With Mother’s Day coming up, there’s no better way to celebrate the relationship you have with your mom than to share some horrific maternal moments on the small screen. From overbearing, religious zealots to stepmoms who are pushed past the brink of insanity, here are 10 horror movies to watch with Mom this Mother’s Day (or any day).
The following entries do contain some spoilers, so be warned!
1. Hereditary (2018)
Kicking things off with a healthy dose of Ari Aster-directed trauma horror, Hereditary follows the Graham family’s journey through the grief of losing the matriarch of the family. As Annie, the family’s new matriarch, struggles with the loss of her mother and the continued losses thereafter, an evil presence starts to worm itself into Annie’s life.
If you’re thinking Hereditary may be a little on the heavier side, you would be correct. Not only does it dive deeply into the themes of familial loss, grief, and motherhood, but it also boasts a couple of the most horrific, jaw-dropping scenes in the entire horror genre, so be warned.
But with the heaviness, you do get absolutely stunning performances from both Toni Collette and Alex Wolff, who are able to expertly capture those feelings of grief, and realistically show how denial and depression can completely change who you are in an instant.
2. Friday the 13th (1980)
Lightening the mood slightly, we’ve got one of the most essential ‘80s slashers of all time, the original Friday the 13th. The movie takes place at Camp Crystal Lake, where camp counselors start getting picked off one by one by a mysterious murderer.
While the movie (and the rest of the franchise) alludes to the iconic hockey mask-wearing Jason Voorhees being the killer, spoiler alert, in the first film, the killer is actually Jason’s mother, Pamela Voorhees. She’s been secretively roaming around the camp and butchering teens as revenge for them neglecting to watch her son as he drowned.
If you’re a horror fan, there’s almost no chance you haven’t seen Friday the 13th, but maybe your mom isn’t one, and this could be a great, cheesy slasher to bring her into the genre.
3. Carrie (1976)
A classic Stephen King story directed by Brian De Palma, Carrie follows a bullied teenage girl named Carrie White, who lives with her incredibly religious and overbearing mother. After being belittled by almost every single person she interacts with, Carrie discovers she has telekinetic powers, and with those powers comes a taste for revenge.
Carrie has some truly artistic scenes and a unique film style that’s only really seen in De Palma’s movies. It’s one of the better Stephen King adaptations, boasts an amazing, grating, and maddening performance from Piper Laurie as Margaret White, and has one of the most memorable, wild, blood-soaked finales in all of horror.
4. Psycho (1960)
Another classic, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, is one of the most influential horror movies of all time — and one of the best horror movies to watch with Mom. The film essentially created the slasher genre, and its dissonant and recognizable score from Bernard Hermann amplifies its intensity tenfold.
Psycho follows Norman Bates, a roadside motel owner who regularly spies on his guests and lives in an overlooking house with his mother, Norma. Their mother-son relationship is complicated, to say the least, and when Norma starts murdering the guests in a jealous rage, Norman must clean up after her… or so we think.
Psycho is one of those films that you can never get tired of, as the acting, direction, camera work, and music are all top-notch. It remains one of the most iconic films ever, and its ideas are still used in horror more than 60 years later.
5. Barbarian (2022)
Zach Cregger’s debut horror film is a brilliant mix of thrilling, serious horror, and flat-out craziness. The film follows Tess, a young woman who accidentally books an Airbnb at the same time as another man, and the two end up staying in the house together.
After getting stuck in the basement (major spoilers ahead!), Tess finds a hidden entry to a disturbing camera room and a tunnel system that runs beneath the neighborhood. Living within the shadows is The Mother, a monstrous victim of decades of forced inbreeding, who captures her victims, treats them like her babies, and kills those not willing to accept their child-like role.
Related: ‘Barbarian’ Review: A Near-Perfect Blend of Classic and Elevated Horror
Barbarian offers some truly chilling moments but also some extremely silly, laugh-out-loud ’80s-style cheese to bring in some levity, and was one of the best horror movies of 2022.
6. The Babadook (2014)
Diving back into the trauma horror side of things, Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook follows a mother named Amelia, who, after dealing with an enormous tragedy, struggles with raising her socially underdeveloped son alone.
While the cyclical grief and building frustration grow within the household, an evil presence in the form of a creepy storybook character known as The Babadook starts to feed off the negative energy and tries to convince Amelia to do the unthinkable.
The Babadook pushes the mental boundaries of mother-and-son love, frustration, forgiveness, and progress, and the ending offers a resolution that will have you and your mom hugging one another.
7. The Others (2001)
The Others is a supernatural mystery movie that stars Nicole Kidman as Grace, a mother living alone with her two children, who both happen to be photosensitive and can’t be in the sunlight. While struggling to adapt to a single-parent household, the trio begins to experience supernatural interactions and believes their massive house to be haunted.
The Others has a classic, haunting, macabre feel to it and has one of the greatest story reveals among the supernatural sub-genre of horror. Kidman gives one of her career-best performances, and the bond she has with her children is unmatched. Alejandro Amenábar’s screenplay is simply ghost storytelling at its best.
8. The Lodge (2019)
The Lodge is an underrated psychological horror film that follows Grace, the soon-to-be stepmom of Aiden and Mia. The trio travel to a remote, snow-covered lodge to spend some time together before the children’s father, Richard, joins them.
The isolation starts to get to Grace, and haunted memories from her past start to come forth as strange occurrences begin, and the children, and Grace herself, start to question her sanity.
The Lodge is a bothersome and lingering movie, but great performances from Riley Keough (Mad Max: Fury Road), Jaeden Martell (IT), and a surprising showing from Alicia Silverstone make it well worth the watch when searching for horror movies to watch with Mom. The movie is a great reminder not to test people’s patience and boundaries, especially the mama.
9. Goodnight Mommy (2014)
A horrific, wincing slow-burn horror, Goodnight Mommy is an Austrian film about twin brothers, Lukas and Elias, who question whether their mother is who she says she is after she gets reconstructive facial surgery. The two are mischievous and hellbent on revealing the creature posing as their mother and will do anything to lure out the truth.
Related: ‘Evil Dead Rise’ Review: A Chaotic, Blood-Soaked Horror Spectacle
This is another one with a lingering and disturbing ending, and while the story itself is up for interpretation, this might not be the best one to watch if you’re feeling sad. Goodnight Mommy was remade into an American version in 2022, starring Naomi Watts, though it wasn’t received as well as the original.
10. Evil Dead Rise (2023)
The most recent movie released on our list of horror movies to watch with Mom, Evil Dead Rise, takes the beloved horror franchise into a high-rise apartment and follows Beth, a pregnant woman who joins her sister Ellie, a single mother who lives with her three kids.
When one of the children accidentally unleashes evil from The Book of the Dead, Ellie is possessed and will stop at nothing to shed the blood of her children, whom Beth must protect.
The movie combines some arthouse feel with the splattery, gore-fueled cheese of the 1980s and offers a fast-paced, fun, and horrific ride in one of the best horror films of 2023. What better way to celebrate Mother’s Day than with a movie about a mom trying to murder her children in the most brutal ways possible?
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