My review was written in June 1991 after watching the movie on an RCA/Columbia video cassette.
At first an effective turnabout in posing a kindly mother as a monstrous killer, "Mom" shifts into a pretentious mode that fails to whip up pathos. Originally scheduled as a TWE video release last year, the horror comedy still bears the TWE logo bhut arrives as an RCA/Columbia title.
FIlm's prolog establishes blind Brion James as a serial killer of pregnant women, with guest star Claudia Christian his latest Christmas Eve victim.
Fiml proper has Jame arriving at kindly old Jeanne Bates' house to become a roomer. He bites Bates and turns her into a monster with a similar blood lust, though she does not copy his expectant mothers' fetish.
Bates' son is tv news reporter Mark Thomas Miller, who coincidentally is working on the same case of corpses created by James and Bates. In filmmaker Patrick Rand's wildly uneven screenplay, Miller quickly discovers James' hold over his mom, literally burns up the fiend and then covers up his parent's connection to the murders.
With many scenes played straight, "Mom" creates effective camp contrasts between the quaint old lady and the bloody mayhem she instigates. But it's difficult to keep the pot boiling, and later reels concentrating on Miller's predicament come off as silly.
Rand's in-jokes are a dud, such as Mom appearing on the stairs doing a Gloria Swanson routine from the climax of "Sunset Blvd.". Pic's best moments are provided by Stella Stevens, extremely sexy as an overage prostitute Miller brings home to mother one night.
Rest of the cast is bland, particularly Bates who never rises to a level of sympathetic fright. Makeup effects are okay but occasional ubbing of Bates with a masculine demonic voice is old hat.
