La Terza Madre (Mother of Tears: The Third Mother) poster & wallpaper

Adam James, Araba Dell'Utri, Asia Argento

An ancient urn chained to a coffin is unearthed by chance by some men at work along the road bordering the Viterbo’s cemetery. The urn contains an age-old tunic and some objects belonging to Mater Lac...( read more  read more... )rimarum, the Third Mother (Moran Atias). The only survivor of the Three Mothers - three powerful witches who had been shedding blood and terror for aeons - Mater Lacrimarum (the Mother of Tears) has been hiding in Rome for centuries and her awakening triggers a chain of mysterious and terrible events: the Evil is back to cast its dark shadow over the city.

Sarah Mandy (Asia Argento), a young student of restoration, co-worker and love interest of Michael Pierce (Adam James), the curator of the Museum of Ancient Art of Rome, is involved in the escalating and increasingly frantic episodes of violence. Sarah tries to run away but she cannot: the Third Mother is looking for her and Sarah is not aware of the fact that her mother Elisa Mandy (Daria Nicolodi) was a powerful white witch brutally killed by Mater Suspiriorum, the witch from Fryeburg.

Helped by the spirit of her mother, by an eminent esoterism academic, Guglielmo De Witt (Philippe Leroy), and by the Chief Constable Marchi (Cristian Solimeno), Sarah realizes that she has no way out and that she must face the impending threat...

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31% liked it

2,650 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 38 min.

Directed by: Dario Argento

Release Date: September 6, 2007

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Flixster Reviews (567)

  • stopitgoaway
    June 2, 2009
    stopitgoaway
    Being such a big fan of Argento, I went into this film with a mixture of massive anticipation and worry that it might not live up to my expectations. With the exception of Sleepless, Argento hasn't made a really great film since Opera in 1987, and while I wouldn't quite call the ...( read more)final instalment of the 'Three Mothers' series a return to form, it's certainly a lot better than the majority of his modern movies. The thing that really made the first two films in this series standout was the colourful sets and fairytale atmosphere, and unfortunately this film features neither. I have no idea if Argento decided to discard these things in favour of a modern setting or if it was the producers who were worried that a seventies style film wouldn't sell, but either way; it doesn't feature here and that's the thing I liked least about this film. The film is slightly more story-heavy than the two previous entries and this time we have more of a clearly defined point. The story is set in Rome and our central character is Sarah Mandy. The film kicks off with the discovery of an ancient urn, and from there strange things start happening. Rape, assault and arson increases and strange people start to gather in Rome. These events are due to the return of Mater Lacrimarum, the most beautiful of the three witches at the heart of this series. It soon becomes apparent that the only person who can stop the evil from enveloping the world is Sarah Mandy, who has a few supernatural powers of her own...

    As mentioned, it's the change in style that is the biggest problem with this film for me and the thing that really means it doesn't quite live up to the previous two instalments, but what the film lacks in atmosphere, Argento makes up for in gore (and then some) and it's clear that the great director has lost none of his eye for a brutal and stylish death scene. This film is far gorier than the sum of the gore scenes in both of the previous films, and it's great to see a modern film that doesn't hold back. The gore scenes range from quick to stylised and drawn out but all are very gory - with one notable exception which also happens to be the most shocking sequence in the film! Argento has donned the use of CGI and it's a bit of a shame because it looks rather cheap - but that's only a problem really in one scene. Argento films are not known for fluent plots and great acting, and there's a very good reason for that. This film has more than just a few holes and the acting is not anything to write home about either. As is the case with a lot of his modern films, Argento has cast his daughter, Asia Argento in the lead role. She's beautiful and not a bad actress - but Argento always makes her roles too 'clean', and it doesn't suit her considering the Hellraiser she is in real life! I also didn't like the supernatural subplot with her character; it's just sort of thrown in there and doesn't work very well. Argento makes more of an attempt to establish his mythology with this film than in the previous two and he even makes nods to the first two, though I think more could be made of this aspect of the series. The ending is abrupt but nicely done if you ask me. Overall, I did like The Third Mother a lot - it's only disappointing when compared to the other two films. In its own right; this is a great gory Italian horror flick and definitely comes recommended.
  • Stinger839
    March 7, 2009
    Stinger839
    NOTE: please read my Suspiria review if what I say here inflames you. On second screening, I GOT the genius of Suspiria, but out of respect to my former self (and other viewers) who was able to view the film as "pretentious" and to also make my point about what modern horror shou...( read more)ld be, I leave those defaming comments on Suspiria intact.

    The murder ataboutaround 10minutes in is AMAZING. Goretastic like one craves and with a great use of guts. And they just keep getting gorier and more creative. From Udo Kier's priest character to the medium's girlfriend, this is full of crazy kills.

    And the antagonists - the demonic forces, followers, and possessed people are just damn scary with a cool edge. From the ancient language speaking ravers to a fully fleshed pointy eared demon, the design is well done and the result is some very unique characters. The monkey is probably the coolest though.

    The acting is over the top melodramatic to say the least, but that didn't matter much to me when the version I'm watching has French audio and English subtitles. People complain that the story moves around too much, thus lack of atmosphere (am I the only one that equates "atmosphere" to a more static setting and slower pace with fewer plot details), but I think that a fast film overloaded with details fits this horror subgenre of end of the world sorcery battle much better. I'm a sucker for Catholic mythology, and unless you're going to do it perfectly as in The Exorcist, the "atmospheric" approach should be avoided.

    This is an action thriller horror movie, and not an atmospheric psychological-subjective horror like Susperia. I haven't seen Inferno yet, and I didn't really see what was so damn great about Suspiria on my first two views, so now I'm going to go back and see that again and Inferno the first time because I really like the story. As a horror movie, this has no "atmosphere" because it has a fast pace instead. But fuck atmosphere; that's not what modern horror needs. This is what modern horror needs - absurd kills and insane amounts of violence and a heavily loaded plot. Not some minimalistic over-lit underwritten character piece with not nearly enough blood like Suspiria. This movie piles it on, and I like it like that. Suspiria is slow and overimportant, read too pretentious for its own good; this is fast and rude, read made for the blood-addicted ADD generation. I prefer the latter style for this millennium and leave the former style to actual masters of it like David Lynch.

    My only complaint is that the ending isn't so much a showdown as it is a letdown. I expected a full on witch fight or at least a more hyped scene, and instead the main character just gets lucky without having to struggle for it.
  • organgrinder136
    December 18, 2008
    organgrinder136
    classic argento. eg. show some tit to cover up a completely rubbish film. a true example of style over substance
  • vierasesine
    December 13, 2008
    vierasesine
    Why did the witches have such difficulties applying their make-up?
  • RCCLBC
    November 24, 2008
    RCCLBC
    Admittedly, when you start a trilogy with a film like Suspiria...you have a lot to live up to.

    As I mentioned in a previous review act two (Inferno) was a big disapointment for me, so I was nervous going into this third and final film of the trilogy.

    This film was definatel...( read more)y better then Inferno, but not as good as Susperia. Sadly it seems that most of the money was spent on upgrading the quality of the visuals with little to no real attempt at developing the great mythology (that is the foundation of these films) to it's full potential.

    Wile there was the potential here for greatness, the film (sadly) falls short. Though it's genre it is not withour merit. Several horrific murder scenes mixed in with lots of blood, brutality and boobies! : )
  • rabidwombat22
    October 16, 2009
    rabidwombat22
    Quite stupid and fake.
  • killerkittyclothing
    October 15, 2009
    killerkittyclothing
    I love Asia but her acting was terrible in this movie. Nothng about this movie screamed Argento to me. It was boring and cheap looking.
  • bjaccobs
    September 25, 2009
    bjaccobs
    Dario Argento completes his three mothers trilogy. In this one, a grave is accidentally uncovered which brings back to life the Mother of Tears. Now, all the witches in the world are heading to Rome to start the second age of witchcraft and only Asia Argento is taking time out ...( read more)of her life to stop them.
    I'll say that the major flaw of this film is that there is no sense of mystery and while there seems to be a lot going on (people in Rome are going on a mass killing spree) none of it feels like it is having any actual affect on how people live there lives.
    There are a handful of nice scenes in this one like a scene where Asia learns to see ghosts. And there is a monkey that is working for the forces of evil in this one. Can't go wrong with a monkey working for the forces of evil.
    I'd call this one is a failed horror epic where half of it works and half of it doesn't.
  • ArcAngelys
    September 22, 2009
    ArcAngelys
    OMG. Pass the fingernails please.
  • msanthrope
    August 13, 2009
    msanthrope
    Can't make up my mind if I liked it or not. I like Asia Argento, though.

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  • lovecyn4ever
    September 24, 2008
    lovecyn4ever
    warning
    A Completely mess & terrible film.Bad at so many levels.
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