Think the third Indiana Jones sequel was a long time coming? That’s nothing; it’s taken Italian horror maestro Dario Argento 28 years to finish up the supernatural Three Mothers trilogy begun with “Suspiria” and “Inferno.”
Was “Mother of Tears” worth the wait?
Fans of elegantly staged suspense and extreme gruesomeness will certainly welcome the original godfather of torture-porn’s return. Lovers of incredibly bad acting will also have a field day.
Argento’s weirdling daughter Asia stars as the constantly chased prey of Mater Lacrimarum (Moran Atias), an incredibly powerful witch who’s just been resurrected by the unearthing of an evil urn.
Though we don’t glimpse this bad girl (nude, of course) until the film’s bloody, orgiastic climax, her presence drives most of Rome violently cuckoo. Women toss their babies off bridges, lesbian make-out sessions end in disembowelment and covens of what look like rejects from a fierce night on “America’s Next Top Model” fly into town and hog all the cabs.
It appears that the dialogue was recorded in English — American horror hacks Jace Anderson and Adam Gierasch share screenplay credit with the director — so you can’t blame its prosaic, awkward nature on rotten dubbing.
There’s some evidence that Argento may be consciously joking around with at least some of this nonsense, and nobody eroticizes gore quite as artistically as he can. But it’s also hard to find lines and performances like “Mother of Tears” outside of anything that doesn’t come with a XXX rating.
“Mother of Tears”
Not rated, but contains gory violence, sex, nudity, foul language, children in peril, 1 hour, 40 minutes. Directed by Dario Argento; starring Asia Argento. Opens today at Starz FilmCenter
