Mother of Tears

Name: Mother of Tears
Genre: Thriller, Fantasy, Horror
Released: June 6, 2008
Rating: 52

2008

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Mixed or average reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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6.1	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 21 Ratings

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Mother Of Tears

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Movie Details & Credits

Myriad Pictures | Release Date: June 6, 2008 | R

Summary: Mother of Tears is the finale to the saga that began with the international blockbuster Suspiria and continued with the classic INFERNO from Italian horror maestro Dario Argento. In the heart of modern Rome, an urn is found and brought to a young archaeologist, Sarah Mandy. But what Sarah doesn’t know is that the urn belongs to the world’sMother of Tears is the finale to the saga that began with the international blockbuster Suspiria and continued with the classic INFERNO from Italian horror maestro Dario Argento. In the heart of modern Rome, an urn is found and brought to a young archaeologist, Sarah Mandy. But what Sarah doesn’t know is that the urn belongs to the world’s most powerful witch, the Mother of Tears. She unwittingly unleashes a demonic power intent on destroying the city and everything in its path. When the Mother’s minions and henchman brutally murder Sarah’s co-worker and come after her, she takes refuge with an old priest and discovers her legacy – that her own mother was murdered years before by the Mother of Tears, and that only Sarah has the power to end the destruction. She must find and stop the Mother, before it is too late. (Myriad Productions)… Expand

Director: Dario Argento

Genre(s): Thriller, Fantasy, Horror

Rating: R

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Critic Reviews

Richard James Havis

Witty to the point of hilarity, blood-soaked and thoroughly politically incorrect, Mother of Tears: The Third Mother follows 1970s cult classics "Suspiria" and "Inferno" to complete Argento's "Mother" trilogy. Read full review

Dennis Harvey

This hectic pileup of supernatural nonsense is a treasure trove of seemingly unintentional hilarity. Although lacking helmer's usual aesthetic panache, this "Mother" is a cheesy, breathless future camp classic. Read full review

David Edelstein

The first two thirds are gangbusters, with marauding bands of tarted-up young witches who look only slightly less scary than Lindsay Lohan and her pals on an average night. Read full review

Michael Phillips

Mother of Tears can't rival the David Lynchian otherworldliness of "Suspiria," but at least you know you're in the hands of a director. Read full review

Scott Tobias

Compared to a recent Argento dud like "The Stendhal Syndrome," Mother Of Tears at least has some of the go-for-broke gothic spirit of his earlier work. He's just lost the ability to shape it into something artful. Read full review

Jim Ridley

A once-great director's near-worst work passes through its funhouse plumbing and emerges from the crapper as intentional mischief: self-sabotage explained away as mad genius. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

Aside from being vile and repellent, it's mainly dull - old-fashioned in its shock tactics and culminating in a ho-hum climax. Read full review

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User Reviews

ChanningT.

Jun 24, 2008

A super entertaining film. A fitting finale to the trilogy and a much better film than INFERNO. Loved it!

0 of 2 users found this helpful

derelictd.

Jun 20, 2008

This movie is a hoot, full-stop.

0 of 1 users found this helpful

Rico

Oct 2, 2008

Maybe strictly for Argento fans. I count myself in that group. I didn't expect the humor. Much better than many recent Argento films.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

McCorpse

Jan 27, 2013

luckily the gore in this movie makes you forget about how boring everything else was. And I mean that as literaly as you can take it, whenever something gory was happening i completly forgot that i was almost falling asleep leading up to it. Good stuff, clevers to the face, repetedly...limbsluckily the gore in this movie makes you forget about how boring everything else was. And I mean that as literaly as you can take it, whenever something gory was happening i completly forgot that i was almost falling asleep leading up to it. Good stuff, clevers to the face, repetedly...limbs being chopped off, skin peeled, and people being 'skewered'. Did I make my point? this movie has good gore. But then i regress, the acting was absolutly terrible and would cause me to constantly lose interest, tiss a shame but i recall that happening in most giallo horror. Another possitive however would be the nudity. Most of the female characters in the movie get naked so thats nice to see and Mr. Argento even tosses in a pointless scene of his real life daughter in the shower. Thanks bro. One other thing i found odd however was the random demons they would through in when this is suppose to be a witch movie. It didnt fit right to me. The first three were fine but then there was a moment where you saw one in a reflection in a mirror, or in the reflection of someones sunglasses or i believe there was one dream sequence with a completly unneeded demon. They just didnt fit with the rest of the movie. Oh well, i wouldnt say this movie was terrible but it just seemed to have so much potential that was dragged down by terrible acting and 'dry' scenes.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheQuietGamer

Mar 7, 2022

This long-delayed third and final entry in Dario Argento's Three Mother's trilogy was always going to be held under a fair amount of scrutiny. The original film Suspiria remains one of the most celebrated works in all of horror to this very day, and it's sequel Inferno, while nowhere near asThis long-delayed third and final entry in Dario Argento's Three Mother's trilogy was always going to be held under a fair amount of scrutiny. The original film Suspiria remains one of the most celebrated works in all of horror to this very day, and it's sequel Inferno, while nowhere near as acclaimed, still carries a respectable reputation among the hardcore genre enthusiasts. Due the amount of time between releases and the relative critical slump Argento had been on at that point, one could argue The Mother of Tears was always destined to fail for not coming out when the demand for it was at its highest.

The premise is certainly great. When a collection of ancient artifacts belonging to the "Mater Lachrymarum" is uncovered, Rome is cast into a hellish spiral of madness and brutality as the witch reclaims her missing items of power. Children are devoured, infants are thrown off bridges, people are strangled by demons with their own intestines, and ritualistic spears are shoved up women's vaginas. It's pretty freaking awesome! Unfortunately the enjoyment is bogged down by the dull plotting.

The script gets points for being more intelligible than Inferno, but man is it far less interesting. It's a lot of watching characters have boring conversations meant to explain all the nonsense happening as the protagonist moves around between various sources of information before they're inevitably slaughtered. The acting in which is terrible across-the-board, with the most painful coming from Dario's own daughter Asia in the lead role. It constantly left me desperately awaiting the next sight of gore or nudity that makes Italian horror cinema so much fun.

Also, where's the style? Its predecessors are known for their giallo use of color and music. Mother of Tears has none of that, coming off as rather drab in comparison.

What it does have though are some unforgettable displays of savagery and skin. Showing that its legendary director's eye for violence and titillation we're still very much intact even is his sense of art and storytelling we're not. The regrettable lack of them though makes it hard to recommend this concluding chapter that came out way later than it should have after its creator's skills had begun to decline. I can't imagine having waited close to thirty years for THIS!

5.5/10… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

marcmyworks

May 3, 2014

This unfortunate finale to "The Three Mothers" trilogy relies too heavily on gore, cheap special effects and digital remastering rather than storyline and plot. A magic tunic that brings back the most evil of the Mothers and causes Rome to be taken over my witches. I would have ripped thatThis unfortunate finale to "The Three Mothers" trilogy relies too heavily on gore, cheap special effects and digital remastering rather than storyline and plot. A magic tunic that brings back the most evil of the Mothers and causes Rome to be taken over my witches. I would have ripped that thing up in the first 10 minutes.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Panchogul

Feb 27, 2021

Visualmente explícita y violenta, pero de ahí no pasa, parece cualquier cosa menos una película de Argento, hace un muy mal tercio al lado de Suspiria e Inferno.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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