Stubbins, Chip’s math teacher, becomes Beverly’s first known murder victim. After the police and her family leave, Beverly disguises her voice to make obscene phone calls to Dottie, because Dottie stole a parking space from Beverly.
#Serial mom 1994 serial#
However, she is secretly a serial killer, murdering people over the most trivial of perceived slights, including mere faux pas.ĭuring breakfast, Detectives Pike and Gracey arrive to question the family about the vulgar harassment of their neighbour, Dottie Hinkle. Serial Mom is a 1994 American black comedy crime film written and directed by John Waters.īeverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) appears to be a typical suburban housewife living with her dentist husband, Eugene (Sam Waterson), and their teenage children, Misty and Chip (Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard), in the suburbs of Baltimore. They explain why, in the world of John Waters, this serial mom is a pop-culture heroine.“Beverly, I’ve read all about this. But there are higher esthetic issues involved. One victim rents a video of "Annie," settles into her easy chair and starts singing along with "Tomorrow." Legally that doesn't justify murder. The famous serial mom or the neighbor who, when a favorite ceramic egg has been broken, wails: "It's Franklin Mint! I collect Franklin Mint!" Who would you rather be? he seems to ask. He hasn't, after all, lost his sense of values. Waters's tame approach, there are still some disgusting moments in "Serial Mom," including a close-up of what looks like a human liver skewered on a fireplace poker. The media frenzy about the latest mega-star killer is too close to reality to work as satire.ĭespite Mr. When the police close in on Beverly while she is riding to church with the whole family, she wonders, "Do you think I need to call a lawyer?" The astute Chip answers, "You need an agent." Suzanne Somers, in a cameo role, suddenly wants to make a mini-series of Beverly's life. Like all Waters films, "Serial Mom" is uneven and often predictable. Waterston, escaping from many earnest roles, shows a flair for understated comedy that works perfectly for the befuddled husband. Turner plays the good mother with such sunny conviction that her murderous side seems plausibly self-righteous. An especially nice touch is the way Beverly cheerily sings Barry Manilow's "Daybreak" while cleaning her house or driving to another murder. Waters's flair for capturing the excruciating details of suburban life.
#Serial mom 1994 movie#
Beverly is the kind of matron who would profess to be disgusted by a John Waters movie while secretly relishing every cathartic moment. As soon as the detectives and her loving family are out the door, Beverly displays girlish delight at muttering dirty words in an anonymous prank call to Dottie. A detective who questions the Sutphins even points out how remarkably Beverly brings to mind June Cleaver, though he misses a crucial clue about the obscene note sent to their whiny neighbor, Dottie Hinkle (Mink Stole). Waters's favorite twilight zones: 50's sitcoms that shaped a generation of dysfunctional families. Although the story is set in the present, Beverly seems stuck in one of Mr. The movie is milder than its premise makes it sound. When Misty (Ricki Lake) is stood up by a handsome date, she will regret crying to her mother, "I wish he were dead." How dare a teacher suggest that Chip (Matthew Lillard) may need therapy? Beverly responds with normal disbelief, then finds the teacher in the parking lot and runs him down with her car. But the strain of being a perfect mom is showing, for Beverly has developed a tendency to murder anyone who gets on her nerves. She is a Baltimore housewife with perfectly bobbed hair, a sparkling clean kitchen, a dentist husband (Sam Waterston) and two teen-age children with names that seem lifted from "Ozzie and Harriet": Chip and Misty. Kathleen Turner leaps into the most delicious role she has had in years as Beverly Sutphin. In "Serial Mom" he takes to heart the idea that being the All-American mother is enough to drive a woman crazy.
John Waters is just the man to do it, for he sends up only what he deeply adores. If you're going to build a career on bad taste, sooner or later you'll have to tackle the most sacred icon of all, motherhood.