The Mother of Tears (2007) poster
2007 · horror

The Mother of Tears

Directed by Dario Argento1h 42m2007
ElsewhereIMDb5.011kRT47%Metacritic52TMDB4.5458
  • heavy
  • brisk
  • extreme
  • surreal
  • bleak
  • cold
Movie DNA

Heavy, kinetic, extreme horror, surreal in texture. Nihilistic, intimate, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

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An ancient urn is found in a cemetery outside Rome. Once opened, it triggers a series of violent incidents: robberies, rapes and murders increase dramatically, while several mysterious, evil-looking young women coming from all over the world are gathering in the city. All these events are caused by the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the last of three powerful witches who have been spreading terror and death for centuries. Alone against an army of psychos and demons, Sarah Mandy, an art student who seems to have supernatural abilities of her own, is the only person left to prevent the Mother of Tears from destroying Rome.

Our read · The Mother of Tears (2007) reads as a heavy, kinetic, surreal horror entry — extreme in intensity, intimate in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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The shape of The Mother of Tears

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want late Argento witch chaos, lurid Rome apocalypse, and Mothers trilogy closure.

ends triumphantit leaves you shakena rollercoastergrips by minute 8attention 3/5earns its lengthsubtitles: partial
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencegoresexual violencesuicide themechild periljump scares

Skip it tonightSkip if mass suicide imagery, gore, and sexual violence will wreck your night.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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