The Mother of Tears (2007)
Directed by Dario Argento
Starring Asia Argento, Udo Kier, Daria Nicolodi, Moran Atias
Dario Argento’s long gestating conclusion to his earlier masterpieces falls well short of what we have come to expect from the Italian splatter maestro, but even an average Argento film is far superior to the dross passing as horror these days.
For the uninitiated, this is the third and final chapter of Argento’s loosely connected ‘Three Mothers’ trilogy.
The Mother of Sighs was the main villainess in Suspiria and the Mother of Darkness created havoc in the second chapter, Inferno.
According to Argento’s invented lore, the ‘Three Mothers’ rule the world from their opulent homes, using their vast knowledge of the occult to create and then feed on the misery and sadness of the human world.
For lovers of classic Italian horror, it will be enough just to see Argento back as director, but this wildly uneven film will test the patience of even his most forgiving fans.
The story revolves around the discovery of an ancient urn that when opened, resurrects the last of the witchlike ‘Mothers’, the Mother of Tears.
Her evil influence quickly spreads across the city of Rome in the form of brutal murders and general pandemonium and it is up to a bewildered art historian (Asia Argento - Dario’s daughter) to put a stop to the witch’s dastardly plan of global chaos and murder.
All the Argento staples are here – the voluptuous cinematography, eerie theme music and dread atmosphere punctuated by sadistic killings and graphic sexual violence – but the story as a whole just doesn’t ring true and feels completely undercooked.
This final chapter proves to be a frustrating film experience, especially for those who enjoyed the baroque inspired gore and general looniness of Suspiria and Inferno.
The Mother of Tears is supposedly the most powerful and cruel of the ‘Three Mothers’, yet we never see her in full menacing glory. Instead, we get a few scenes with some boobalicious chick cackling and strutting around in 80s Goth eye shadow and a potato sack-like garment with ancient writing on it.
When the aforementioned potato sack is forcibly removed, the malevolent witch is completely and utterly powerless.
The wrong-headed final scene and a half-arsed, amazingly lazy final act undermine all the good work done in the early stages of the film, but Argento fans will still have plenty of fun with what the old master serves up here.
It just could have been so much better.