''Ed and His Dead Mother'' is a 1993 American

dark comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discus ...

film starring

Steve Buscemi Steven Vincent Buscemi ( ,As stated in interviews by Buscemi himself, some may insist that his pronunciation of his own name is "wrong" because it does not match the original Italian pronunciation as well. It is not uncommon for people to pronou ...

Miriam Margolyes Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The ...

, and

Ned Beatty Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in ...

Plot

Ed Chilton inherits his family's hardware store following the death of his beloved mother, Mabel. He lives with his maternal uncle, Benny, who appears to be happy that his annoying sister is out of his life. One morning, Ed is approached at work by salesman A. J. Pattle, who offers to resurrect Ed's mother for $1000. Ed is skeptical, but Pattle insists that it must be done immediately, as she has been dead for too long to risk further delays. Ed accepts, which disturbs Uncle Benny, who believes the act to be unethical. Over time, Mabel's behavior becomes increasingly bizarre and unacceptable. When she begins scaring the neighbors and chasing dogs with a knife, Ed is forced to admit that something is wrong. He seeks help from Pattle, but the salesman wants more money. Eventually, Ed accepts that he must move on and let his mother die. Out of self-defense, he decapitates Mabel and later says goodbye to her, but the head comes back to life and bites him on the lip when he gives her a final kiss. Disgusted, he throws the head into the grave, finally free of his overbearing mother.

Cast

as Ed Chilton *

as Uncle Benny * John Glover as A. J. Pattle *

as Mabel Chilton *

Sam Jenkins Sandra Lynn "Sam" Sorbo ( née Jenkins; born October 18, 1964) is an American actress. She played Serena in the television series ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'' and hosts the weekday, syndicated radio program, ''The Sam Sorbo Show''. C ...

as Storm Reynolds *

Gary Farmer Gary Dale Farmer (born June 12, 1953) is a Canadian actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as Nobody in the films ''Dead Man'' (1995) and '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'' (1999), and for his role in '' Smoke Signals'' (1 ...

as Big Lar *

Jon Gries Jonathan Gries ( '; born June 17, 1957) is an American actor, writer, and director. He is best known for the role of Uncle Rico in '' Napoleon Dynamite '' for which he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male, and ...

as Rob Sundheimer * Robert Harvey as Mr. Anderson *

Rance Howard Rance Howard (born Harold Engle Beckenholdt; November 17, 1928 – November 25, 2017) was an American actor who starred in film and on television. He was the father of actor and filmmaker Ron Howard and actor Clint Howard, and grandfather of actr ...

as Reverend Praxton *

Biff Yeager Biff Yeager is an American actor. He has appeared in many TV series including ''Gilmore Girls''. Career Yeager has appeared in such TV shows as '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', ''The Wonder Years'', and '' Scrubs''. He played Lieutenant Com ...

as Cop

Release

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

released ''Ed and His Dead Mother'' to a single theater in Los Angeles. It made $673.

Fox Entertainment Group Fox Entertainment Group was an American entertainment company specialised in filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were folded into various Disney units. Th ...

released it on home video in January 1994, and Pathfinder Home Entertainment released it on DVD in June 2003.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, a

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, reports that 50% of six surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 5.4/10. Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote that "flat, uninspired direction" ruins the film despite the cast and script. Adam Tyner of

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

rated it 2/5 stars and called it a "limp and lifeless" film that does not stack up to ''

Dead Alive ''Braindead'' (also known as ''Dead Alive'' in North America) is a 1992 New Zealand zombie comedy film directed by Peter Jackson, produced by Jim Booth, and written by Jackson, along with Fran Walsh and Stephen Sinclair. It stars Timot ...

''. Patrick Naugle of

DVD Verdict DVD Verdict was a judicial-themed website for DVD reviews. The site was founded in 1999. The editor-in-chief was Michael Stailey, who owned the website between 2004 and 2016, and the site employed a large editorial staff of critics, whose reviews ...

called it a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

that plays like a watered-down, PG-rated version of ''Dead Alive''. Conversely, Stina Chyn of ''

Film Threat ''Film Threat'' is an online film review publication, and earlier, a national magazine that focused primarily on independent film, although it also reviewed videos and DVDs of mainstream films, as well as Hollywood movies in theaters. It first ...

'' rated it 4/5 stars and called it "an eccentric gem". Author Glenn Kay wrote that the film initially frustrated horror film fans due to its lack of gore, but it offers "plenty of chuckles" to open-minded viewers.

References

External links

* *{{rotten-tomatoes, ed_and_his_dead_mother 1993 films 1990s comedy horror films American independent films American comedy horror films American zombie comedy films ITC Entertainment films Films set in Iowa Films scored by Mason Daring 1993 comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films