For Mother’s Day, I look at 20 of my favorite kick ass and terrifying matriarchal progenitors — the most beloved and dysfunctional mothers of horror.
The word mother is usually associated with a devoted, nurturing caregiver; a person you can count on to love their children unconditionally. But in maternal horror films, these women can be a person to fear — either because someone is threatening their offspring in some way, they aren’t who you think they are, or they are actually a danger to their own children.
When I started making the list, I was astounded. So many wonderfully creepy mothers! There are way too many maternal horror films to be in just one article. So, I picked my top 20 horror film and TV moms. I hope some of your favs are on here — and possibly (hopefully) some you have not seen before.
As a mom who quite often dresses like a zombie and writes horror reviews, I feel I am qualified to pick some equally bad ass mommies. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: These mommy dearests are not presented in any order of importance. They are all different; some demented, irreverent monsters, and many are just protecting their babies by whatever means they feel is necessary.
20 GREAT MOMS OF HORROR
1. Norma Bates - Psycho (1960)
I feel compelled to start with a classic and one of my favorite films of all time, period. Even though Norma Bates never made an appearance in the 1960 film Psycho while alive, she is still considered one of the most iconic mothers in horror history.
This famous mom is the epitome of crazy! A boy’s best friend is his mother, right? But who are some of the other iconic horror film moms?
2. Grace Stewart - The Others (2001)
Living in a beautiful and isolated mansion, Grace in The Others seems like the perfect mom, even if a bit overprotective. Confined to the house because her children have an allergy to sunlight, she cares for them day and night. But things are never what they seem to be, right?
When it becomes clear what is really going on, it is a moment you may feel compelled to go back and watch the film a second time, just to see what you missed. This is honestly for me, one of the best ghost films ever made.
3. Various (Jessica Lange) - American Horror Story, Seasons 1-4
TV is not always the best place for horror. But AHS has set the bar high for the unique horror stories they tell. In the first four seasons, Jessica Lange plays the titular matriarch. Whether it is mother to a murderer, a mother superior, the supreme leader of a coven or foster parent to a circus full of freaks — she has mothering down to a dysfunctional, selfish, and violent art form.
Binging AHS is a favorite pastime of mine. There are other moms in the series, so don’t limit yourself to just these seasons; watch them all if you’d like!
4. Wendy Torrance - The Shining (1980)
Wendy Torrance has a rough life. Keeping her son Danny safe from all the horrors at the Overlook Hotel is almost impossible. She is one of the few genuinely loving moms on this list, but she is an emotional wreck.
This Stephen King story about a writer going crazy and trying to kill his family as he goes insane from the supernatural forces that live at the hotel, is a classic. Rumor has it, director Stanley Kubrick was horrible to Shelly Duvall during the making of the film, and it shows in her anxious and exhausted looking performance of Wendy.
5. Robin - Cynthia (2018)
Robin (Scout Taylor-Compton) and her husband tried forever to have a baby. After years of heartbreak, their dream finally comes true. But is baby Cynthia a dream or a nightmare? She is definitely one thing: a baby only a mother can love.
What will this mother do to protect her little deformed bundle of joy? Find out in this demented and fun horror comedy.
6. Margaret White - Carrie (1977)
I love the original 1977 film with Piper Laurie best overall. But I should note that Julianne Moore’s turn in the role in the 2013 remake checks off all the boxes, too.
Whichever of the crazy holy roller moms you choose, Margaret White is completely off the charts insane. And the abuse she puts her telekinetic daughter through in the name of religion sends Carrie right over the edge. Bad mommy!
7. Gertrude Baniszewski - An American Crime (2007)
I feel like this is one of those films a lot of people may have missed. While not technically a horror film, what makes it so awful is that it is based on a true story. Gertrude Baniszewski is a desperate and struggling woman who takes in children to help make ends meet.
Knowing it really happened makes the torture she inflicts on just one of her wards disturbing and hard to understand. How can a mother herself do the things she did to an innocent young girl, and how did she get other kids to do it, too?
8. Mother/Francisca - The Eyes of My Mother (2016)
In a wonderfully morbid story, Mother teaches her daughter Francisca a thorough understanding of anatomy. A horrible tragedy destroys the family and Francisca is never the same. The film transpires over several years, and the surgical training Francisca’s mother taught her comes in handy as she mutilates and collects people and body parts.
She even attempts being a mother herself but is forced to steal a baby to do so. Motherhood may not have been a good choice for either mother or daughter.
9. Missy Armitage - Get Out (2017)
When Chris goes home to meet his girlfriend Rose’s family, he is not expecting Rose's mother to sell him to the highest bidder. Missy Armitage is a hypnotherapist and mother with an agenda. At first, Chris thinks they are just acting strange due to Chris and Rose's interracial relationship. But everything about this family is sinister, evil, and just plain wrong.
Missy has trained her daughter to hunt their prey. And then, like any loving mom, she takes it from there.
10. Donna Trenton - Cujo (1983)
Cujo is one of my favorite maternal horror films of all times, this is what a mom should be. A mother’s job is to protect her child at all costs. Dee Wallace is fantastic as Donna Trenton. She goes the extra mile to save her son Tad from a rabid and bloodthirsty St. Bernard named Cujo, who has them trapped inside their car.
Donna really kicks some doggie butt! Go Mom!!
11. Pamela Voohees - Friday the 13th (1980)
The original slasher mom who started it all. 40 years later, Pamela Voorhees is still the ultimate icon of horror moms — a woman who stops at nothing to get justice for her baby boy.
Like any good mommy, Mrs. Voorhees teaches her boy Jason everything he needs to know to be a successful serial killer. Stalking, stabbing and maiming. Like mother, like son!
12. Amelia Vanek - The Babadook (2014)
Amelia is a frustrated mom, still mourning the death of her husband, who died getting her to the hospital to give birth to her son. The creature in The Babadook uses her emotional loss and depression against her and makes her a dysfunctional mess. Gradually she goes mad and becomes the monster that is terrorizing her son.
Such a lovely little bed-time book. “Dook, dook, dook!”
13. Mommy Robeson - The People Under the Stairs (1991)
As one of the craziest horror moms of all time, Mommy Robeson has some surprises in store for the disgruntled tenants she and Daddy are evicting, who decide to break into their house to steal a coin collection. The insane brother and sister duo have their cannibalistic “children” living in the walls, the basement and under the stairs.
Once trapped and now hunted, the would-be burglars find out more than they wanted to about this creepy couple.
14. Corrine and Olivia - Flowers in the Attic (1987)
In Flowers in the Attic we get two evil moms. Corrine and her mother Olivia both want a huge family inheritance, and they will not let some annoying and bratty offspring get in the way. Incest, starvation, abuse, and murder are all on the table.
Money definitely brings out the worst in these moms.
15. Debbie Loomis - Scream 2 (1997)
Masquerading as reporter Debbie Salt throughout the film, vengeful mother Debbie Loomis – mom of the murderous Billy in the original Scream film, is pissed off and out for blood.
One of my favorite performances in a Scream film, she is a perfect adversary for Sidney Prescott!
16. Kendall Ryan - Mom and Dad (2017)
When a strange disorder causes parents to want to end their children’s lives, suburban mom Kendall Ryan goes from caring mom to deranged killer. Along with her husband Brent, they do everything they can to try to take out their children.
With Brent’s parents trying to kill him and their children fighting back, Mom and Dad takes us on a crazy, violent thrill ride!
17. Ruth - Prevenge (2016)
How much more mother of the year can you be, if you start taking orders from your baby, before it is born? In Prevenge, Ruth goes on a killing spree because her baby whispers to her. Ruth’s partner is dead, and her baby needs her.
What is a mommy to do?
18. Mutter - Goodnight Mommy (2014)
In Goodnight Mommy, “Mutter” returns from a medical procedure with her face covered in bandages. Her twin sons grow increasingly suspicious that this is not their real mother under the bandages. What extremes will they go to find out the truth? Is she lying to them, or are the twins insane?
In this case, the kids are out to get their mother, not the other way around.
19. Dee Dee Blancharde - The Act (2019)
This is another crazy mother story, based on a real woman. In this TV series, Dee Dee Blancharde is an overprotective mom who has devoted her whole life taking care of her sick little girl. As her daughter Gypsy gets older, it becomes more and more apparent she is not sick and that mom has lied to her.
Turns out, Dee Dee has Munchausen by proxy and has kept her daughter ill to collect donations, get attention and go on fun trips. This toxic relationship has got to end at some point, and it does, in the worst way possible.
20. Annie Graham - Hereditary (2018)
Toni Collette as the complex Annie Graham was sublime. A family with many tragedies and a history of mental illness to deal with, the Grahams just needed to regroup and love each other. That is a great thought, but one that will never happen. Damaged, cursed and abused by her own mother before she died, we see Annie unravel little by little as her grief and insanity take over.
The whole household is traumatized, and sinister secrets are revealed. It becomes hard to tell at first if Annie is a monster or a victim, but by the end we truly know who she is: Worst mom ever.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There were so many moms that did not make the final list, but I feel they all deserve to be remembered. These are horror moms to be cherished, too!
- Ingrid Magnussen – White Oleander
- Vera Cosgrove – Dead Alive
- Erica Sayers – Black Swan
- Beverly Sutphin – Serial Mom
- Mother – mother!
- Hattie – Sybil
- Joyce Byers -Stranger Things
- She – Antichrist
- Mama Firefly – House of a Thousand Corpses
- Natalie Koffin- Mother’s Day
- Nola Carveth – The Brood
- Rosemary – Rosemary’s Baby
- Mama – Mama
And oh yeah, have you called your mother today?
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