Serial Mom

Beverly Sutphin appears to be an unassuming upper-middle-class housewife living with her dentist husband Eugene and their teenage children, Misty and Chip, in Towson, Maryland. In truth, she is a serial killer who murders people over trivial slights or offenses.

One morning, detectives Pike and Gracey question the family about the vulgar telephone harassment of their neighbor, Dottie Hinkle. It is later revealed that Beverly is the perpetrator, and began harassing Dottie after she took a parking space from Beverly. Later that day, Beverly vengefully runs over Chip's math teacher, Mr. Stubbins, with her car after he condemns Chip's interest in horror films at a PTA meeting. Later, Misty is upset when her crush, Carl, stands her up for a date. Beverly spots Carl with another girl at a swap meet and fatally stabs him with a fire poker.

Eugene discovers serial killer memorabilia beneath his and Beverly's mattress, which includes recordings from Ted Bundy in the week of his execution. During dinner that evening, Chip mentions his friend Scotty's suspicions about Beverly being the killer. Beverly leaves, leaving the family afraid that she intends to kill Scotty in order to silence him. They race to Scotty's house; Beverly, however, intends to kill Ralph and Betty Sterner, a couple who had called Eugene to treat the former's toothache on a day Eugene and Beverly planned to spend birdwatching. She stabs Betty with scissors and pushes an air conditioner from the window onto Ralph. The rest of the family and the police arrive at Scotty's house, only to find him masturbating to a porn film.

Police follow the Sutphins to church on that Sunday as Beverly is named as the prime suspect in the Sterners' murders. The service abruptly ends when everyone flees in panic after Beverly sneezes; in the confusion, Beverly escapes as police attempt to arrest her. She hides at the video store where Chip is employed. Chip encounters regular customer Mrs. Jenson and fines her for neglecting to rewind her rented videotapes before returning them, whereupon she insults him. Beverly follows her home and fatally strikes her with a leg of lamb as she watches Annie. Scotty witnesses the attack nearby, but Beverly discovers him and gives chase, eventually concluding at a heavy metal bar. Beverly immolates Scotty during a rock concert. The Sutphins arrive as Beverly is arrested.

Beverly's trial becomes a media sensation. Beverly's lawyer claims that she is not guilty by reason of insanity, but is promptly dismissed when Beverly asks to defend herself. Beverly proves to be formidable when she systematically discredits every witness against her by exploiting their own vices or otherwise casting doubt on their testimony. Luann Hodges, the only witness who actually saw her commit a crime, is intoxicated and thus unable to provide credible testimony. The courtroom is distracted by the arrival of Suzanne Somers, who has been cast as Beverly in a television film.

Beverly is acquitted of all charges. She expresses contempt for one juror for wearing white shoes after Labor Day. Beverly follows her to a payphone alcove and fatally strikes her with the receiver. Somers angers Beverly into an outburst while attempting to pose for a photo op. The juror's body is then discovered, and Beverly gives Somers a knowing look. It is implied that Beverly has been imprisoned.

{{Cast listing|

• Kathleen Turner as Beverly Sutphin
• Sam Waterston as Eugene Sutphin
• Ricki Lake as Misty Sutphin
• Matthew Lillard as Chip Sutphin
• Scott Wesley Morgan as Detective Pike
• Walt MacPherson as Detective Gracey
• Justin Whalin as Scotty Barnhill
• Patricia Dunnock as "Birdie"
• Lonnie Horsey as Carl Pageant
• Mink Stole as Dottie Hinkle
• Mary Jo Catlett as Rosemary Ackerman
• Kathy Fannon as Betty Sterner
• Doug Roberts as Ralph Sterner
• Traci Lords as Carl's date
• Tim Caggiano as Marvin Pickles
• Jeff Mandon as Howell Hawkins
• Patsy Grady Abrams as Mrs. Jenson
• Beau James as Timothy Nazlerod
• Kim Swann as Luann Hodges
• Suzanne Somers as herself
• Patty Hearst as juror #8
• Rosemary Knower and Susan Lowe as court groupies
• Mary Vivian Pearce as book buyer
• Brigid Berlin as mean lady
• Joan Rivers as herself
• L7 as Camel Lips
• Bess Armstrong as Eugene's dental secretary (uncredited)
• John Waters as the voice of Ted Bundy (uncredited)

}}

Actresses considered for the role of Beverly Sutphin before Turner was cast included Meryl Streep, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, and Julie Andrews.{{Cite web |last=Jacobs |first=Matthew |date=2023-04-28 |title=Kathleen Turner Answers Every Question We Have About Serial Mom |url=https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/kathleen-turner-answers-all-our-questions-about-serial-mom.html |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Vulture |language=en-us |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233751/https://www.vulture.com/2023/04/kathleen-turner-answers-all-our-questions-about-serial-mom.html |url-status=live }}

Films by Waters' creative influences, including Doris Wishman, Otto Preminger, William Castle, and Herschell Gordon Lewis, are seen playing on television sets throughout the film.{{Cite web |last=Abrams |first=Simon |date=May 9, 2017 |title=Defense for the Damned: John Waters on "Serial Mom" {{!}} Interviews |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/defense-for-the-damned-john-waters-on-serial-mom |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=RogerEbert.com |language=en |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517234950/https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews/defense-for-the-damned-john-waters-on-serial-mom |url-status=live }}

The audio for Ted Bundy in one of Beverly's correspondences with the jailed killer is the voice of Waters.

The film had a troubled post-production, marked by conflict between Waters and Savoy Pictures. In his 2019 book Mr. Know-It-All, Waters states that studio executives who viewed an early cut objected to its violence and dark comedy. They demanded the film be substantially re-edited and given a different ending, which Waters refused to do.{{cite book|last=Waters|first=John|author-link=John Waters|date=2019|title=Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-bduDwAAQBAJ|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-0374214968|access-date=July 11, 2023|archive-date=July 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715042230/https://books.google.com/books?id=-bduDwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}{{rp|73–74}} Acrimony between the two sides intensified following a poor test screening, which Waters believed was deliberately held before a conservative audience unlikely to enjoy the film. He contrasted it with a more receptive screening for members of the film industry in Los Angeles.{{rp|73}} Turner spoke about the ordeal to gossip columnist Liz Smith, who was a friend. Smith intervened with a column titled "Leave Serial Mom Alone", publicizing the situation, and Savoy eventually relented on its demands.{{rp|75}}

The film's score was composed by Basil Poledouris, performed by the Utah Symphony and recorded in Salt Lake City, Utah.{{rp|94}} The American rock band L7 appears in the film as the band Camel Lips, and performs the song "Gas Chamber", which was written by L7 with lyrical contributions by Waters.{{rp|72}}{{cite book|last=Sherman|first=Dale|date=2019|title=John Waters FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the Provocateur of Bad Taste|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrEjEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA268|publisher=Applause Books|page=268|isbn=978-1-4950-7665-7|access-date=July 6, 2023|archive-date=July 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706034603/https://books.google.com/books?id=WrEjEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA268|url-status=live}} The film also features the song "Daybreak" by Barry Manilow.{{cite magazine |date=1994 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFIJAQAAMAAJ |magazine=Stereo Review |volume=59 |page=94 |number=1 |title=Stereo Review |access-date=12 July 2023 |issn=0039-1220}}{{cite news|last=Persall|first=Steve|date=April 15, 1994|title='Serial Mom' is a real killer|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times/127708057/|newspaper=Tampa Bay Times|location=St. Petersburg, Florida|page=6|access-date=July 5, 2023|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=July 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706034603/https://www.newspapers.com/article/tampa-bay-times/127708057/|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/serial-mom-bd/|title=Blu-ray Review: John Waters's Serial Mom Joins the Shout! Factory|last=Henderson|first=Eric|date=May 10, 2017|website=Slant Magazine|access-date=July 5, 2023|archive-date=July 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706034603/https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/serial-mom-bd/|url-status=live}} To discourage its use in this film, the copyright owners of the song "Tomorrow" from the 1982 film Annie, which is heard during a murder, quoted a high royalty fee of $60,000, but the studio paid the amount.

Serial Mom was screened out of competition as the closing night film at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2981/year/1994.html |title=Festival de Cannes: Serial Mom |access-date=2009-09-02 |work=festival-cannes.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121005173546/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2981/year/1994.html |archive-date=October 5, 2012}}

Universal Studios and Focus Features released a collector's edition DVD of the film on May 6, 2008,{{Cite web |date=May 21, 2008 |title=Serial Mom: Collector's Edition |url=https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33309/serial-mom/ |access-date=May 17, 2023 |website=DVD Talk |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233749/https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/33309/serial-mom/ |url-status=live }} replacing the original HBO Home Video DVD release, which is out of print. The DVD release features an audio commentary with Waters and Turner. The film was released as a Collector's Edition Blu-ray from Shout! Factory on May 9, 2017.{{Cite web |title=Serial Mom [Collector's Edition] |url=https://shoutfactory.com/products/serial-mom-collector-s-edition |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Shout! Factory |language=en |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233750/https://shoutfactory.com/products/serial-mom-collector-s-edition |url-status=live }}

The film opened on April 13, 1994, and grossed $2 million in its opening weekend, ranking number 11 at the US box office. By the end of its run, the film had grossed $7.8 million in the United States and Canada.{{cite web |url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=serialmom.htm |title=Serial Mom (1994) |work=Box Office Mojo |publisher=Internet Movie Database |date=August 4, 1994 |access-date=June 5, 2014 |archive-date=June 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140606215609/http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=serialmom.htm |url-status=live }} The film has become a cult classic since its release.Frank the Movie Guy. Hidden Gem: Serial Mom. April 23, 2007. Retrieved on June 7, 2007

{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|63|5.8|56|Kathleen Turner proves an ideal match for John Waters' suburban satire in Serial Mom, even if the somewhat scattershot end results often lack the expected bite.|access-date=July 22, 2024|ref=y}} {{Metacritic film prose|64|24|ref=yes|access-date=July 21, 2024}}

Roger Ebert awarded it two stars out of a possible four. While he found some of Waters' satire effective, he felt that Kathleen Turner's decision to portray her character's mental illness with realism as opposed to a campy fashion, while brave, made the character difficult to laugh at. He wrote, "Watch Serial Mom closely and you'll realize that something is miscalculated at a fundamental level. Turner's character is helpless and unwitting in a way that makes us feel almost sorry for her—and that undermines the humor. She isn't funny crazy, she's sick crazy."{{cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |date=April 15, 1994 |title=Serial Mom |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/serial-mom-1994 |work=RogerEbert.com |access-date=October 1, 2013 |archive-date=September 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916193849/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/serial-mom-1994 |url-status=live }}

Other critics were more enthusiastic about the film and Turner's performance. Time Out said the film boasts "an uproariously funny, marvellously malicious performance from Turner",{{Cite web |last= |date=2011-05-03 |title=Serial Mom |url=https://www.timeout.com/movies/serial-mom |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Time Out |language=en-GB |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233751/https://www.timeout.com/movies/serial-mom |url-status=live }} and Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times called Turner "furiously funny".{{cite news |last=Rainer |first=Peter |date=April 13, 1994 |title=Movie Review: 'Serial Mom' Good at Being Naughty : Movies: Director John Waters turns today's violence into comedy, and Kathleen Turner is furiously funny. |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-13-ca-45277-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 1, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804002752/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-13-ca-45277-story.html |archive-date=August 4, 2020}} Rainer described the film as "a jab at the supposed uplift provided by 'wholesome' TV shows and movies. With all the ruckus raised in the media about the harmful effects of on-screen violence and sex, Serial Mom weighs in for the other side: It implies that it's the antiseptic family entertainments that may have done us the real harm. The real nut cases in the movie aren't the hormonally inflamed teenagers and avenging matriarchs. It's the suburban Baltimore do-gooders, the upright judges and deacons{{snd}}you know, the pillars of society." Critics also lauded the satirization of America's obsession with true crime and celebrity, such as when Beverly's daughter, Misty, is seen selling T-shirts outside the courthouse where her mother's fate will be decided, and a joke disclaimer at the beginning falsely claiming the film's events are "based on a true story".{{Cite web |last=Nea |first=Chingy |date=2021-10-21 |title='Serial Mom' is a Maternal Mockery of America's True Crime Obsession |url=https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/serial-mom-review |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=MEL Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233749/https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/serial-mom-review |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Mirabal |first=Marisa |date=2019-04-12 |title=Satire In The Suburbs: 25 Years With SERIAL MOM |url=https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/04/12/satire-in-the-suburbs-25-years-with-serial-mom |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Birth.Movies.Death. |language=en |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233750/https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2019/04/12/satire-in-the-suburbs-25-years-with-serial-mom |url-status=live }} In 2008, Slant Magazine critic Eric Henderson called Serial Mom "the strongest film of the post-midnight-movie chapter of John Waters's career."{{Cite web |last=Henderson |first=Eric |date=2008-05-06 |title=Review: Serial Mom |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/serial-mom/ |access-date=2023-05-17 |website=Slant Magazine |language=en-US |archive-date=May 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517233749/https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/serial-mom/ |url-status=live }}

Later reviews suggested that the trial in Serial Mom presaged the media coverage of the 1995 murder trial of O. J. Simpson.{{cite journal |last=Banks |first=Taunya |author-link= |title=Troubled Waters: Mid-Twentieth Century American Society on "Trial" in the Films of John Waters |journal=Stetson Law Review |volume=39 |pages=153, 179–181 |publisher=Stetson University College of Law |location=Gulfport, Florida |date=2009 |url=https://www.academia.edu/26187472 |url-access=registration |issn=0739-9731 |access-date=2 May 2024}}

• Honorable mention – Dan Craft, The Pantagraph{{cite news|last=Craft|first=Dan|date=December 30, 1994 |title=Success, Failure and a Lot of In-between; Movies '94|newspaper=The Pantagraph|page=B1}}
• Guilty pleasure – Douglas Armstrong, The Milwaukee Journal{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first=Douglas|date=January 1, 1995|title=End-of-year slump is not a happy ending|newspaper=The Milwaukee Journal|page=2}}

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• {{IMDb title}}
• {{Mojo title}}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
• [https://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Serial-Mom.html Original 1992 script at IMSDb]
• {{YouTube|OAcimdt8Po0|Serial Mom trailer}}

{{John Waters}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serial Mom}}

Category:1994 films

Category:1994 black comedy films

Category:1994 crime thriller films

Category:1994 independent films

Category:1990s American films

Category:1990s comedy thriller films

Category:1994 crime comedy films

Category:1990s English-language films

Category:1990s satirical films

Category:1990s serial killer films

Category:American black comedy films

Category:American comedy thriller films

Category:American crime comedy films

Category:American crime thriller films

Category:American independent films

Category:American satirical films

Category:American serial killer films

Category:English-language independent films

Category:Films directed by John Waters

Category:Films scored by Basil Poledouris

Category:Films set in 1993

Category:Films set in 1994

Category:Films set in Baltimore

Category:Films shot in Baltimore

Category:Films with screenplays by John Waters

Category:Savoy Pictures films

Category:English-language black comedy films

Category:English-language crime comedy films

Category:English-language crime thriller films

Category:English-language comedy thriller films

Category:Films set in Maryland