Review of Mother's Day (1980) by Robin W — 09 May 2009

One of my all-time guilty pleasures, this trashy piece of exploitation is one of the earlier Troma films and is directed by Lloyd Kaufman's brother, Charles (no relation to Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman); it's your standard "rape-and-revenge" film with elements of "Deliverance" and "Last House on the Left", but the nasty misogynistic elements are kept to a minimum and the film is more funny than anything else.

This is a cut above other entries of its genre because of its surprising use of satire and social comments about consumerism; the hillbilly family's shack is filled to the brim with cheesy consumer goods and the dynamite finale involves the villains getting killed off with those very items.

This may not be great art, but it is good trash, providing plenty of great exploitation moments (including a genuinely surprising shock ending) with the demented family making a great trio of villains; however, it's worth noting that while the actors playing the family actually had decent careers outside this film, they were obviously not too proud of their participation here, since all three of them are credited under pseudonyms!