My mammy was a psychopathic serial killer

As Mother’s Day approaches, Ed Power selects the 10 nastiest maternal characters from the film world.

The maternal instinct turned evil is one of cinema’s most reliably disturbing tropes. What is more unsettling than a mother who, rather than tucking her darlings away at night, would rather bury them six feet under?

Consider that, without the toxic influence of his mother, Norman Bates would have probably had a long and happy life in regional hospitality. The true monster in Brian De Palma’s Carrie isn’t the eponymous protagonist — but her puritanical mater. With Mother’s Day approaching here is our countdown of the big screen’s ultimate scary mommas.