-up conclusion all provide a wealth of unintentional belly laughs. As an added plus, the pretty Emily Grace shows a little skin and snippets of the infamous infectiously catchy VD jingle from an old 60's PSA TV spot can be heard throughout. An absolute schlocky hoot.

A nice change of pace

[questiontheauthorities · 10/10 · 7 August 2019]

This film is just living proof that you don't need to be a preachy, leftist billionare to produce a quality, HILARIOUS slasher flick. If you got offended by this film, it's probably because you took the context of the film to be serious. Get a sense of humor, and then get over yourself.

10 / 10 (not like were going for an oscar here) Sought: laughs and no preachy leftism Got: LAUGHS and NO PREACH LEFTISM!