Moofies - Mother of Tears: The Third Mother (2007)

EXPECTATIONS: Dario Argento has made some fantastic horror films in the past, but most recent one of his I saw was 1998's Phantom of the Opera starring Julian Sands. Snore. Hopefully this will be an improvement on that one.

REALITY: This is very much an old school Argento film. It's the third part in his 'mother' series, which began way back in 1977 with the classic Suspiria and according to the interwebz the script for this film has been sitting around for quite some time. A creepy urn is dug up from a cemetery and as soon as it is opened strange things begin to occur in Rome. People start acting crazy and barbarity ensues. The Mother of tears, last of the three witches, is returning to power, and a bunch of witches flock to Rome to celebrate her return to power. According to this film witches all look like try hard goths who are constantly leering, laughing, and acting like drunk teenagers. Asia Argento has to use her new discovered white witch powers to save the day.

It's not much of a stretch to say that Argento films are strange, but not just because of their subject matter. His films have a creepy quality that I honestly find scary, but then amongst all the ickyness and macabre there are some completely retarded moments and the plots don't really make sense if you look at them too closely. I am VERY forgiving of these flaws though, because they all add up to make some of the most unique and creepy horror films around.

Mother of Tears immediately feels like an old Argento film, and within the first 10 minutes there is an extremely grotesque and creepy death scene, reassuring me that this third part of the trilogy will be as good as the preceding two films. Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento) discovers she has the ability to turn invisible, and it is honestly pulled off in such a way that I wasn't rolling my eyes and groaning loudly. The way we are shown these powers is incredibly simple and effective, despite the ludicrousness of the premise. The soundtrack (featuring the all too familiar vocals of Danni Filth) repeats the word 'mother' in a stupid voice, but it is utilized in such a way that it's a little unnerving. Even the use of a monkey (something that Argento has used before in a much less successful way) is creepy. Seriously, that little monkey scared me.

Perhaps I was just in the mood when I watched this film, but I totally dug it and am now trying to get a hold of his other more recent work.

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