Keep in mind the 80s was kind of a messed-up decade when it came to movies since so many things were coming out to appease so many different tastes. You kind of had to know that some of the mothers seen in movies were just going to be over the top and out of control. But hey, people liked it and people responded to it, so what’s the harm? Mothers in this decade, when it came to movies, were a bit nutty a times and warm at others, but there was always a dark side in some movies that was just itching to come out and when it did things got a little nuts. Now some mothers were flat out evil and some were kind of so-so and were made a little scarier by the things they did rather than who they were. However, some of them were just kind of, well, psycho and ready to tear into anyone that came their way.
Here are some of the scariest mothers from the 80s.
5. Evil Dead II – Henrietta Knowby
This one’s a no-brainer since Henrietta was possessed by a demon and had to be killed and buried in the root cellar. But that didn’t stop her from popping back up when the words were read and the evil forces were left to roam again. Hooray for teenagers and their need to meddle with things beyond their comprehension right? Anyway, when Henrietta came back she was a demonic presence that was ready to devour souls and rip apart anything that came her way. Of course it’s kind of funny to think that she tore the redneck in this clip apart without hesitating and yet she didn’t try to do the same thing to Ashe.
4. Beetlejuice – Delia Deetz
Delia is scary just because living with her seems like it would be an unending nightmare that anyone would try to escape from. The woman had no fashion sense despite the fact that she apparently had a man with her that knew just what he was talking about and was haughty enough to think he knew everything. Fashion and design in the 80s was all over the place it seems like, but in this film Delia is the one woman that’s just a step below Beetlejuice since she was an absolute menace and didn’t stop to think twice about anyone else’s feelings or what they wanted to do with the house, so long as she got her way.
3. Mommie Dearest – Joan Crawford
Let’s just say it, Joan Crawford is the mother from hell. Not only is she horrible to her staff and her husbands in the film but she’s absolutely terrible to her adopted children who have to endure all kinds of punishment in her care and are barely thought of except as accessories. This is the kind of mom that would actually make you pine for boarding school just so you could be away from her for long, LONG periods of time. Plus, being woke in the middle of the night to go clean the bathroom floor while being beaten is not exactly the picture of a loving family that most people would think of.
2. Aliens – Queen Mother
Hey, it counts. She is a mother after all and has laid a lot of eggs that managed to create a lot of ‘children’. Granted, their method of birth is something a little more violent than most mothers would want to consider, but biologically she is a mother and overall she is one ticked off mother when her brood are threatened and then eventually blown to bits by Ripley, who’s acting like one of the best surrogate mothers in the world at this point by rescuing Newt from a fate that is so much worse than a simple death. But make no mistake, ticking off the queen xenomorph is never a good idea.
1. Friday the 13th – Mrs. Voorhees
Speaking of mothers you never make angry, Mrs. Voorhees is one of those mothers that you never dare turn your back on if you have any idea of surviving the night. It’s amusing that no one ever suspected her but it’s also kind of creepy that she would stick around so long just to punish newcomers that had nothing to do with her son’s death. This is a woman that holds a grudge unlike any other and is ready to throw down for the memory of her son if nothing else and let the campers and counselors know that Camp Crystal Lake is bound to be anything but a good time. And yet if you ask a lot of people who the original killer was in this movie they’ll still say Jason. That kind of shows you that some people just don’t pay attention.
Oh the moms in the 80s were definitely a bit of nutty sprinkled with a lot of crazy.
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