La terza madre 2007

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Mother of Tears may not stand tall in Argento's body of viscera-laden work, but this final chapter of a loosely defined trilogy is refreshingly old school in its trashiness. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Italian director Dario Argento is revered by hard-core horror fans for his gothic, over-the-top thrillers, but even the patience of his most devoted followers will be sorely tested by Mother of Tears: The Third Mother. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: [Argento's] odyssey has a little Harry Potter, a little Da Vinci Code, and enough splatter to make the late Lucio Fulci dash his brains against the inside of his coffin for the chance to come back and top it. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Argento is admired for his voluptuous use of color and his operatic bloodletting; this is lovely to look at, if you can stand to. Read more

Scott Tobias, AV Club: Mother Of Tears at least has some of the go-for-broke gothic spirit of [Argento's] earlier work. He's just lost the ability to shape it into something artful. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Mother of Tears transcends camp without forsaking it. Argento pitches the proceedings toward the ridiculous (his pacing is as perfect as some of the witches' breasts are fake) but only in the name of reaching a new cheesy sublime. Read more

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: Although The Mother of Tears teeters on the preposterous and awkward, it is diverting and reveals that the filmmaker's signature bravura flourishes and use of sinister settings are still intact. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: In The Mother of Tears, the last installment of the 'witch trilogy' that began, three decades ago, with Suspiria, an excavated urn unleashes a torrent of homicidal madness in Rome. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Dario Argento's ketchupy brand of horror hasn't aged well, nor have his sexual politics. Enjoyably campy at first, then offensive and ultimately just bad. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: The gore is simply midnight-movie disgusting. And the ending is rushed and flat -- as if it had been tacked on by another hand. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Much of this spooky-spirits-in-Rome chiller is by the numbers. Read more

V.A. Musetto, New York Post: The film lacks the visual class of previous Argento efforts and relies more on shocks than suspense. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: The final installment of filmmaker Argento's Three Mothers series, this rollicking scarefest boasts roving bands of leggy witches, blundering priests, and voices from Beyond. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The Mother of Tears is wild and untamed, a celebratory feat of gonzo artistry. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Aside from being vile and repellent, it's mainly dull -- old-fashioned in its shock tactics and culminating in a ho-hum climax. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: The visuals are vibrant and fans of Argento's bravura bloodletting will thrill to his imaginative use of pikes, entrails and his daughter, who performs a shower scene for Dear Old Dad. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: Although lacking helmer's usual aesthetic panache, this Mother is a cheesy, breathless future camp classic. Read more

Variety: Read more

Jim Ridley, Village Voice: A once-great director's near-worst work passes through its funhouse plumbing and emerges from the crapper as intentional mischief: self-sabotage explained away as mad genius. Read more