WARNING: This Article May Contain Spoilers
It is a said that a woman can have the strength to lift a car when their child is in danger, but what other length would they go to to protect their child. For that matter, what would the child do in return for their mother’s love….
Son
I wanted to start here because this is the film that actually gave me the idea for this article. I’ll be honest, on first watching, I actually didn’t understand it. I didn’t get the relevance of the opening scene first time around but this time I heard her mention that she was in a cult and heard the whispers of the doctor that makes them sound a part of the cult. You could look at this as a sort of vampire story but David doesn’t just feast on the blood of the people his mother brings to him. Yes, you heard that right, mum takes people to her son TO EAT! The proof of a mother’s love, not giving up or turning her back on her child even if they are the product of rape by a demon. Maybe she blames herself, because of the cult she grew up in but she still does whatever she can to keep him safe.
Motherly
This film is actually about two mothers and what they would do for their children. I thought the main story line was going to be about Kate protecting Beth from the intruders but actually the main focus seems to be on Mary taking revenge for the death of her own daughter, Courtney. We are led to believe that until the intrusion that Courtney was murdered by Kate’s husband, but I started to have my suspicions that it was actually Beth who killed her. I turned out to be right, but my god – it ends up being so much darker than I expected!
Mother’s Day
Truthfully, this film is the reason why I added the ‘what would the child do’ at the beginning because this film seems to centre around Ike and Addley hurting the 3 girls to please their mother. When they mess up, when dealing with Jackie on the bench, their mother blows the whistle and asks if they want to be the best – and it worries me what she wants them to be the best at! This film actually reminds me a lot of The Last House on the Left in its story line with the kidnap and rape but feels much darker because of the motivation. I want to say it’s like she’s training them to protect her from her sister but in quite a sadistic way.
Still/Born
I want to say that this is some sort of haunting story, that Mary is haunted by her still-born baby – the twin to her son Adam. I actually started to think that there’s a possibility that none of what we are seeing is happening and this film is just a comment on post-partem depression. It turned out I was wrong on both counts. There’s a film I have watched for another article called Noonday Witch and this actually reminded me a lot of that, a supernatural creature trying to take Mary’s baby. The only difference is it is all made out like she’s trying to hurt her own baby. This is actually the second film in which the mother dies trying to protect their child and I genuinely found this ending quite emotional, because as far as I understand from the end – her death is intentional.
From Black
OK, this film definitely has a what-the-f*** opening. Unfortunately, from there on it’s a little bit of a slow burn as they start to traverse the 5 years between the loss of Cora’s son and the opening scene. I know I’ve done a lot of comparing these films to other films but interestingly this starts to feel like Pet Semetary when Abel says that he got his daughter back. I’ll be honest, as soon as I heard the word Mesopotamian, I audiblely said ‘uh oh’ – but it could have been worse he could have said Ancient Sumerian! Truthfully everything Cora does to get Noah back is out of guilt so really she is doing it more for herself than for her son. Also, a lot of this seems to focus on the sister’s guilt of not being able to find him as well.
The Cellar
I really got a Labyrinth crossed with The Evil Dead vibe from the opening of this film. Ellie comes across quite bratty and the way they accidentally summon the evil in the cellar is very much like them playing the tape in The Evil Dead. This was described as a film where the mother ‘goes through hell’ to save her daughter. So, I was genuinely expecting something a lot creepier than what I watched. I felt like there was going to be a really obvious theory behind why Ellie was taken once her mother says that the family before all disappeared, apart from the daughter. Clearly, they must have taken Ellie in replacement but I was wrong – the house wanted them all. Also, yes mum gets Ellie out but in the end it’s actually the dad that figures it all out not the mum.
