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"That child will be the death of me. . ."
On Loving the Mommies of Horror
by
Terrie Leigh Relf
For some strange reason, women are considered to be natural nurturers - especially of their own young. But isn't giving birth a horrifying enough process without adding monsters to the equation? Could it be that this "natural" phenomenon is the ultimate breeding ground, the universal womb, of horror?
Who are the most horrifying mothers in horror? It would take over 10 lunar months to gestate even a cursory list! I would, however, like to share a few of my favorites, to demonstrate that mother love is like no other. Perhaps our children will be the death of us, but isn't that as nature intended? That our children - our babies - live on after we are gone?
Several excellent examples to illustrate this are found in Species I, II and III. If you've seen these cult classics, you'll no doubt remember the head doctor (Species I), who when presented with the task of manipulating alien and human DNA, decided to tweak the pre-embryonic material to be female. Why? Apparently because he, and other scientists like him, believed that females would be easier to handle.
How wrong they were. . .The result? By the end of Species III, a bloody trail of human hosts - AKA mothers - and dozens of hybrid children. Ironically, it is the astronaut in Species III who is the more fecund. On the return voyage to Earth, he and the other crew members have no idea that aliens are hitching a ride in their core sample containers. By the time they return home, they are hybrids themselves, and follow their prime directive to "be fruitful and multiply." Sadly, the third female hybrid, Sara, finally finds her "man," but chooses to sacrifice herself to prevent him from harming her friends (and keepers) as well as from impregnating, thus killing, more women. Ironically, she was pregnant, and at film's end, her son crawls from her dead body. Imagine a mother never being able to hold her child in her arms. . . Now that is horror. (Species, Species II and Species III)
Not being able to conceive causes desperation in many women. Some fall prey to madness and commit unthinkable acts in order to obtain a child to call their own. Take for example, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. Upon hearing that her gynecologist husband was found guilty of molesting some of his patients, she has a miscarriage. What did she do? Why she kept pumping her milk and went in search of someone else's baby to nurse. Enter one of the most horrendous mother figures: the nanny.
Another mommy beset with horrifying circumstances is one of the female vampires in Modern Vampires who was "turned" while with-child. Eternally pregnant, she basks in the glow of expectant motherhood, but will never suffer the throes of labor or the joys of nursing a blood-sucking babe at her cold breasts. I don't know about you, but I wanted her-and her baby--to survive that bloody scene where the entire household was slaughtered. Monster or no, it was still a beloved baby.
Speaking of serial killers (although vampires are not usually labeled as such), what about Serial Mom, who has anger management issues and as a result, murders anyone who disturbs her family's idyllic suburban lifestyle. At the center of this, is, of course, her daughter-and anyone else who will allow this madwoman to fuss over them.
Then there's the urge to nurture in men-or in the case of the 2005 pilot, Surface, boys-- who are all-too-often left out of the equation. Miles brings a strange egg home, then once hatched, raises baby Nimrod, or Nim, as he lovingly calls it. His sister, Savannah, refers to this creature as his lizard or pet, but there is so much more to their symbiotic relationship. I'm sorry, but while Miles' mother may prove to be redeemable at some point (please-oh-please-bring on season two!), who's the real monster here?
What about when ones child is a monster? Remember Demon Seed? It is an all-time-black-and-white classic that has given birth over and over and over again. The Good Son is most definitely its grandchild. McCaully Kulkin's character, Henry, is so vile that he murders his newborn sister. Other atrocious acts follow, but at movie's end, when he and his cousin are dangling off a cliff, which one do you think survives? After telling her son she loves him, she lets him go. Were you surprised? I wasn't. . .but the psychotic Henry certainly was.
Ira Levin's novel and movie, Rosemary's Baby , has stood as midwife for a host of disturbing demon spawn. Horror's family album spans generations and crosses cultures and genres with the strange, the bizarre, and the touching scenarios of the biological imperative of continued existence-no matter what the cost: The X-Files, ,The Twilight Zone , Tales from the Darkside, The Outer Limits , and of course Star Trek , and Alien Nation .
And they were all some mother's - and some writers' - babies, once upon a time.
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© Relf, 2006