Intensity: 🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Jon Salmon
Written by Chris Carvalho and Chris Plaushin
Being an independent horror movie maker isn’t easy. Eddie Mathews sacrifices everything in his power to keep his directing dreams alive. If that means living in his disapproving mother-in-law’s house and pitching presidential bobbleheads as a side hustle, then that’s what he has to do. The horror must be made!
This film is Jon Salmon’s feature film directorial debut, and is the first feature film from the writing/producing team of Carvalho and Plaushin. This movie is a tribute to the difficulties of getting the first dream film project to market. The production team of this film, however, has a relative wealth of experience compared to Eddie, the dreamer protagonist of The Mother, The Menacer, and Me.
Eddie’s movie, Killing Karens, is a labor of love. He casts his friends, family, and neighbors, and uses an SLR for his camera. It is bootstrap filmmaking, and every penny has to be maximized if the film is going to get made. His wife is expecting a second child, and they are living in his mother-in-law’s ceramic gnome-filled ranch house. This is as far from the Hollywood experience as you can get.
This movie celebrates that spirit.
The Cast of The Mother, The Menacer, and Me:
- James Austin Kerr plays Eddie Mathews, the struggling independent film director whose boyhood dreams live on through his movies. He believes that his dream of getting into a prestigious film festival is within reach with Killing Karens.
- Lorraine Bracco plays the titular Mom, Nancy, who thinks little of Eddie, and who believes her daughter could have done much better in marriage.
- Christine Spang plays Anna, Eddie’s wife, who tolerates Eddie’s dream chasing but wants to remain in Wisconsin near her family. She is late in her pregnancy as the movie begins.
- Alfonso Caballero plays Joe Adcock, Eddie’s best friend since childhood. He was a local high school baseball legend, and now he is Eddie’s production assistant and biggest confidant.
- Kellan Tetlow plays Billy, Eddie and Anna’s son, and a budding thespian. He reveres his dad to a fault, getting in trouble for embracing his dad’s love of horror. You can’t bring those props to show and tell.
- Brian Tichnell plays Kevin Koslofski, Anna’s dim-witted hockey-crazed brother who lives in the garage. He’s a bully with Eddie, but he will come in to help out Eddie when he needs him the most.
- Jeremy Luke plays Bob Hawkins, a legendary horror director who has fallen on hard times. Eddie reveres him, though, and relies on him for professional advice.
- Lea Remini plays Karen Brazo Fuerte, an actress clinging to her glory days, who is now the director of the Hollywood Elites Film Festival.
- Monica Bhatnagar plays Doctor Kendra, Anna’s OBGYN doctor, whose love of horror movies gets her cast in Killing Karens.
- Jason Furlani plays Dave Casper, the film’s original Menacer, who turns out to be creepier in real life than the Menacer himself.
A Synopsis of The Mother, The Menacer, and Me:
Eddie is a dreamer. He and his best pal Joe are making a movie. An Autobiographic horror tale. When they were kids, a bitter middle-aged woman accused Joe of destroying her mailbox simply because he was a black kid holding a baseball bat. This inspired a revenge tale: Killing Karens. Even though they were powerless to fight the Karen, they could dispatch her likeness in their film. The movie features The Menacer, a grim reaper-like specter who bloodily dispatches the hypersensitive, entitled, and highly annoying neighborhood wrongful accusers.
Eddie dreams that one of his films will be selected for a film festival. Modest goals, to be sure. Unfortunately, even his humble aspirations are more than he can afford as an independent filmmaker. And now, his wife Anne is pregnant with their second child, and is due soon. She is effectively out of the workforce, and His boyish habits endear him to his son Billy, who shares his mischievous behaviour, but that same whimsy makes his Mother-in-law think of him as a walking failure.
Fortunately, horror movies can be done on the cheap. Eddie gets some much-needed advice from a past-his-prime horror directing legend, Bob Hawkins. Hawkins encourages him to make a signature kill for his movie, ensuring it stands out. Production issues plague the shoot. The cops arrest Dave, the Menacer, for being a “porch pirate”. This triggers a whole domino chain of problems that Eddie struggles with. But Eddie gets his signature kill when he recruits Dr. Kendra to be his titular Karen and rigs up a gory power drill gag. He knows he might have a winning formula. As he dives deeper into his movie, he also receives advice from the Menacer himself, who growls encouragement… though not always helpful advice.
That premonition becomes reality when Killing Karens is selected to screen at the Hollywood Elites Film Festival. However, the adage of “Beware what you ask for…” becomes clear. How much is Eddie willing to sacrifice for his art? His family? Pride? Artistic integrity? Hollywood is the devil he wished for, and now he might get it.
Evaluation of The Mother, The Menacer, and Me
There is some direct irony in this film. It is tailor-made for film festivals, and I caught this through the Popcorn Frights Film Festival. Certainly, there are some autobiographical currents running through the plot, but the team shows a lot more polish than Eddie’s Killing Karens. Although this is his first directorial feature, Salmon has a long-standing track record as a successful cinematographer. Additionally, the writing and producing team of Carvalho and Plaushin has produced a TV series (The Bullpen) and a horror fan film (Vorhees), so they bring some credentials to this project.
Plus, they cast the film with some recognizable faces. Not many indie starter films get an Oscar Nominee (Bracco) in their productions. It’s not just a cameo, either. Bracco is wonderful as the suspicious mom. Rather than critiquing the industry bitterly, the production team took the lighter touch. They gave the movie plenty of charm and cheeky fun. This is more of a comedy than a horror film. This is a breezy watch. I am a small horror-press critic. The film festival circuit is my lifeblood. Not surprisingly, this film speaks to me.
You do not need to be heavily invested in film festival fare to appreciate it. The humor is light, and some of the characters are caricatures, but the story is destined to put a smile on your face. James Austin Kerr carries this film. His earnestness and playful nature fully inhabit this film. Even though there is a large ensemble, this is his film, and you can’t help but fall in love with Eddie.
Closing Thoughts:
This is a fun little film that makes a fine way to pass an evening, cooling down (or warming up) before seeing a more intense horror film. Yes, the trail of bread crumbs goes pretty much where you expect, but the little humorous touches throughout will win you over. There are times when this plays out like a comfort food for Horror fans. By that, I mean that it is emotionally connected, with a heavy coating of sentimental sauce.
The characters, even the dim ones, are endearing. I think the vapidness of the Hollywood types is over-the-top, but honestly, is there an easier target than clueless studio shills? This movie has just enough gore and language to warrant a probable PG-13 rating, but nothing is entirely objectionable. However, dildos are part of the lunacy of Eddie’s situation. I hope that Kerr and Caballero receive more recognition for their performances in this movie. In fact, they should do more movies together. They have great chemistry as old buddies. And, it’s always great to see Lorraine Bracco perform. She was eating up her screen time and looked to be having a lot of fun with this.
The Mother, The Menacer, and Me was part of the Popcorn Frights Film Festival Second Wave Virtual Film Lineup. It was also the winner of Best Picture at the 2025 New York CineFest. Ghost to the Post Productions produced this movie, but it doesn’t have a distributor yet, so it will likely remain on the Festival Circuit for a few more months.
A curious side note:
Clearly, Carvalho and Plaushin are huge sports fans. Their TV sitcom, The Bullpen, is about relief pitchers in a major league expansion team. Several of the characters in this film are named after Milwaukee baseball players. Third baseman Eddie Mathews slugged his way to the Hall of Fame for the Milwaukee Braves. Joe Adcock also played for the same World Series-winning Braves teams from the 1950s. Kevin Koslofski played outfield for the Brewers in the 1990s. Bob Watkins was a pitcher for the Houston Astros for one season in 1969. I guess it would have been too obvious if they used Hank Aaron or Robin Yount, the two greatest Milwaukee baseball players of all time. Eddie Mathews is a more common name, for sure.
Nancy’s favorite porcelain gnome in her collection is Giannis, a clear reference to the Milwaukee Bucks’ Superstar power forward. Lastly, Dave Casper was a Hall-of-Fame tight End for the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s, so it’s not all a baseball thing.
Oddly, they decided to name the town they are living in Pewaukee, and not Milwaukee. I’m not sure what that was all about.
Review by Eric Li
