Mother of Tears (DVD)

Maven of the mad and grand master of gauche gore, Dario Argento had a lot of live up to when he decided to finally complete his triptych of terror which began in 1977 with a landmark horror film he co-wrote and directed, called Suspiria. It was by no means the first big movie in the Italian auteur's career (he broke out in 1970 with the critically acclaimed giallo, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, and delighted the black hearts of horror fans all over the world in 1975 with Deep Red), but Suspiria — a sadistically twisted and beautiful cacophony of sound and German-Expressionism inspired fury — cemented his reputation as one scary dude.

In 1980, the second film in the so-called "Witch Trilogy" followed with Inferno, a ghastly and gorgeous homage to killing curiosity, apocalyptic architecture, and deep-dives into doom and delicious despair. In some fans' minds, Inferno even topped Suspiria, and the pressure was on for the final jewel in the crown of cinematic cruelty.

Argento finally found his inspiration, some 20+ years later, when he collaborated with American screenwriters Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson to write the script for Mother of Tears. For the whole story on the witches and the flicks, click here for Horror.com's overview of the series

I saw Mother of Tears twice in theaters and I cherished it from the first frame to the last, both times… but for completely different reasons than why I love Suspiria and Inferno. It's hard to explain, but while it's tonally little like its predecessors, this movie still fits into the strega-setting with delightfully amusing aplomb.

It is my understanding that the script was not written to be humorous at all, but when the cameras started to roll and the actors, egged on by an overly-enthusiastic Argento, added their over-the-top hysterics, the parable almost became parody: And I loved it! Now, I like a no-smiles, atmospheric, slow-burn scary movies as much as anyone, but I can appreciate (and admittedly adore) the absurd as well. For me, Mother of Tears works on a variety of levels — all of which I explained in my theatrical release review. Read Horror.com's review of Mother of Tears here

The DVD is an Argento completist's dream come true. With all new, and quite in-depth featurettes, we are treated to interviews with the movie's bewitching female stars (Asia Argento, and Moran Atias), the director himself, film historians, and even fans and newbies attending the film's world premiere in Rome.

The 33-minute featurette is quite haphazardly sewn together without much A-to-B in the way of subject matter flow, but the whole trumps the sum of its parts. In footage from the Q&A after the premiere screening, Asia Argento talks candidly about working with her parents (her real-life mom and former Dario muse, Daria Nicolodi, plays a maternal spirit in the movie), what she has learned as a filmmaker from her dad, and discusses the intricate and often exhausting process of making her scenes suspenseful.

In some behind-the-story footage, we see just how "hands-on" the director really is (and always has been… it was his own black-gloved hands in many of his 70s gialli killer's POV shots) as he hacks and stabs a dummy with a meat cleaver, preferring to do the horrid honors himself to make sure it is brutal enough for his bloodthirsty brood. There is also a fantastic overview of one of my favorite death scenes in the movie (the very first one, in fact) featuring another Argento muse, elegant actress Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni.

In an eight minute, English-language interview with Argento, he reveals that he still has some tricks up his sleeve when it comes to his wicked witches, and also talks about how the first two films laid the foundation for Mother of Tears.

Furthermore, the DVD is presented in an unrated state, with even more arterial geysers, deeper cuts, and more dismemberments.  

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