M.O.M. (Mother of Monsters) is the new found footage horror movie by Tucia Lyman. The film stars Melinda Page Hamilton as a single mom desperately trying to get control of her son, Jacob, played by Bailey Edwards. As the film opens, his mother is working to record her son to try to get others to believe his duplicitous nature as a psychopath. After years of living with his strange behaviors, she is positive her son is capable of murder, even if no one else will believe her.
The found footage is designed to keep the viewer guessing. One minute Jacob is a complete monster, tearing apart the house to look for a Playstation. The next he’s covering his mother with a blanket when she’s fallen asleep on the couch. M.O.M. wants you to keep guessing; is his mother over reacting, or are his destructive behaviors the sign of something worse?
In a press release, Tucia Lyman said the film originated from discussions about mental illness and behavioral stigmas:
“I’ve always been intrigued by real-life horror films that use the dysfunctions of society as a vessel to explore the truth. M.O.M. is a work of narrative fiction, but much of the behavior, scenarios, and dialogue were borrowed from the journals and publications of real-life school shooters and their parents. It is a very confronting film, much like the subject matter itself, and I hope it will contribute to the national debate surrounding mental health stigma and gun violence in America.”
As a step-parent, this movie freaked me the heck out. It’s hard not to assume a kid who has named his lizard Adolph and has Nazi memorabilia is otherwise a good kid. The film frames Jacob with aspects of the Macdonald Triad, which traditionally have been used to identify a child with possible psychopathic or sociopathic behaviors. These are bed wetting, animal mutilation, and fire starting. It was extremely difficult to finish this movie, as this kid is a complete nightmare.
M.O.M. comes VOD and disc this March, after premiering March 13, 2020 at the Arena Cinelounge in Los Angeles.
