Betsy Palmer – “Friday the 13th” (1980)
Pamela Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) is a verifiable nutbag. Being the mother of a special needs son can be difficult, but not all go on a murderous rampage and spur on their son’s killing spree into ten sequels. Due to Jason’s hydrocephalus (brain fluid-related swelling), Pamela never sent her son to school, bordering on the tad over-protective, and dooming Jason to be a wee bit awkward, in the best circumstances. After thinking Jason had drowned in Camp Crystal Lake, Mrs. Voorhees grieves and mourns as any mother would – hearing voices, killing a few camp counselors, poisoning the lake… Wait, no they wouldn’t. Pamela meets her own demise when a survivor from one of her rampages slices her head off with a machete, setting Jason off. Like mother like son, Jason takes his vengeance out on the local teenagers. Not quite resting in peace, Pamela appears in a few of the sequels – her decapitated head in a freezer in “Friday the 13th Part 2,” her corpse in the lake in “Friday the 13th Part III,” and in hell with Freddy Krueger pretending to be her to egg Jason on to kill the Elm Street kids as part of the horror mash-up “Freddy vs. Jason.” You may have some gripes about your mother, but at least she didn’t kill a bunch of teenagers in your name.
Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People!
Dame Angela Lansbury in the Manchurian Candidate – not just horrible movie mom, but one of the greatest film performances ever. How they failed to award her with an Oscar is beyond me.
I dunno, Pam should be one of the best moms. If I drowned in a lake I'd hope my mother would go on a killing rampage in my honor.
Always a fun category, this one. Just to get started, these are only a few: Mother (directed by Bong Joon-ho); Sister (L'Enfant d'en haut); Bad Boy Bubby; Notorious, with Madame Sebastian doing double-duty as bad mother-in-law; Manchurian Candidate; Pink Flamingos; Mommy Dearest; The House Down the Street. While step-moms weren't explicitly invited, they don't have their own day, do they, dearies? Any of the Snow Whites will do, but most recent of the pack perhaps is Blancanieves (2012), who gets the ball rolling nicely in this category, while Louise Brooks gets the shaft from stepmom in Diary of a Lost Girl (1929).
HOW COULD YOU HAVE MISSED BERGMAN'S AUTUMN SONATA!!? Or the mom in Boogie Nights?
Rebecca De Mornay in Mother's Day, Jennifer Tilly in Seed Of Chucky & Rhea Perlman in Matilda.
Joan Crawford from mommy dearest and the mom and grandmother from flowers in tbe attic
Why is it that on Mother's Day, there's more "Worst Movie Mothers" online compared to Father's Day, where Atticus Finch and Don Corleone are annually toasted? How about a little positivity for women who had to push something the size of a watermelon out an opening the size of a lemon?
Why is it that on Mother's Day, there's more "Worst Movie Mothers" online compared to Father's Day, where Atticus Finch and Don Corleone are annually toasted? How about a little positivity for women who had to push something the size of a watermelon out an opening the size of a lemon?
Angela Lansbury from The Manchurian Candidate