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Asia Argento, Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, Udo Kier, Adam James, Philippe Leroy ... see more see more... , Moran Atias , Cristian Solimeno , Daria Nicolodi , Valeria Cavalli , Massimo Sarchielli

After beginning the witchy tale of the malevolent "Three Mothers" at a secretive ballet academy in Freiburg, Germany (Suspiria), and later tracking the supernatural goings-on to a doomed tenement buil... read more read more...ding in New York City (Inferno), Italian horror icon Dario Argento draws his long-running trilogy to a close with this third and final installment, set in the Italian capital. Co-scripted by Toolbox Murders screenwriters Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson, Mother of Tears stars Asia Argento as an American art student who unknowingly unleashes a demonic plague of witches on Rome by breaking the seal of an ancient urn. Udo Kier, Adam James, Philippe Leroy, and Daria Nicolodi also appear in the eagerly anticipated tale of Mater Lachrymarum -- the third and most powerful witch in the terrifying trilogy. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

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R, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Dario Argento

Release Date: September 6, 2007

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DVD Release Date: September 23, 2008

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Flixster Reviews (662)

  • WrenchLT
    January 9, 2011
    WrenchLT
    A disappointing and unnecessarily sleazy conclusion to Argento's "Three Mothers" trilogy. I don't know quite what Dario was thinking with this one. Asia Argento just cannot act convincingly at all, there's little care taken into making this as stylish and unique as Suspiria or In... read moreferno. As a stand alone tits 'n' gore flick it's fine as it delivers in heaps.
  • ceWEBrity
    September 9, 2010
    ceWEBrity
    George Romero seems to catch a ton of shit for having "lost it" over the course of three films. Dario Argento has been fucking up around once every two years since, I dunno, 1990? And this, this is just unconscionable. For this to be in the same trilogy as Suspiria (which I reall... read morey disliked upon first viewing but have since come to appreciate), or even from the same director, just puts a lurching sort of nausea in me. It looks like shit, sounds like shit, and makes not an ounce of sense. The acting is horrendous; Asia Argento, who is reliable in some parts but clearly limited, is disappointingly awful in trying to project anything except anger or passion. Sadness, quietude and revulsion are completely out of her grasp, and though she at least convinces in projecting fear, the movie itself has no such luck. It might be the stunningly amateurish staging and blocking putting a damper on her attempts, but she just doesn't work at all. To be fair, if you were compiling a list of Mother of Tears' many failures, she wouldn't be too high up. Things that are more immediately offensive than her: the groan-worthy ending, the cheap and utterly bland setting and aesthetic, and its complete inability to generate any sort of tension or suspense or atmosphere or honestly ANYTHING that would make this worth watching. Even divorced from its horror roots, this doesn't work as any sort of film. As a gory adventure, it's about as exciting as taking a long, feverish Italian nap. Honestly, the gore is just about all Argento gets right, almost as a reconciliation for the rest of his limitations. It just isn't enough to crawl through this disaster, though. It usually is for most of his movies, but his typically excellent set pieces are diminished here, and the viscera brought forth in unsurprising and uninteresting ways.

    An utter disaster from start to finish, this is more depressing than anything else. There's absolutely no reason to watch this aside from woebegone fealty to Argento himself.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    June 10, 2010
    TheDudeLebowski65
    The third part of Dario Argento's three mothers trilogy is really a so-so film of horror. With Mother Of Tears, he seemed to just be bored with the script, and not give this project the attention it deserved. Inferno was decent enough, but with Mother Of Tears, I felt that Dario ... read moreArgento could have done a lot better than this. The film almost relies more on gore and violence than atmosphere and tension and thats what made Dario Argento's works so thrilling was his use of tension, closeup shots, violence, a dark creepy atmosphere like in masterworks such as Deep Red, Suspiria and Tenebre. With Mother Of Tears however, only the violence remains, hints of atmosphere are indeed present but Argento's lack of previous style that made his earliest works soar, make this one a dud. What exists now only is a shadow of what was great. Argento seemed really bored with the 3 mothers saga at this point and it shows on screen. His signature style, like I've mentioned, is almost absent. It's a real shame, but I guess even the greatest of all Horror directors make bad films.
  • 3niR
    May 19, 2010
    3niR
    Cheap --- that's all I can say.
  • bbcfloridabound
    March 22, 2010
    bbcfloridabound
    A Outstanding Dario Argento Film, The final in the Trilogy of the Three Mothers Series. This is an awesome horror film. Asia his daughter is not on beautiful but very talented. The Mother of Tears is the third and final member of the unholy trinity of witches which have plagued m... read moreankind for over a thousand years. a centuries-old casket is accidentally unearthed, it contains talismans which will allow Mater Lachrymarum to regain her former power and begin the downfall of Rome, and eventually the world, by causing an ever-increasing number of people to commit extreme acts of violence and perversion as her evil influence spreads. This is worth 3 1/2 stars no more no less. I would add it to any collection.
  • FilmFanatik
    December 21, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    What a disturbing pile of ****. I was so disappointed.
  • ythelastman89
    November 26, 2009
    ythelastman89
    It's not anywhere near the briliance of Suspiria, but it's on about the same level as Inferno. The plot is a little bit corny and way too fantasy oriented. It does have some rather gory scenes though. I applaud Dario Argento for not using CGI, it's just way better to see the real... read more thing. I did and always do love Asia Argento, she alone is worth this movie.
  • harrycaul
    November 26, 2009
    harrycaul
    Although Suspiria and Inferno were essentially good-versus-evil fairy-tales, Dario Argento was wise enough back then to keep religion out of them. All that portentous mummery invariably just slows things down, turning a potential white-knuckle rollercoaster ride int... read moreo a dreary ghost-train through Sunday-school.

    The opening of La Terza Madre feels more like a sequel to (Argento protégé) Michele Soavi's The Church than the eagerly anticipated final chapter of the Three Mothers trilogy. Despite being more conventionally plotted than either of its predecessors, what follows sadly amounts to nothing more than a badly connected series of set-pieces, a tediously repetitive cycle in which one esoteric scholar after another is gruesomely dispatched after first being pumped for information by Asia Argento. As for the death scenes, apart from the first - in which the victim is disembowelled then strangled with her own intestines(!) - they are bloody but uninspired: a lethargic Argento giving the people what he thinks they want. His portrayal of Rome succumbing to anarchy and violence as evil spreads across the land is woefully inept.

    The look of the film is disappointingly realistic after the heavy stylisation of both Suspiria and Inferno, so it is unsurprising that it fails to recapture their dreamy, fairy-tale ambience. La Terza Madre was touted as a return to Argento's classic era of film-making, which was an optimistic way of saying it's a hotchpotch of bits and pieces cribbed from his best movies: Suspiria, Inferno, Deep Red, Phenomena, Opera. The casting of his onetime muse was inevitable, but Daria Nicolodi's geriatric fairy godmother would still be unintentionally hilarious if the CGI effects used to create her weren't crap. I could go on and on... It breaks my heart to say so but this film is awful, at least as bad as Argento's dismal Phantom of the Opera. I'd like to think he still has another great movie in him but, surely, this should have been it :(
  • matertenebraum
    June 2, 2009
    matertenebraum
    Being such a big fan of Argento, I went into this film with a mixture of massive anticipation and worry that it might not live up to my expectations. With the exception of Sleepless, Argento hasn't made a really great film since Opera in 1987, and while I wouldn't quite call the ... read morefinal instalment of the 'Three Mothers' series a return to form, it's certainly a lot better than the majority of his modern movies. The thing that really made the first two films in this series standout was the colourful sets and fairytale atmosphere, and unfortunately this film features neither. I have no idea if Argento decided to discard these things in favour of a modern setting or if it was the producers who were worried that a seventies style film wouldn't sell, but either way; it doesn't feature here and that's the thing I liked least about this film. The film is slightly more story-heavy than the two previous entries and this time we have more of a clearly defined point. The story is set in Rome and our central character is Sarah Mandy. The film kicks off with the discovery of an ancient urn, and from there strange things start happening. Rape, assault and arson increases and strange people start to gather in Rome. These events are due to the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the most beautiful of the three witches at the heart of this series. It soon becomes apparent that the only person who can stop the evil from enveloping the world is Sarah Mandy, who has a few supernatural powers of her own...

    As mentioned, it's the change in style that is the biggest problem with this film for me and the thing that really means it doesn't quite live up to the previous two instalments, but what the film lacks in atmosphere, Argento makes up for in gore (and then some) and it's clear that the great director has lost none of his eye for a brutal and stylish death scene. This film is far gorier than the sum of the gore scenes in both of the previous films, and it's great to see a modern film that doesn't hold back. The gore scenes range from quick to stylised and drawn out but all are very gory - with one notable exception which also happens to be the most shocking sequence in the film! Argento has donned the use of CGI and it's a bit of a shame because it looks rather cheap - but that's only a problem really in one scene. Argento films are not known for fluent plots and great acting, and there's a very good reason for that. This film has more than just a few holes and the acting is not anything to write home about either. As is the case with a lot of his modern films, Argento has cast his daughter, Asia Argento in the lead role. She's beautiful and not a bad actress - but Argento always makes her roles too 'clean', and it doesn't suit her considering the Hellraiser she is in real life! I also didn't like the supernatural subplot with her character; it's just sort of thrown in there and doesn't work very well. Argento makes more of an attempt to establish his mythology with this film than in the previous two and he even makes nods to the first two, though I think more could be made of this aspect of the series. The ending is abrupt but nicely done if you ask me. Overall, I did like The Third Mother a lot - it's only disappointing when compared to the other two films. In its own right; this is a great gory Italian horror flick and definitely comes recommended.
  • Stinger839
    March 7, 2009
    Stinger839
    NOTE: please read my Suspiria review if what I say here inflames you. On second screening, I GOT the genius of Suspiria, but out of respect to my former self (and other viewers) who was able to view the film as "pretentious" and to also make my point about what modern horror shou... read moreld be, I leave those defaming comments on Suspiria intact.

    The murder ataboutaround 10minutes in is AMAZING. Goretastic like one craves and with a great use of guts. And they just keep getting gorier and more creative. From Udo Kier's priest character to the medium's girlfriend, this is full of crazy kills.

    And the antagonists - the demonic forces, followers, and possessed people are just damn scary with a cool edge. From the ancient language speaking ravers to a fully fleshed pointy eared demon, the design is well done and the result is some very unique characters. The monkey is probably the coolest though.

    The acting is over the top melodramatic to say the least, but that didn't matter much to me when the version I'm watching has French audio and English subtitles. People complain that the story moves around too much, thus lack of atmosphere (am I the only one that equates "atmosphere" to a more static setting and slower pace with fewer plot details), but I think that a fast film overloaded with details fits this horror subgenre of end of the world sorcery battle much better. I'm a sucker for Catholic mythology, and unless you're going to do it perfectly as in The Exorcist, the "atmospheric" approach should be avoided.

    This is an action thriller horror movie, and not an atmospheric psychological-subjective horror like Susperia. I haven't seen Inferno yet, and I didn't really see what was so damn great about Suspiria on my first two views, so now I'm going to go back and see that again and Inferno the first time because I really like the story. As a horror movie, this has no "atmosphere" because it has a fast pace instead. But fuck atmosphere; that's not what modern horror needs. This is what modern horror needs - absurd kills and insane amounts of violence and a heavily loaded plot. Not some minimalistic over-lit underwritten character piece with not nearly enough blood like Suspiria. This movie piles it on, and I like it like that. Suspiria is slow and overimportant, read too pretentious for its own good; this is fast and rude, read made for the blood-addicted ADD generation. I prefer the latter style for this millennium and leave the former style to actual masters of it like David Lynch.

    My only complaint is that the ending isn't so much a showdown as it is a letdown. I expected a full on witch fight or at least a more hyped scene, and instead the main character just gets lucky without having to struggle for it.

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Critic Reviews

J. R. Jones
December 17, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Argento is admired for his voluptuous use of color and his operatic bloodletting; this is lovely to look at, if you can stand to. Full Review

Michael Phillips
October 18, 2008
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

Mother of Tears may not stand tall in Argento's body of viscera-laden work, but this final chapter of a loosely defined trilogy is refreshingly old school in its trashiness. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
October 18, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Aside from being vile and repellent, it's mainly dull -- old-fashioned in its shock tactics and culminating in a ho-hum climax. Full Review

Colin Covert
June 19, 2008
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The visuals are vibrant and fans of Argento's bravura bloodletting will thrill to his imaginative use of pikes, entrails and his daughter, who performs a shower scene for Dear Old Dad. Full Review

Owen Gleiberman
June 6, 2008
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

In The Mother of Tears, the last installment of the 'witch trilogy' that began, three decades ago, with Suspiria, an excavated urn unleashes a torrent of homicidal madness in Rome. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
June 6, 2008
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

The gore is simply midnight-movie disgusting. And the ending is rushed and flat -- as if it had been tacked on by another hand. Full Review

V.A. Musetto
June 6, 2008
V.A. Musetto, New York Post

The film lacks the visual class of previous Argento efforts and relies more on shocks than suspense. Full Review

Joe Neumaier
June 6, 2008
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

Much of this spooky-spirits-in-Rome chiller is by the numbers. Full Review

Kevin Thomas
June 6, 2008
Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Although The Mother of Tears teeters on the preposterous and awkward, it is diverting and reveals that the filmmaker's signature bravura flourishes and use of sinister settings are still intact. Full Review

Wesley Morris
June 6, 2008
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

Mother of Tears transcends camp without forsaking it. Argento pitches the proceedings toward the ridiculous (his pacing is as perfect as some of the witches' breasts are fake) but only in the name of ... Full Review

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