Mother's Day film festival - bad mums
To celebrate Mother's Day, we thought it would be fun to celebrate some of the most famous and, well, infamous mothers from the silver screen. So in the first part of our film festival, we take a look at some of the worst fictional mums from some of our favourite movies.
Mary from Precious
There are pushy mothers, nagging Ma’s and Mumsies who are altogether quite cruel and manipulative, but this one takes the biscuit. And then hits you on the head with it before stuffing it up your nose.
Meet Mary, mother, in very loose terms, to Precious, the beleaguered star of this true story. When not found throwing large objects at children (including a TV) she can also be found dropping them, whilst babies, onto the ground. Other than eating her own kids, she’s crossed just about every line a mother can cross into downright evil. Nothing that has ever seen the light of day on the Jeremy Kyle show, or even Jerry Springer for that matter, can prepare you for Mary.
Mrs. Bates from Psycho
We don’t get to see Mrs Bates in person in this film, unless of course you count seeing the dried remains of her body complete with wig and frock in her favourite chair. Instead, we get to see the psychological aftermath of the mental cruelty her mothering inflicted on her son. This cruelty actually brings her back to life in a way, albeit via impersonations of her by her cross-dressing, murdering son whose own fear and terror of her keeps her alive in his mind just long enough to fuel his need to kill people. How sweet.
Margaret White from Carrie
A lot of parents don’t bother to tell their kids about the ‘birds and the bees’ as they find it too embarrassing. Carrie wishes her Mum, good old Margaret White, was one of these but sadly this is not so in this film. Margaret’s more direct. Direct in the sense that she tells her daughter she’s menstruating because she’s a sinner and has offended god. She then drags her in front of a Christian effigy and forces her to beg for forgiveness.
Oh, and she also throws hot tea in Carrie’s face, denounces her as a witch and tries to kill her. Happy Mother’s Day.
Joan Crawford from Mommy Dearest
The portrayal of Joan Crawford in this classic depicts the essential ‘Scary-Mother’ of cinema. Manipulative, jealous and downright cruel, Joan Crawford is chillingly well played by Faye Dunaway in this sadly ‘true story’ of Christina Crawford’s physical and mental abuse at the hands of her mother.
Mummy Crawford seemed at times to just not get the whole mothering lark. For example, rather than giving her child birthday presents, she takes all the child’s gifts and gives them to charity. Perhaps she’s really a philanthropist you may cry? But why then would she cut off all her kid’s hair before smacking it in the face and getting drunk as a skunk? Pseudo-philanthropist or not, that’s just not very nice.
Mama Fratelli from The Goonies
A gun running, sloppy cheeked mother to a bunch of criminal misfits, Mama Fratelli deformed her own son by dropping him (Sloth) as a baby. Now all grown up he lives in a cellar chained to a wall living off of rotten apples pushed over to him on a tray from the safe distance of a lengthy broom handle.
With other people’s kids her maternal antics are just as pronounced, including trying to cut a kid’s tongue out of his mouth, threatening to put another one’s fingers in a blender and chasing and shooting at a bunch of teenagers through a series of booby-trapped caves. With morals as low as her hanging jowls, Mama Fratelli won’t be getting taken out for a carvery this Mother’s Day by anyone, least of all Sloth.
We hope you've enjoyed this rundown of some of the most despicable mothers from film history. Make sure you check back to read our follow-up all about the best mums from movies-past.
Oh and don't forget, you can find a wide choice of unique Mothers day gifts at DotComGiftShop.
