Serial Mom(1994)

Plot Summary

• Beverly Sutphin appears to be an unassuming upper-middle-class housewife living with her dentist husband Eugene and their teenage children, Misty and Chip, in Towson, Maryland. In truth, she is a sociopathic serial killer who murders people over trivial slights or offenses.One morning, detectives Pike and Gracey question the family about the vulgar telephone harassment of their neighbor, Dottie Hinkle. It is later revealed that Beverly is the perpetrator, and began harassing Dottie after she took a parking space from Beverly. Later that day, Beverly vengefully runs over Chip's math teacher, Mr. Stubbins, with her car after he condemns Chip's interest in horror films at a PTA meeting. This ends up witnessed by Luann Hodges, a stoner girl. Later, Misty is upset when her crush, Carl, stands her up for a date. Beverly spots Carl with another girl at a swap meet and fatally stabs him with a fire poker in the restroom. This ends up witnessed, unknowingly to Beverly, by pervert Marvin Pickles from a stall.Eugene discovers serial killer memorabilia beneath his and Beverly's mattress, which includes recordings from Ted Bundy on the week of his execution. During dinner that evening, Chip mentions his friend Scotty's suspicions about Beverly being the killer. Beverly leaves, leaving the family afraid that she intends to kill Scotty in order to silence him. They race to Scotty's house; Beverly, however, intends to kill Ralph and Betty Sterner, a couple who had called Eugene to treat the former's toothache earlier in the daytime; Eugene and Beverly planned to spend that time bird-watching. She is further triggered by watching the Sterners eat roast chicken, in addition to Ralph ignoring her husband's instructions to avoid sweets, as he slices a piece of chocolate cake. As the Sterners prepare to watch Wheel of Fortune, Beverly stabs Betty with scissors and pushes an air conditioning box from the window onto Ralph as he runs for help. Meanwhile, the rest of the family and the police arrive at Scotty's house, only to find him masturbating to a porn film, much to Scotty's embarrassment.Police follow the Sutphins to church on that Sunday as Beverly is named as the prime suspect in the Sterners' murders. The service, whose homily is subtitled "Capital Punishment and You", abruptly ends when everyone flees in panic after Beverly sneezes onto a baby; in the confusion, Beverly escapes as police attempt to arrest her. She hides at the video store where Chip is employed. Chip encounters regular customer Mrs. Jenson and fines her for neglecting to rewind her rented videotapes before returning them, whereupon she insults him. Beverly follows her home and fatally strikes her with a leg of lamb as she watches Annie. Scotty witnesses the attack nearby, but Beverly discovers him and gives chase, eventually concluding at a grunge club. Beverly immolates Scotty during a rock concert, the concert-goers and the rock band Camel Lips (played by real-life rock band L7) dismissing this as a mere floor show. The Sutphins arrive as Beverly is arrested.Beverly's trial becomes a media sensation. Beverly's lawyer, a friend of the Sutphins, claims that she is not guilty by reason of insanity, but is promptly dismissed when Beverly requests, to defend herself. Beverly proves to be formidable when she causes Dottie to break down in an obscenity laced rant against Beverly (resulting in Dottie being held in contempt of court), coerces Rosemary to admit she doesn't recycle (Rosemary is also further implicated in Beverly's crimes), exposes Det. Gracey to be into transgender porn and teases Marvin Pickles into committing perjury on the witness stand. Luann Hodges, the only witness who actually saw her commit a crime, is intoxicated and thus unable to provide credible testimony. The courtroom, including the judge, is distracted by the arrival of Suzanne Somers, who has been cast as Beverly in a television film, just as Det. Pike is providing a crucial testimony.Beverly is acquitted of all charges. Eugene and the kids vow to always stay on her good side. She expresses contempt for juror #8 for wearing white shoes after Labor Day, even as she professes that she knew Beverly was innocent all this time. Beverly follows her to a payphone alcove and fatally strikes her with the receiver. After that, Somers angers Beverly into an outburst while being forced to pose for a photo op. The juror's body is then discovered and Beverly gives Somers a knowing look.A postscript states that Beverly Sutphin refused to cooperate with the making of this film.

Storyline

• A picture perfect middle class family is shocked when they find out that one of their neighbors is receiving obscene phone calls. The mom takes slights against her family very personally, and it turns out she is indeed the one harassing the neighbor. As other slights befall her beloved family, the body count begins to increase, and the police get closer to the truth, threatening the family's picture perfect world. — Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com> The Sutphins - dentist father Eugene, housewife mother Beverly, and late teen children, boy-crazy and flea market aficionado Misty, and horror movie fan Chip - are a stereotypical suburban family living in Baltimore. Beverly in particular is seen as being "perfect" in her quest to be just like the television mothers of the late 1950s. In that perfection, Beverly does and will not tolerate anything against her sensibilities, especially if it affects her or her family, and will take whatever measure to ensure people adhere to that sensibility... or else. Slowly, evidence mounts that Beverly is the perpetrator of obscene telephone calls to neighbor Dottie Hinkle, and the murders of several people in their neighborhood who have crossed their family in some form or another. Beverly laughs off such suggestions, but even her family members end up believing she is guilty of all the murders, with possibly more to come. Those accusations end up being not an issue to most in the Sutphin family, who use their fifteen minutes of fame to their advantage. Even Beverly believes that she can clear herself of all charges despite the overwhelming evidence against her. — Huggo She's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy. Beverly Sutphin's murderous habits turn her into a media celebrity in John Waters' sharp-edged satire on family life, tabloid TV, video store customers who don't rewind, and other topics. — Anonymous