Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.
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With “M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters)” seeking to flesh out the fear of one parent, we’re reminded how difficult it might be to stop a catastrophe.
| Director(s) | Tucia Lyman |
| Screenplay By | Tucia Lyman |
| Date Released (VoD) | 3/13/2020 |
| Genre(s) | Drama, Horror, Thriller, Young Adult |
| Duration | 1 Hour, 38 Minutes |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Noted Cast | |
| Jacob | Bailey Edwards |
| Abby | Melinda Page Hamilton |
This content contains pertinent spoilers.
Summary & Review
Plot
For over a decade, Abby (Melinda Page Hamilton) has been filming her son, Jacob (Bailey Edwards), taking note of his eccentricities and worrisome behavior. Which, as he enters his 16th year, are less things to raise an eyebrow at, maybe send him to a counselor for, and seem like they require raising the alarm before she becomes yet another mother of a monster.
Cast & Characters
Jacob (Bailey Edwards)
A 16-year-old young man who, when he was young, would draw disturbing pictures, hurt animals, and so his mother, Abby, would record him. Hoping that, in documenting her son, she’d get to understand, and maybe warn, other mothers of signs they should be aware of.
Abby (Melinda Page Hamilton)
A 42-year-old woman, as of the time of the film, who is a single mom trying to raise Jacob. A young man with tendencies which alarm Abby, but, despite what she tries, it is hard to say she can stop what she believes is inevitable.
Highlights
The Fear It Instills
Films like this, “And Then I Go” and so many others are what likely will make you scared to have children. But rather than focus on the kid who was bullied or the shooter, this time around it focuses on the mother. Also, unlike another shooter film, “Rudderless,” it is about before a shooting happens. And as “M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters” seeks to differentiate itself from others, it becomes more and more terrifying.
First and foremost, there is the issue of, if you see behaviors that are known to be associated with shooters and killers, what do you do? What happens if therapy doesn’t change things? How about if you sound the alarm and that doesn’t work? Also, how do you handle when there are good days, and you think it is over, and then they have a violent outburst?
The range of emotions we watch Hamilton go through with Edwards really leaves you to question, in terms of prevention, what can truly be done to keep the next massacre from happening?
On The Fence
At Times You May Feel It Is Over The Top (Specifically Jacob)
As you come to the end of the movie, things begin to ramp up significantly, and the decision made may leave you scratching your head. If only due to it leaning towards shock value vs. keeping things rooted in such a way that it can tap on what some could submit are irrational fears.
Overall
Would Watch Again? – One and Done
Rating: Positive (Worth Seeing)
Omitting the ending, which goes a bit off rails, what “M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters)” does is give you an idea of the challenges which many mothers may face in times where school shootings have almost become a norm. Not in terms of what they fear may happen to their child, but what their child may do. And with it focusing on nearly a decade of time between Jacob being 6 and later 16, it shows you the signs, the good moments, and challenges when does your loyalty to your child conflict with your responsibility to society.
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