Serial Mom

Genre: Black Comedy / Exploitation / John Waters (this should almost be a genre)

Premise: Beverly Sutphin, a Baltimore housewife with a 1950's sense of fashion and housekeeping, is a deranged, serial killer. Before being inevitably caught and put on trial, she kills the teacher who says her son isn't doing well in school, and the boy who stands up her daughter.

About: In the mid 90's, John Waters wrote the film originally for Julie Andrews to play Serial Mom. His last film had been Cry-Baby. It's hard to say much more about the creation of the film. It comes from the weird, John Waters place called Baltimore and isn't particularly connected at all to Hollywood. Wasn't adopted, adapted, or very much inspired.

Writer: John Waters

This is hands down the best John Waters script I've ever read. Ever. He has his voice down pat. (I think he lost his voice around Polyester briefly) His love for over the topness can be seen. (Unlike Hairspray) And he actually uses a legit structure. (Unlike most of his films) Wow!

Although, there aren't many things I'd applaud the film for, even if it is Waters' best work. Essentially it isn't funny. The killing scenes seem to come out of the blue. And it has that John Waters feel of a way too normal, boring beginning before the insanity kicks in. And, let's face it. The characters besides Serial Mom are particularly shallow and underdeveloped. It's like reading the actions of cardboard cutouts. (They aren't as nearly deranged as Waters old characters were either. About the freakiest character is a movie shop clerk who gets turned on by fake blood in films....I mean is that scary?)

A beautifully structured piece, this is not. The mom kills a few people. She gets caught. She has a trial. She's released. It's okay, though, and doesn't veer off into pointless directions like Pink Flamingos. The thing that's weird about this plot is Waters doesn't really give the mom a motive or much of a conscious decision to kill. Rather, she sometimes just goes off the deep end and hacks up a few people. She's like the Pavlov's dog of Serial Killers, which is kind of sad. And as a result, she never becomes that funny or that vicious. So from a humor stand point I think Waters failed (I always laugh more at the man than his movies anyway).

The thing is, the media in Serial Mom, is a very stereotypical portrayal. The media latches onto the ideas of killers, and makes murdering appear cool. (This theme is also touched upon in Natural Born Killers which came out within a few years of Serial Mom). But Waters doesn't seem particularly concerned with using this view of the media to represent or say anything. Other than, we're all inevitably deranged and we all want to be serial killers. (And that sounds like a message he may have been trying to carry across for the last few decades.)

I don't love John Waters' films. They're not something I'll read over and over again. They're very light on thrills for me. But, I do try to see/read every one of his films at least once, because I think John Waters is a fascinating man and I think his films do
unique exploitative things you don't normally see in Hollywood.

Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)

Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)

Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)

[X] - Hot Rod (Good)

Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)

Isla Prospects: As it is, Isla is probably a decade to young to play the Serial Mom character, but I think she could do this role justice. She has the dainty, over the top thing down pat.

What I Learned: Passive characters suck. I mean, there's Travis Bickle and the French underground stuff like Pickpocket, but essentially in most films it's really hard to watch a character who is ultimately passive. Rather than have Serial Mom lead up to, or be influenced to kill, it's like some mad dog takes her over and before we know it she's butchering a whole group of people. As a result, Serial Mom becomes weirdly passive, and we have a hard time laughing over her because we're spending too much time sympathizing about what a horrible addiction she must have. A kill here, a kill there, a trial, the trial fails..

Script Link: This is all over. Use any search engine.