Retro Blood 214: Mothers Day (1980)

James Kline and J.H. Alison continue 1980s Killer Family Month with one of the nastiest low-budget backwoods shockers of the era: Mother’s Day (1980).

We kick things off with our first impressions—why this grimy hillbilly horror flick doesn’t hit the same cultural impact as I Spit on Your Grave or Last House on the Left, yet still carves out its own bizarre identity. We talk why the film was made, who made it, and how the Kaufman brothers brought their trademark off-beat grit to the project.

In our weekly History Segment, we cover what was happening in Pro Wrestling and Metal Music around the film’s release. In wrestling, we break down The Grappler ending Ted DiBiase’s second reign as Mid-South North American Champion. Alison then walks us through what David Bowie was up to at this point in his career.

Then we dive into the movie’s production—how the Kaufmans pulled this off on a shoestring budget, the filming locations shared with Friday the 13th Parts 1 and 2, and the infamous abandoned house rumored to have been the site of a real murder (plus a supposed real corpse used as a prop). We talk Charles Kaufman casting members of his own family, his attempts to squeeze raw emotion out of his actors, and all the strange behind-the-scenes lore that makes this film a cult oddity.

Finally, we break down the full movie—from the unexpected fate of Jackie (not the final girl we expected), to the hilariously awkward hillbilly brothers, the twisted “Mother” character, and all the uncomfortable, sleazy mayhem that makes Mother’s Day such a wild entry in 1980s exploitation horror.

This one gets messy… and that’s exactly why we’re covering it.

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