Italian horror maestro Dario Argento finishes the "Three Mothers" trilogy that he began in 1977 with his popular film "Suspiria."
Occasioned by the kind of visually fascinating Grand Guignol set pieces Argento is famous for, "The Mother of Tears" nevertheless ends the trilogy with a whimper.
Argento’s famous actress daughter Asia phones in her performance as Sarah Mandy, an art restoration student who witnesses the ritualistic murder of a co-worker inside Rome’s Museum of Ancient Art, yet refuses to believe her boyfriend’s assertions about a group of witches inciting acts of violence all over the city.
Clunky dialogue and jerky plotting hopscotch from one blood-splattered sequence to another, and it’s during these sexually tinged scenes of brutal savagery that Argento pays off on his promise as a visionary master of the horrifically surreal.
Erotic undercurrents expand as the film approaches its outsized climax. This is a foreign horror movie that’s all about style and shock value.
The fruit of Argento’s mad vision is an acquired taste, but there’s plenty to chew on here.
Not Rated. 98 mins.
