Motherhood is a beautiful thing. Which is why Mother’s Day is usually framed around a comforting idea that motherhood is one of life’s safest emotional anchors. Horror, fortunately for us horror-lovers, knows better. So, what better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than by examining some of horror’s most terrifying mothers?
Murderous Mommies
The first that comes to mind is Mrs. Bates from Hitchcock’s Psycho. Hitchcock turns the mother figure into a psychological presence whose power extends beyond the grave. It’s revealed that she abused her son, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). She prevented him from having a life away from her, and taught him that all other women are promiscuous.
Rosemary’s Baby takes on a different, but equally disturbing approach. Roman Polanski turns pregnancy into a nightmare of manipulation, surveillance, and bodily violation. What makes the movie disturbing, besides the satanic conspiracy, is the fact that Rosemary is surrounded by people who seemingly care for her, while quietly stripping her of her agency.
Movies like Hereditary and The Babadook take on different approaches. They involve mothers and their children more directly. I won’t go into details regarding these movies, but it’s important to note that both turn maternal love into grief, resentment, trauma, and the fear that a mother can both protect and endanger her child.
And lastly, there’s 1976’s Carrie. It gives mother-daughter horror one of its defining monsters in Margaret White (Piper Laurie), the mother of the eponymous Carrie. Margaret, an evil woman by all measures, doesn’t see herself as cruel. She sees herself as righteous, protective, and spiritually correct. Which makes her even more frightening as she twists motherhood into religious abuse.
What makes all of these films, the majority of which are classics, frightening is that the filmmakers’ understanding of motherhood is a beautiful. However, also quite complicated, frightening, and a painfully human thing. Their horror doesn’t reject the idea of a mother’s love, but in the fact that a mother’s love can be twisted into something more sinister and dangerous.
Mother Knows Best // Horror Makes Mother’s Day Terrifying
Motherhood is a beautiful thing. Which is why Mother’s Day is usually framed around a comforting idea that motherhood is one of life’s safest emotional anchors. Horror, fortunately for us horror-lovers, knows better. So, what better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than by examining some of horror’s most terrifying mothers?
Murderous Mommies
The first that comes to mind is Mrs. Bates from Hitchcock’s Psycho. Hitchcock turns the mother figure into a psychological presence whose power extends beyond the grave. It’s revealed that she abused her son, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins). She prevented him from having a life away from her, and taught him that all other women are promiscuous.
Rosemary’s Baby takes on a different, but equally disturbing approach. Roman Polanski turns pregnancy into a nightmare of manipulation, surveillance, and bodily violation. What makes the movie disturbing, besides the satanic conspiracy, is the fact that Rosemary is surrounded by people who seemingly care for her, while quietly stripping her of her agency.
Movies like Hereditary and The Babadook take on different approaches. They involve mothers and their children more directly. I won’t go into details regarding these movies, but it’s important to note that both turn maternal love into grief, resentment, trauma, and the fear that a mother can both protect and endanger her child.
And lastly, there’s 1976’s Carrie. It gives mother-daughter horror one of its defining monsters in Margaret White (Piper Laurie), the mother of the eponymous Carrie. Margaret, an evil woman by all measures, doesn’t see herself as cruel. She sees herself as righteous, protective, and spiritually correct. Which makes her even more frightening as she twists motherhood into religious abuse.
What makes all of these films, the majority of which are classics, frightening is that the filmmakers’ understanding of motherhood is a beautiful. However, also quite complicated, frightening, and a painfully human thing. Their horror doesn’t reject the idea of a mother’s love, but in the fact that a mother’s love can be twisted into something more sinister and dangerous.
Jason Collins
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