It's Mother's Day!

In honor of Mother's Day, I present to you: Mother's Day, a 1980 Horror film written and directed by Charles Kaufman (not that Charlie Kaufman) and released by Troma Entertainment.


This film is fully entrenched in the 1970s. The fashions, the style, the music. That specific film stock that only these kinds of horror films seem to have used... The story revolves around three women, Abbey, Jackie and Trina. While on a camping trip, they run into a group of hillbillies named Ike and Addley along with their insane mother. The three poor women are attacked and brutalized by this group, along the same lines of what you'd expect from a slasher of that time.

The film itself was better than I expected. It was certainly a low budget horror flick, but the film is enjoyable in its own right. They hit just about every mark a horror film should. The people behind the film have a slight sense of humor, as there is a "bus terminal" in the film, and it looks like they simply shot it at an abandoned landfill (The joke is that they're in New Jersey). They cross paths with some hillbillies at a gas station/convenience store, and while it doesn't do much within the film aside from establish some of the mood, it looks *just* like a scene from the hilarious comedy-horror film, Tucker & Dale vs Evil, which I always feel the need to give props to (can that film get distributed soon?).

There are some good fake scares early on in the film, and the stuff that happens to these girls is pretty gruesome and sadistic. These hillbilly punks are one screwed up family. They're not as disgusting as the ones from the X-Files episode, "Home," but they're close. I'm pretty sure I had an Sesame Street alarm clock like the one that featured around the 44 minute mark in the film, though it's a lot more creepy in this particular film then when I was growing up...

Another 1980 horror film outshines this one is Friday the 13th, in that it has a stronger "mother" element than this one and is a lot more memorable. The film has been remade and apparently released starring Rebecca De Mornay not that long ago.

In the UK, the film was rejected by the BBFC banning it from sale and is apparently still banned to this day. Due to portrayals of extreme violence and rape, I do not recommend sitting down with your own mother to watch this movie.

It Came From Hulu: Ark

After the fantastic conclusion of The Confession on Hulu earlier this week (check out the post we did), I perused Hulu and came across another web series which debuted on the service, Ark.

Ark is a science fiction series in which Connie (Xena’s Renée O'Connor) awakens in a botanical garden, unaware of how she got where she is. Not long after, she encounters Daryl and the two try to figure out where they are or how they got there. It premiered all 9 episodes together on July 23, 2010.

While there are no current plans for a second season as far as I am aware, my hope is that the show is able to garner enough interest that the production crew can produce additional episodes in the future. This unfortunately does lend itself to being a tad disappointing when left with the cliffhanger the story concludes with, but I'd say that the ingenuity of the crew to create something on such a small budget and small scope is to be commended.

Each episode runs roughly 5 to 7 minutes long, with a 10 minute finale.

It Came From Hulu: The Confession

"Jack's Back!" Well not quite, but this may be the closest audiences will get to seeing our favorite CTU agent for quite a long time.

Emmy award winner Kiefer Sutherland stars in a ten part good verses evil web series drama that can be seen on Hulu (at http://www.hulu.com/the-confession). The series debuted with its first three episodes on March 28th.

Sutherland is "The Confessor," who has arrived at a church for confession with a priest (played by John Hurt). For all the things that the cold-blooded Confessor has done to people, the evil that he has committed, he can't comprehend how people still manage to find faith and the ability to forgive. The Confessor's last "hit" before coming to the church, where his victim prayed and then forgave him before being murdered, has shaken his nihilistic beliefs. The Priest is understandably afraid of this monster, but continues to listen, with a certainly curiosity, to The Confessor out of fear of his congregation's lives.

Each episode runs roughly 6 to 7 minutes long.

The next two episodes are due out on April 4. In the meantime, catch the first three.