Mother Takes Matters Into Her Own Hands In Intense Tubi Horror Thriller
One legitimate fear that parents have is that their child, or children, will grow up to be total psychopaths with a propensity for antisocial behavior, violence, or both. For Melinda Page Hamilton’s Abbey Bell in 2020’s M.O.M. Mothers of Monsters, her worst nightmare comes true when her 16-year-old son Jacob’s (Bailey Edwards) behavior becomes so unmanageable that she decides to set up a complex network of nanny cams in her home to document his every movement. Using the found footage filming method, Tucia Lyman’s Mothers of Monsters centers on the life of a mother and son through fragmented video blogs in an effort to determine whether Jacob’s behavior is the result of nature, nurture, or some combination of both of these things.
While I thoroughly enjoyed sitting through Mothers of Monsters, it’s one of those horror thrillers that I’ll probably only watch once due to its heavy subject matter, but couldn’t recommend more if you’re looking for a found footage entry that will disturb you to the point of wanting to install cameras in every room of your house the next time your child engages in questionable behavior.
Abbey Has Every Right To Be Paranoid
Mothers of Monsters is framed through the perspective of Abbey Bell, a middle-aged single mother who has reason to believe that her son Jacob is a textbook psychopath. Fearing that his behavior will eventually escalate to the point of committing a school shooting, Abbey becomes increasingly frustrated because Jacob – between his documented bursts of rage – performs exceedingly well in school, has a tight-knit group of friends, and from the outside seems to be your run-of-the-mill angsty teenager by most conventional standards.
Uploading her video blogs to a cloud server as a means to warn other parents who are living under similar circumstances, Abbey tells her viewers that Jacob has outsmarted his therapists, and knows how to act normal in public settings because he’s mastered the art of acting like “Fake Jacob” whenever he needs to keep up appearances. Never failing to show receipts for her claims, Abbey often revisits home movies from when Jacob was a child in which he’s accused of killing the family pet, and acting violently toward kids his age.
While Jacob does exhibit impulsive and abnormal behavior, like throwing bricks off a busy overpass at the traffic below (for fun) or making Jackass-style home movies with his friends involving wearing a shock collar meant for dogs, it certainly seems like he’s lashing out at his mother for always keeping him at an arm’s length.
Nature, Nurture, Or Both?
What makes Mothers of Monsters such an enthralling watch is how Abbey isn’t necessarily a reliable character despite the fact that she’s recording every single interaction she has with her son against his knowledge. Abbey, whose fears about her son are warranted (albeit a little over-the-top), also has a number of unaddressed mental illnesses which are the result of past traumas involving her older brother who behaved similarly to Jacob when he was just a teenager. Abbey’s camera footage is also quite telling in the sense that her medicine chest is full of prescriptions she may or may not be taking as instructed, and she also has quite the drinking habit, which results in her passing out on the couch on more than one occasion.
What’s more, whenever Abbey’s mother or therapist suggests that she may be overreacting to Jacob’s morbid curiosity about animal dissection or installing bump stocks on his Airsoft guns, she completely shuts down because she’s certain her son is a psychopath, and doesn’t want to hear any input that suggests otherwise.
Abbey has already made up her mind, and you’ll find yourself asking if she’s at the very least somewhat responsible for Jacob’s escalating behavior.
You’ll Be Left Guessing Until The Credits Roll
The family dynamic in Mothers of Monsters is a treasure trove in exhibiting a completely dysfunctional family dynamic that makes you wonder who’s truly in the wrong. There will be moments where you’ll find Jacob’s behavior justified because of how his mother treats him – he just wants to play video games and cause mischief with his friends without thinking of the consequences, while his mother is constantly on edge because she thinks he’s a mass-murderer in the making. His outbursts could possibly be written off as hormonal or reactive because he knows that his mother thinks he’s a problem child, and it’s up to the viewer to figure out which version of Jacob we’re actually seeing on-screen.
When Mothers of Monsters progresses into its third act, you’ll find yourself asking even more questions about Abbey and Jacob’s relationship as matters continue to escalate. While a clearer picture of Jacob emerges through the found footage, Abbey’s approach to parenting only continues to make the situation all the more volatile.
Streaming M.O.M. Mothers of Monsters
GFR SCORE
Mothers of Monsters offers a disturbing look into the life of a mother who loves her son unconditionally, but whose actions may be an unintentional contributing factor to the problems she’s facing.
Is Abbey an innocent victim who’s being manipulated by her 16-year-old psychopath son? Or is Jacob a misunderstood teenager who’s on the verge of snapping because he knows that his mother already made up her mind about him?
If you want these questions answered, you can stream M.O.M. Mothers of Monsters for free on Tubi as of this writing.
Login with Google