Mommy

Yes, it is low budget, and yes it is shot on video for the direct to DVD market but I've seen much, much, worse. I can only imagine that the critics of this movie went into it with the wrong expectations.

Patty McCormack is great as the deranged Mommy, her performance is definitely over the top, just as it should be in this kind of movie. She's acting as hard as she can and it is not a role which calls for subtlety. Rachel Lemieux may not be the most accomplished actress in the world - but she's less annoying than most children in low budget films. It's also nice to see Brinke Stevens in a (more or less) dramatic role.

If you are looking for a high quality movie with lots of drama, gore, and topless Brinke Stevens, this is definitely not it. However, if you're looking for something kind of campy which you can enjoy making fun of (in an MST3K kind of way) then you could do a lot worse than this.

This is not really a follow-up to Bad Seed. Patty McCormick does reprise her role in a way, but it's a different character. If you wanna use your imagination, and interpret things your own way, here's some food for thought. I like to imagine that this is Rhoda all grown up, with a name and identity change. Anyway, Patty McCormick is obsessed with her 12 year old daughter. She will kill anyone, or anything that gets in her way. When she finds out her daughter didn't win Student of the Year Award, she offs her teacher. An investigator goes undercover to get to the truth of the story. The meat of this story is Mommy & the daughter Jessica. They are both riveting to watch, and I enjoyed the creepy interactions. Rachel Lemuix does a heck of a job as the daughter, and puts many kid actors to shame with her excellent performance. Not only is she sympathetic, but very talented. I wonder where she is now? Patty McCormick is fantastic in her role. Her galvanizing presence and her creepy obsession chilled me to the bone. Brinke Stevens has a bit of a pivotal part as McCormick's sister, and lends good support. The low budget can't be ignored. It looks extremely cheap, but the effort is there, and I have to give it credit. The ending sets up a sequel, and a sequel did commence, called Mommy's Day. I've not been able to find it, though

Final Thoughts: If you can find it, you may enjoy yourself more than you thought you would.

6.3/10

Forget Blair Witch or the flavor of the month at the nearest artsy film festival. This is the definition of Independent. Shot on a shoestring in Muscatine, IA, this semi-sequel to The Bad Seed (Mommy is never named, but the parallel is obvious) is a character-driven study of a young girl discovering her perfect mother is just plain evil. The casting is clever, especially scream queen Brinke Stevens doing an about face as Mommy's "Plain-Jane" sister Beth. I highly recommend Max's novelisation, which fleshes out the back story. Also look for Max and his band playing at the dance.

Okay, there's some who will not like the shot-on-video style that makes this aesthetically seem like a daytime soap, but having watched the similarly done BBC series Thriller, I actually like it for it gives the film a bit more down-to-earth quality and less Hollywood slickness.

The players are adequate, including Patty McCormick, but the real shining star is the young girl portraying Jessica Ann. The quality of her stellar performance reminds me of, say, Patty McC back in the original Bad Seed. All others are fine, with the exception of the fellow playing the rumpled detective, who really just is overboard.

Brinke Stevens is exceptionally lovely in her staid appearance and gives new meaning to the really hot 'plain jane'. Too bad she wasn't a librarian as well.

The story is pretty much what you'd expect and without surprises, well-paced however and still fun to watch. The budget limitations would have left a less resourceful cast and crew with a miserable effort, but they all come through here to present a pleasing diversion, yet that is all it is, an entertaining diversion. Don't make too much effort to get it, but if you find it and not for too much, then it's a good spend.

Thinking this low-budget "horror / thriller" to be along the lines of the chilling "Stepfather" films, I decided to watch it, but instead, I felt like I was prying on someone's personal life! The quality of the film was so unbelievably low, it was as if the film was made on someone's handi-cam - you could almost reach out and touch the bad upholstery at "Mommy's" house.

With the exception of the esteemed Majel Barrett I had never heard of any of the cast in this film, which is somewhat surprising, as there were a couple of good actors, while the rest just seemed like locals the director / writer had somehow managed to rope into being in his film. What Majet was doing in this film is beyond me. Patty McCormack was a little bit OTT, but she certainly showed off her character's malign temperament. Rachel Lemieux was harmless, but it's easy to see why she never amounted to anything in the film industry (which I feel rather sorry for her). Brinke Stevens was the surprise, as she was rather good as "Mommy's" kind sister. Jason Miller (R.I.P.) was good as the detective investigating the strange goings-ons surrounding "Mommy", and Sarah Jane Miller was a riot as the janitor.

If you are going to watch this film, be warned, and don't expect too much - because overall, it doesn't amount to much, though that is not for lack of trying.