Mommy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		1.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Mommy Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 26, 2019

Note: This film is available as part of Mommy & Mommy's Day.

Patty McCormack will most likely always be in the annals of Academy Award history (or at least trivia) by being one of the youngest nominees in Oscar history, a nomination for Best Supporting Actress which she secured when she was just a bit over eleven years old, for her work as murderous Rhoda Penmark in The Bad Seed. McCormack’s portrayal of the nefarious Rhoda was so disturbing that the film version not only had to change the ending of the original play, but also have a kind of cheeky (pun intended) coda with Rhoda getting pretend spanked during the closing credits. Alas, there’s no one around to spank a grown up McCormack as the titular character in Mommy and its follow up, Mommy’s Day.

McCormack portrays Mrs. Sterling, a "concerned" mother who might be called a "helicopter parent" if the helicopter had a machine gun aiming out of its entry doorway. Mrs. Sterling is frankly more threatening seeming than nurturing, but anyone who crosses her daughter Jessica Ann (Rachel Lemieux), or whom Mrs. Sterling thinks is crossing her daughter (or her), soon ends up dead. There's absolutely no mystery afoot in Mommy, since the film makes it abundantly clear that Mrs. Sterling is on a murderous rampage. Instead, there's a bit of winking fun as the actress playing a former "problem child" gets to strut much of that same stuff as an equally villainous adult. The film has a rather colorful supporting cast, including Mickey Spillane, Jason Miller and Majel Barrett.

Mommy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mommy is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.80:1. This is unfortunately another kind of wonky looking transfer from VCI, one which seems to have been sourced from an element which was on video at some interstitial stage. There are a lot of moments where this clearly resembles an upscale, with stair stepping and other anomalies quite visible. Frequently, kind of odd horizontal strata lines run through the image, almost like old kinescopes (you can make them out in several screenshots accompanying this review). The palette looks reasonably fresh, with an especially good presentation of blues. Two heavily filtered scenes, one in blue and one in red, are fuzzy to the point that very little can be made out.

Mommy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Things are quite a bit better with regard to Mommy's LPCM 2.0 track. Dialogue, occasional effects, and some whimsical music all sound decently full bodied and have no real signs of any age related wear and tear. Fidelity is fine throughout, and I noticed no issues with regard to distortion, dropouts or other damage.

Mommy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray disc offers the following supplements:

• Commentary for both films feature writer and director Max Allan Collins, with director of photography and editor Phillip W. Dingeldein. The Commentaries are accessible under the Setup Menu.

For a list of supplements found on the Bonus DVD included in this set, please see our Mommy & Mommy's Day Blu-ray review.

Mommy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Had Rhoda Penmark grown up and had a daughter of her own, chances are she might have been very much like Mrs. Sterling in Mommy. There's simply not enough context given to the character, though, for anything to have any emotional resonance at all, and since the film doesn't really shy away from who's doing all the murdering, there's really not much of a plot dynamic, other than waiting around for justice to take its course. Video is pretty problematic, but audio is fine, and the standard def supplements on the included DVD appealing, for those who are considering a purchase.