0
0
No Troma remake should attempt to match Troma at its revolting, boundary-demolishing, trigger-happy game. Take 1980’s Mother’s Day, for example. Troma Entertainment ringleader Lloyd Kaufman let his brother Charles Kaufman shoot a rape-revenge exploitation sleazefest no mamma would applaud. Darren Lynn Bousman’s 2010 remake abandons Tromaville signatures almost entirely for a mean-mugging reinterpretation rooted in more straightforward thriller formulas because few indie studios are willing to push as far as Troma — especially in today’s acutely more socially attentive climate. You could get away with Mother’s Day (1980) in the 80s, especially with its cereal bowls filled with consumerism commentaries, but even today’s midnighter-loving moviegoer is looking for something more evolved.
Then again, Troma’s catalog might be the most fertile soil for remakes, given how even midrange studio pocket change would be a budgetary increase. Troma Studios has earned its legacy as an independent horror tentpole, but rewatching older “classics” today can be … a challenge. Titles like Mother’s Day (1980) exist to offend and reach for extremes, which is what built Troma’s reputation decades ago. The problem is that borderline edgelord desire to be the nastiest, most disrespectful, and least tasteful version of horror cinema has aged poorly in some cases (gosh, did I like Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead way more when released in 2006 when I was in high school). Bousman’s approach to remaking Troma’s Mother’s Day lays a template for how to honor 80s low-budget splattergore cinema with the right mindset — very, very loosely.
The Approach
‘Mother’s Day’ (1980)
Bousman and writer Scott Milam approach 2010’s Mother’s Day by cautiously dipping their toes into Tromaville’s polluted lakes. Backwoods murderers and sexual deviants swap for countryfied criminals who aren’t necessarily psychopaths by definition, just robbers who pick the wrong safehouse (until the whole virginity-be-gone scene). Troma’s sociopathic goofiness that blurs the lines between slapstick humor and perverse indulgences is nowhere to be seen — Bousman’s vision is gritty home invasion tension that doesn’t want you to laugh. It’s parallel to Fede Álvarez taking the dark-and-fucking-terrifying route to his remake of Sam Raimi’s more fun-and-games (in comparison) Evil Dead. New movie, new vision, same mad-in-the-head mommies.
Powerhouse actress Rebecca De Mornay is our maleficent matriarch, Natalie “Mother” Koffin. Her boys Ike (Patrick Flueger), Addley (Warren Kole), and Johnny (Matt O’Leary) seek refuge after a botched robbery at their mother’s house — only to find she fled after foreclosure and resale. In the basement is a birthday party for new homeowner Daniel Sohapi (Frank Grillo), organized by his wife Beth (Jaime King), with multiple friends in attendance. After hearing commotion upstairs, Daniel finds Johnny bleeding out on his couch and thus begins a standoff between the Koffin boys and their pesky hostages. Mother arrives in her RV with daughter Lydia (Deborah Ann Woll) to clean up her boys’ mess … by making an even bigger one.
The similarities between Milam’s script and Charles Kaufman’s and Warren Leight’s original screenplay are references sprinkled into dialogue. One of the Koffins remarks about how they hate disco, a callback to the teeth-brushing sequence where O.G. Addley (Michael McCleery) and Ike (Gary Pollard) argue over punk and disco. Another line complains about Fruity Pebbles since boxes of sugary breakfast trash are a staple in 1980’s Mother’s Day. Troma programming can be spotted on the background television. Queenie “lurks” as a spoken myth, and cleaning chemicals are once again a weapon. Other than that, Milam inverts almost every conceivable aspect, from bringing peril to the victims’ doorstep this time or making Mother a far more adversarial mastermind who enjoys verbally manipulating Beth and Daniel’s guests. No skinnydipping, no baseball stadium pranks, no police costumes. Mother’s Day (2010) might as well have a different title.
Does It Work?
‘Mother’s Day’ (2010)
We love a remake that’s adamant about clearing its own path. Bousman honors the genesis of Mother’s Day (1980) but stays wholly committed to his interpretation of events in a way that’s never beholden to existing fanbases. Everything works because Mother’s Day (2010) never holds nostalgia precious enough to let it distract Bousman from executing a still bloody, still ruthless struggle for survival against a mamma’s brainwashed brothers in arms. It’s how you usher a Troma concept into the 2010s — leave what appealed to ’80s raunch-and-shock behind and speak to contemporary audiences.
The dynamic storytelling switcheroos inject much-needed intensity as we fear 2010’s Mother even though she speaks politely and with comforting inflections. Ike and Addley also become more dangerous because they’re no longer bumbling juvenile oafs — they’re more formidable than manchildren. Bousman and Milam want their parallels to be The Strangers or Funny Games, dialing into a revisionist remake that doesn’t fumble Troma’s penchant for eye-rolling lewdness. A majority of Mother’s Day (2010) shoots as straight as the most mainstream horror presentations you’ve seen this side of You’re Next. Avoidance of repetition is a good thing, he says for the billionth time in this column’s history.
Although, there are choice touches that still nod back to Charles Kaufman’s blisteringly inappropriate tale of tortured and abused women. Bousman uses the hyper-sexual awkwardness of Mother guiding her possibly dying son’s first lovemaking encounter as something that seems bred from Tromaville sex education classes. It hits out of nowhere for a massive shock because hardly anything feels Troma-adjacent until Mother starts unzipping Johnny’s fly. There’s power in patience and reward in restraint, since Mother’s Day (1980) only has one desensitizing speed. Mother’s Day (2010) is a steamy build that boils over with such a scalding sting, and remains pleasantly in line with the tonal harmony that precedes then follows.
The Result
‘Mother’s Day’ (2010)
Mother’s Day (1980) and Mother’s Day (2010) feel like only-visit-on-holidays cousins, not even siblings. One listens to Butthole Surfers, watches VHS video nasties, and “reads” nudie magazines. The other listens to Killswitch Engage, watches slasher classics, and reads Fangoria. Neither are wrong; both are special little snowflakes. We’re lucky to have options so well suited for varieties of tastes throughout horror audiences, which Bousman clearly understands from the start. Mother’s Day (2010) is a traditional horror arrangement set to the tune of noose-tight devastation, never shy about its dare to differentiate.
De Mornay is endlessly watchable as Mother, the sly cat who adores batting around the mice she’s caught before showing her claws. The way Mother pits lovers against one another by exposing their secrets, or emasculates poor Dave (Tony Nappo) by tearing his hairpiece from his scalp is devilishly entertaining. Mother’s Day (1980) is about the snatch and inevitable revenge, whereas Mother’s Day (2010) delves into the messiness of shattered lifestyle perfection through character analysis. Milam strives to make his script more than just another murder spree, which leads to an accomplished cast meeting an array of fates from foolish to redemptive. Some might declare the ending divisive given how it exits on feel-bad bleakness even after so much avoidable sadness, but is it that much different than Troma’s decision to reveal Queenie as a final boss to battle (with the assumption that there’s no survival)?
Let’s not forget that Mother’s Day (2010) delivers special effects that might not be Troma sloppy but redecorate Daniel’s fixer-upper with gooey red colored accents. SFX creator Francois Dagenais honors Addley’s original death with ample brutality as he’s stabbed and suffocated, gives us nail gun glory against Ike, and shotgun blasts Dave’s noggin Maniac style. Tromafied gore is its own magnificent beast, but Bousman’s veteran understanding of the horror genre ensures that standoff violence remains just as important as psychological thrills and barbaric chills. The stacked cast is a massive upgrade (Briana Evigan, Lyriq Bent, Shawn Ashmore), overall quality benefits from a facelift, and we still get slathered in the yucky-chunky stuff — Mother’s Day (2010) is the revamp we deserve.
The Lesson
‘Mother’s Day’ (2010)
In most cases, remakes shouldn’t be an “anything you can do, I can do better” competition. Mother’s Day (2010) isn’t about Bousman usurping Troma. Mother’s Day (1980) would be received differently in 2010 or 2023. I’m not saying Troma wouldn’t still make it today, but there’s a reason you’re never hearing people rave about Troma’s newest releases like Shakespeare’s Sh*tstorm. Bousman’s take on Mother’s Day is a testament to how I always preach about the best remakes reflecting a filmmaker’s unique vision, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an original-remake combination with that much distance between the two.
So what did we learn?
● Mother always knows best, even when dealing with a hostage scenario and possible jail time.
● Remakes should make something new, not refurbish something old.
● Some eras are more complicated than others to modernize, and 80s exploitation midnighters are a prime example.
● It’s not disrespectful to do your own thing with a remake — it’s quite the opposite.
Speaking of Troma remakes, I’m foaming at the mouth for Macon Blair’s The Toxic Avenger. It’s Troma’s premiere mainstream property and possibly the least egregious when it comes to the studio’s uglier tendencies. I’d love a remake of Poultrygeist without all the low-hanging racial humor and flagrant record-scratch-yikes usage of slurs, but The Toxic Avenger makes the most sense for contemporary success. Blair doesn’t have the same hurdles as Bousman when honoring source material for the new generations of horror fans, and an updated Toxie could be a massive success. Let’s get that into my eyeballs ASAP, please?
In Revenge of the Remakes, columnist Matt Donato takes us on a journey through the world of horror remakes. We all complain about Hollywood’s lack of originality whenever studios announce new remakes, reboots, and reimaginings, but the reality? Far more positive examples of refurbished classics and updated legacies exist than you’re willing to remember (or admit). The good, the bad, the unnecessary – Matt’s recounting them all.
