Mother's Day – Vinegar Syndrome (4k UHD/Blu-ray Combo)

Theatrical Release Date: USA, 1980
Director: Charles Kaufman
Writers: Charles Kaufman, Warren Leight
Cast: Nancy Hendrickson, Deborah Luce, Tiana Pierce, Frederick Coffin, Michael McCleery, Beatrice Pons, Robert Collins, Peter Fox

Release Date: October 31st, 2023
Approximate Running Time: 90 Minutes 40 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono English
Subtitles: English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free
Retail Price: $52.98

"Every year, former college roommates Jackie, Abbey and Trina take turns organizing a mystery getaway for the three of them. This year it’s Jackie’s turn, and she’s chosen a weekend of camping in New Jersey’s Deep Barons. Despite ominous warnings from a local shopkeeper, the young women set off into the wilderness with high spirits, and it’s not long before they’re skinny dipping in the nearby lake and generally making the most of the great outdoors - blissfully unaware that they’re being watched. As the friends settle in for the night, they’re suddenly attacked by a pair of sadistic brothers, Ike and Addley, who drag them in their sleeping bags back to their dilapidated house in the middle of the woods to meet Mother… who turns out to be even more sick and twisted than they are. Subjected to violence, torture and assault beyond their worst nightmares, the women are forced to channel their inner savages in a desperate bid to fight back against these backwoods degenerates." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.75/5 (4K UHD), 4.25/5 (Blu-ray)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "Newly scanned and restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative."

Mother's Day comes on a 66 GB dual layer 4K UHD

Disc Size: 60.4 GB

Feature: 60.2 GB

The source used for this transfer is in excellent shape; this is another solid restoration from Vinegar Syndrome. That said, there are a few moments where the source does not look as strong as the bulk of the transfer. Flesh tones look healthy, colors are nicely saturated, black levels are strong, image clarity, contrast, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.

Mother's Day comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.5 GB

Feature: 24.8 GB

The Blu-ray uses the same source as the 4K UHD does for its transfer.

Audio: 4.25/5

This release comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English with removable English SDH. The audio is in great shape; it is a marked improvement over Starz/Anchor Bay’s 2012 Blu-ray release. Dialog comes through clearly, everything sounds balanced, ambient sounds are well-represented, and range-wise, things sound very good.

Extras:

Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an archival audio commentary director Charles Kaufman and assistant art director Rex A. Piano.

Extras on the Blu-ray disc include two radio spots (1 minute 30 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a TV spot (32 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), a theatrical trailer (2 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), an archival interview with assistant art director Rex A. Piano (1 minute 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), 8mm behind-the-scenes footage with audio commentary by Charles Kaufman (10 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra tilted Eli Roth on Mother’s Day (13 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles), an archival extra titled Charles Kaufman and Darren Bousman talk Mother’s Day at Comic Con 2010 (8 minutes 5 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with Charles Kaufman (2 minutes 29 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), a tour of the shooting locations with assistant art director Rex A. Piano and Mother’s Day superfan Brandon Hall titled Messin' Up In Deep Barons: The Locations of Mother's Day (19 minutes 10 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an archival interview with actress Tiana Pierce (6 minutes 53 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival extra titled Director Charles Kaufman interviewed by Lloyd Kaufman (7 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with assistant art director Rex A. Piano titled Celebrating Mother's Day (21 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with editor Daniel Loewenthal and assistant editor Richard W. Haines titled Cutting Mother (30 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with production designer Susan Kaufman and costume designer Ellen Lutter titled The Last House in the Woods (21 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with producer Michael Kravitz titled The Book of Mother's Day (32 minutes 55 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with screenwriter Warren Leight titled Writing to Mother (37 minutes 30 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with actor Michael McCleery titled My Brother and Me (26 minutes 54 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH), an interview with actress Nancy Hendrickson titled You're a Sick Woman!, and an audio commentary with Charles Kaufman and Rex A. Piano.

Other extras include reversible cover art and an embossed and spot gloss slipcover limited to 7,000 units.

Summary:

Directed by Charles Kaufman, a filmmaker whose filmography consists of only six films (five if you don’t count Ferocious Female Freedom Fighters), an Indonesian film that Troma imported and he worked on as the dialogue director for their version of the film.

The narrative revolves around three women, who have been friends since high school, taking their yearly getaway in the woods. And what should have been another relaxing weekend with old friends quickly turns deadly when a family of psychopaths targets them. Will this be their last weekend getaway together, or will they find a way to escape this nightmare weekend?

Content wise, Mother’s Day is a very satisfying mix of Deliverance-themed backwoods’ horror and all things that have since become synonymous with Troma. And outside of the few moments that will be touched upon later in this review.

Mother’s Day is a film that rarely misses a beat. The narrative is well constructed, and there are an ample number of well-executed kill sequences, all of which are sufficiently gory. Another area where Mother’s Day often excels is the way it effortlessly mixes humor and horror. And though the premise does echo things that have occurred in other horror films, it is ultimately the way in which Mother’s Day presents these familiar things that makes this film so damn entertaining.

And not to be overlooked are the cast, who are all very good in their respective roles. With Beatrice Pons (Car 54, Where Are You?) in the role of Mother, this film’s standout performance And it is the scene that precedes this film’s opening credits with her character that firmly sets the tone of this film. In said scene, she is in the car with two strangers who think that they have the upper hand, since she looks like a defenseless old lady. When things couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Other performances of note include Michael McCleery and Frederick Coffin (Hard to Kill) in the roles of Addley and Ike, the mother’s two sons who are willing to do anything, even commit murder if it entertains her. Also, when it comes to depravity, there truly is nowhere these two characters won’t go, as there is a moment in the film where they rape one of the women in front of their mother, who cheers them on. Ultimately, Mother's Day is a very satisfying mix of dark humor and slasher film elements.

Mother's Day gets a definitive release from Vinegar Syndrome, highly recommended.

Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a VLC player and lossless PNGs.

Written by Michael Den Boer