Mothers provide us with unconditional love, which means we love them unconditionally as well. Sometimes, that means ignoring the fact that they’re completely insane and borderline psychotic. A mother’s love has been a focus in the horror genre for generations and with today a day for celebrating the women in our lives, I am taking a look at the Top 5 Horror Movies Moms:

More below.

And now… the Top 5 Horror Movie Moms:

#5 – Vera (Elizabeth Moody) – Dead Alive aka Braindead: This; not any Hobbit nonsense, this is Peter Jackson’s magnum opus. A gross-out zombie comedy, Dead Alive set the record at the time for most fake blood used in a film, mostly during the epic lawnmower scene. But the movie starts with overbearing “Mum” Vera who is already making life hell on her poor son Lionel (Timothy Balme), mocking him, insulting his would be girlfriend, etc. When she is bitten by an evil Sumerian rat-monkey, she dies and zombifies, forcing Lionel to take care of her in a way he never thought he’d have to. That is before she inevitably zombifies the whole town leading to an amazing showdown between Lionel and Mum and seriously, no words can describe it, you just have to watch it. Man, I miss pre-Hobbit Peter Jackson!

Dead Alive (9/9) Movie CLIP – You Don’t Scare Me, Mum (1992) HD

#4 – Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) – Friday the 13th: A classic with a twist; few endings in horror were more surprising than the original Friday the 13th. After countless counselors are murdered in a variety of gruesome ways, final girl Alice (Adrienne King) bumps into camp cook Pamela. Thankful to see her, it all goes bad when we discover Pam is the killer, getting revenge for the counselor’s ignorance towards her son’s drowning years earlier. While the legend of Jason was born, it was Mother who got the spoils in part 1, even getting to murder a not-yet-famous Kevin Bacon. Pamela was mad, hearing the voice of her son in her head”¦ “Kill her mommy… kill her!”

Friday the 13th (1980) – Mrs. Voorhees Reveal

#3 – Woman aka “Mommy” (Wendy Robie) – The People Under Stairs: One of the most underrated films in the late great Wes Craven’s catalogue, The People Under the Stairs features a pair of the most bat-shit crazy “parents” in horror history. Best of all is Wendy Robie’s “Mommy” who along with her husband (Everett McGill) are just looking for the perfect child. Of course that means kidnapping locals kids and “raising them” until they do something bad. Then they are tortured and thrown under the stairs to live forever. When locals sneak into the house, things go awry leaving youngster Fool (Brandon Quintin Adams) to join forces with perfect daughter Alice (A.J. Langer) and leader of the PUTS, Roach (Sean Whalen) in order to escape the crazed parents. On the 25th anniversary of this film, it is seriously deserving of a second or perhaps first viewing. It is criminally overlooked.

The People Under The Stairs (1991) Actress Wendy Robie Remembers the Bathtub Scene

#2 – Alien Queen – Aliens: I have been skeptical to call Aliens a horror film, but in this list I am making an exception because of how awesome the Queen Alien is. As Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) races to save Newt (Carrie Henn), she discovers all those eggs are being hatched from a gigantic Queen. Ripley ignites a classic showdown, burning the eggs and destroying the mother’s egg sack. Soon it’s Queen Alien versus Ripley in a cargo loader and we get one of the greatest action/horror endings ever. And to be fair, it’s hard to root against the Queen; her entire progeny got wiped out because humans are stupid.

Aliens – Ripley vs Alien Queen – Final Fight Scene

#1 – Margaret White (Piper Laurie) – Carrie: Piper Laurie was nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal as the greatest crazy mother in horror history. In Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Stephen King’s debut novel, it’s easy to call Carrie the villain. After all, she murders a school full of students and teachers at prom using telekinesis. But Carrie (Sissy Spacek) is a tragic figure, bullied at school at tortured at home by her psychotically religious mother Margaret. The best and most memorable scenes in the classic film include Laurie’s “They’re all gonna laugh at you” rant and the haunting scene when a blood soaked Carrie returns from Prom and Margaret is hiding and waiting for upstairs. Just thinking about that gives me goosebumps. Margaret White, and Piper Laurie’s performance make her the #1 horror movie mother.

Carrie (1976) They’re all going to laugh at you

Honorable Mentions:

Diane Freeling (Jobeth Williams) – Poltergeist: A fun loving mother of three, Diane allows her youngest daughter to play along as they discover strange occurrences throughout their home. But when Carol Anne (Heather O’Rourke) is taken by a vengeful spirit, Diane kicks it into high gear. She goes right in after her daughter, facing the monster head on, then deals with a swimming pool of REAL skeletons before finally getting her family away from the house. Diane is one of the BEST moms in horror, never leaving her daughter and kids behind.

“Mother” – Psycho: It’s hard to put the “mother” of all horror villains on the list since, Mother was really just Norman. If I spoiled a 57 year old film there, I am sorry. Still the tension brought throughout Hitchcock’s classic by the character is worthy of obvious mention here.

Amelia (Essie Davis) – The Babadook: In Jennifer Kent’s low-budget masterpiece, a distraught single mother is dealing with her peculiar son when their world is changed by a haunted bed time story come to life. The movie is a psychological study of depression and pain and no matter how scary the Babadook was, the real horror is in brought out through the human interaction. Essie Davis could’ve easily gotten an Oscar nomination here.

Happy Mother’s Day!

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