Serial Mom (1994)

60% of critics liked it
(45 reviews)
62% of users liked it
(46,735 ratings)

Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) is the perfect suburban housewife and mother. She likes to cook, her home is immaculately clean, she's always well-groomed and cheerful, and she loves her husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and her two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). There's… More Beverly Sutphin (Kathleen Turner) is the perfect suburban housewife and mother. She likes to cook, her home is immaculately clean, she's always well-groomed and cheerful, and she loves her husband Eugene (Sam Waterston) and her two children, Misty (Ricki Lake) and Chip (Matthew Lillard). There's just one problem with Beverly -- if you do anything to make someone in her family feel bad, you're dead meat on a stick. While she does a great job of hiding it, Beverly has a vicious and vengeful streak, and when she's not making obscene prank calls to the neighbors or bribing her garbagemen to save embarrassing items from her neighbors' trash, she's mowing down whoever would be so rude as to make her husband go into his office on a Saturday, break up with her daughter, or suggest that her son watches too many horror movies. Taking John Waters back to R-rated territory after the relatively sedate Hairspray and Cry Baby, Serial Mom captures a comfortable middle ground between Hollywood professionalism and Waters' subversive sense of humor, and Kathleen Turner has a field day as the sweet-on-the-outside, evil-on-the-inside Beverly. The supporting cast includes such Waters favorites as Patty Hearst, Traci Lords, Mink Stole, and Susan Lowe; Joan Rivers and Suzanne Somers appear as themselves, and all-female grunge-metal band L7 plays the all-female grunge-metal band Camel Toe. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 33 min.
Directed By: John Waters
Written By: John Waters
Genres: Drama, Horror, Comedy

In Theaters: Apr 13, 1994 Wide
On DVD: Jul 13, 1999
Studio: HBO Video

Critic Reviews

Todd McCarthy, Variety
Rather mild and scattershot in its satiric marksmanship...
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
The murders are multiple but the joke is strictly one-note.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
A killingly funny spoof of crime and nonpunishment.
Rita Kempley, Washington Post
Too realistically gory to really be funny.
Joe Brown, Washington Post
Offensively tame and almost (gasp) tasteful.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
I am not sure why this isn't very funny, but it's not.
Charles Cassady, Common Sense Media
Waters' cheery murder satire is gory and profane.
, Film4
Well worth a look.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Lacks the bite it would need to be subversive, despite a few moments of vintage Waters tastelessness.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Annie's "Tomorrow" never sounded so optimistic.
Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
A loose remake of Female Trouble with Polyester's subversively accessible polish, Serial Mom is the strongest film of the post-midnight-movie chapter of John Waters's career.
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
The film may be a bad-boy satirist's mournful acceptance that America has finally become sicker than anything he could dream up.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
One of Waters' tamest and most accessible pictures (even played at Cannes Fest!) and one of the few to feature a legit star like Katheleen Thurner, who gives a gusto performance.
Derek Adams, Time Out
An uproariously funny, marvellously malicious performance from Turner.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Kathleen Turner should win an Oscar for her demented Mom role...
Bill Clark, FromTheBalcony
Not Waters' best by any means, but this irreverant black comedy entertains.
Michael E. Grost, Classic Film and Television
Madness from John Waters

Read all 17 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

AJ V

My favourite John Waters movie so far! This is one of those horror movies that are so outrageous they're hilarious, or in other words a black comedy (which is slightly more scary than funny). I highly recommend this movie.
Film C

It is funny in places, but i got a bit confused as it said at the beginning of the movie that it is a movie based on real events which i find really hard to believe, which is just as well as it was a gag by john waters who said the whole thing was made up!! Just as well it was made… More
It is funny in places, but i got a bit confused as it said at the beginning of the movie that it is a movie based on real events which i find really hard to believe, which is just as well as it was a gag by john waters who said the whole thing was made up!! Just as well it was made up because it is very hard to believe she didnt get caught and then when she did get caught she got lit off!! it is funny and i like kathleen turner in this movie she played the part really well but its not that fantastic i guess worth the watch though!!
Wahida K

Christ, Kahtleen Turner was Brilliant as Psycho Mom. Anything that annoyed her, got vanished!
Curtis L

Now chip, you know I don't like the brown word.
Mason W

Serial Mom, directed by the crazy John Waters makes this movie sooo damn funny. A regular Martha Stewart on the outside (Kathleen Turner) has many secrets in her personal life. People would be shocked and scared about the horrible things she thinks and does. One od my very fav scenes… More
Serial Mom, directed by the crazy John Waters makes this movie sooo damn funny. A regular Martha Stewart on the outside (Kathleen Turner) has many secrets in her personal life. People would be shocked and scared about the horrible things she thinks and does. One od my very fav scenes in this movie is of Turner making a prank phone call to her neighbor..."pussy willows....dotty" she would just say that over and over...it is too funny.
Cassandra M

An uproariously witty satire on "petty" bourgeois American values, John Waters brings his own distinctive madness to the screen by focussing on cardboard cut-out caricatures of pop culture Americana. Turning his outrageous gaze on an archetypally perfect housewife and… More
An uproariously witty satire on "petty" bourgeois American values, John Waters brings his own distinctive madness to the screen by focussing on cardboard cut-out caricatures of pop culture Americana. Turning his outrageous gaze on an archetypally perfect housewife and mother from the Baltimore suburbs in Maryland, supportive to her loving husband and teenage kids and possessing a real tlent for cooking, it appears that she is everything a stable, hard-working business man could want. However, there is a slight catch. She is also a serial killer. Mom's tendency to take bloody revenge on any poor neighbouring housewife who fails to observe her rigid socially acceptable guidelines, like not recycling rubbish or driving too fast, is so barmy you are sure to find it absurdly and darkly funny. Kathleen Turner, alternating between dizzy, unquestioning devotion to her family and clinically cool, yet psychotic anger to offending neighbours, either appears to possess a martyr's yellow halo above her head, denoting divine lightness and freshness, or a focussed smile as she carefully contemplates her next victim. If you are on the lookout for some perfectly vibrant, yet malicious black comedy, subscribe to "Serial Mom", one of the most ruthless, patronising skits on good manners and nosey, voyeuristic neighbours ever to hit the screen. If you like Waters' latest irreverent venture into visceral, cutting black humour, then get all his other movies, because they are all even more extreme and grotesque - "Pink Flamingos", "Hairspray", "Cry Baby" - all kitschy, underrated classics in their own right.
Stephen M

A bit too slick, safe and mainstream for some Waters die-hards, this is still a great vehicle for Kathleen Turner. Some of it works splendidly, for example the old woman getting murdered while watching "Annie" is a hoot. Basil Poledouris' terrifically schmaltzy score… More
A bit too slick, safe and mainstream for some Waters die-hards, this is still a great vehicle for Kathleen Turner. Some of it works splendidly, for example the old woman getting murdered while watching "Annie" is a hoot. Basil Poledouris' terrifically schmaltzy score suits proceedings perfectly. Favourite line: "Help me, Betty! He's worse than the dentist in the "Marathon Man!""
Candy R

Very funny movie about a housewife who becomes a serial killer in order to protect her family and make the neighbourhood a better place.
Lafe F

This movie is a hilarious piece of cinema! A classic! Kathleen Turner is hilarious as the mom with a nasty side to her. It's suburban life turned upside down. Sam Waterston is hilarious as her husband who is slowly catching on that something is up with his wife. The kids Ricki… More
This movie is a hilarious piece of cinema! A classic! Kathleen Turner is hilarious as the mom with a nasty side to her. It's suburban life turned upside down. Sam Waterston is hilarious as her husband who is slowly catching on that something is up with his wife. The kids Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard are hip and cool. There are so many good and naughty scenes in this movie; my friends have a chuckle discussing all of them.
xGary X

This enjoyably tasteless comedy from John Waters is easily his most commercial film. A fun suburban satire in a similar vein to Heathers.
Cindy I

John Waters strikes again. Not nearly as disgusting as Pink Flamingoes nor as much fun as Crybaby, but listening to Kathleen Turner talk dirty to people on the phone while she's dressed like June Cleaver is pretty funny.
Michael G

Funny as all hell. The last John Waters movie that was actually great.
Laurence C

This typically Waters-esque smackdown of a Stepford-lite suburban community is slightly routine but thoroughly enjoyable. Resolutely thin on the satirizing altogether, the film nevertheless remains tight and focused enough to keep its momentum, and draw more than just a few big yuks… More
This typically Waters-esque smackdown of a Stepford-lite suburban community is slightly routine but thoroughly enjoyable. Resolutely thin on the satirizing altogether, the film nevertheless remains tight and focused enough to keep its momentum, and draw more than just a few big yuks along the way. The biggest reason to see this is obviously Kathleen Turner's fierce, devilishly amusing performance. Well worth checking out.
Emily B

Best part is the scenes between Kathleen Turner and Mink Stole. Dottie Hinkle: Hello? Beverly Sutphin: Is this the Cocksucker residence? Dottie Hinkle: God damn you! Stop calling here! Beverly Sutphin: Is this 4215 Pussy Way? Dottie Hinkle: You bitch! Beverly Sutphin: Now… More
Best part is the scenes between Kathleen Turner and Mink Stole. Dottie Hinkle: Hello? Beverly Sutphin: Is this the Cocksucker residence? Dottie Hinkle: God damn you! Stop calling here! Beverly Sutphin: Is this 4215 Pussy Way? Dottie Hinkle: You bitch! Beverly Sutphin: Now let me check the zip code. Two-one-two-fuck-you? Dottie Hinkle: The police are tracing this call this very minute. Beverly Sutphin: Well, Dottie Hinkle, then why aren't they here, huh, fuckface?
Sunil J

Wow. This was a pretty fun movie that I've always meant to see but just never got around to. It's pretty funny and Kathleen Turner is charming as a serial killer.
Chosen 7

Good film, very entertaining.