ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Micitype Pretty Good

Humbersi The first must-see film of the year.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Scott LeBrun Ed Chilton (Steve Buscemi) is a hardware store owner / operator still mourning the death of his mother Mabel (Miriam Margolyes) one year later. Therefore he is easy prey for a smarmy, super slick salesman, A.J. Pattle (John Glover), who's hawking the reanimation of the deceased. Ed soon agrees, and after some setbacks and price haggling, Mabel is brought by Pattle to Eds' doorstep. Naturally, as Ed and his uncle Benny (Ned Beatty) quickly realize, she's not the woman she used to be. For one thing, her new diet should come as a shock to no-one."Ed and His Dead Mother" is a pretty predictable black comedy, with no real inspired moments or fireworks. That said, it's still easy enough to take, and enjoy, but that itself may pose a problem for some viewers: it's NOT all that dark, or insane. One might think of it as a much milder version of Peter Jacksons' "Braindead", minus the over the top gore. What makes it as entertaining as it is is this excellent cast of familiar faces. Buscemi is endearing in the lead, the often priceless Glover is a hoot as usual, Beatty is quite funny (his character is a shameless, horny voyeur), and the under rated Margolyes has fun as the re-animated mother. The supporting cast can boast a couple of other recognizable people: Eric Christmas as a defense attorney, Gary Farmer as hardware store employee "Big Lar", Jon Gries as an ex- convict, and Rance Howard (very funny himself) as a crazed reverend. Sam Jenkins (a.k.a. Mrs. Kevin Sorbo) offers up lots of sex appeal as a new neighbor. Dawn Hudson, who has a bit as a telemarketer, became Chief Executive Officer of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences years later.The movie is decently directed by Jonathan Wacks, who'd produced the cult classic "Repo Man" about a decade previous, and whose other directorial credits include "Powwow Highway" and "Mystery Date". It's also noteworthy for its stylistic choice of black & white wrap around segments, and Mason Darings' fine score."Ed and His Dead Mother" isn't anything great, but it does offer some fun for a well paced 91 minutes.Six out of 10.

hnt_dnl I recall seeing ED AND HIS DEAD MOTHER (1993) on cable several times back in the mid-90s. For some reason, I really latched onto this movie and part of it has always stayed with me. I couldn't believe how absurd and outrageous the humor was in this when I first saw it. It literally plays death as a kind of sick joke.The always-reliable Steve Buscemi has an early, rare starring role as one of the titular characters Ed. Buscemi's style of humor works to great effect in this movie, but unlike in many of his later supporting roles in films, Buscemi's Ed is really a purely good guy with no real shades of gray. He lives a simple life, running the family hardware store, lives like a monk with his oddball uncle (hilariously played by Ned Beatty).The absurd plot of the story is that Ed's mother has recently died and a salesmen offers to revive Mom (played with dark, scary, glee by British actress Miriam Margoyles) for a small price. I remember being absolutely terrified of Ed's Mom when I first saw this movie! She was literally the walking dead, a kind of human zombie who effortlessly and nonchalantly slept in the fridge, chased down dogs with lawnmowers, and violently stabbed people! The way Buscemi and Beatty reacted to her shenanigans was spot on hilarious! Another HUGE bonus in this movie is the presence of the incredibly hot Sam Jenkins, who plays a new neighbor lady that falls for Ed while she's investigating the goings-on at his house. Jenkins was an all-natural brunette beauty in a time before all this crazy plastic surgery that actresses go through! Her incredible body is featured without fail several times in the movie, but it never comes across as sleazy or cheap, just part of the uninhibited nature of this film! The movie has an unapologetic morbid tone throughout and the moments are laugh-out loud funny. Dark comedies nowadays tend to try for oddball to the point of being disgusting or too self-conscious. But this is definitely not true of Ed and His Dead Mother!

hughes4215 This dark humor film is not for everyone, but if you have a bit of a twisted intellect this is a very funny film. Not many people seem to know about this movie, which is a shame because I think it is very funny. Steve Buscemi is his usual stellar self. Ned Beatty is fantastic. Rance Howard is a riot as the minister. All around the acting seems to be first rate and I was pleasantly surprised to see how many name actors were involved in this effort. Well, some may not be "name" actors but you will recognize them from the many films and television shows they have done since this film. The production values also seem surprisingly high for this low budget film. I would heartily advise everyone to check this one out. I don't think you will be disappointed - that is again if dark humor is your bag.

osfania If you don't understand or love this movie, maybe you should ask your relatives to reanimate you - you could be dead! And didn't you love the job that Gary Farmer did as the harware store clerk??? He continues to be the best actor in almost every film he is in. Wonder what "Fargo" would have been like if he were Buscemi's accomplice?