We decided to be charitable and give you these results early so you can discuss them with your own moms on Sunday. Just don’t fight her on who should be in the number one spot at brunch; let’s keep it classy.
5. Barbara, Shaun of the Dead
This fifth-place spot was a toughy since it’s shared with Rachel Keller from The Ring series. While Rachel tries her best against the ghostly tortures of Samara Morgan, Barbara was simply the obvious pick because…I mean, come on, she’s so sweet! She wouldn’t hurt a fly, let alone the pajama-clad zombie that bit her! Punctuating her tragic demise by thanking her son for being by her side, made watching such a wonderful movie mom pass away just a little bit more painful and infinitely more memorable.
4. Laurie Strode, Halloween Series
At the bottom of our top five list resides a horror movie legend who sparked a conversation between us here at Horror Press over what it means to be a good mother in the face of pure evil. Does the bad of spending your life preparing against your immortal nemesis and instilling fear in your child get canceled out by the good of protecting them? Despite her icon status, Laurie’s troubled past makes her undoubted love for her daughter and granddaughter come out in a strange and bloody way.
3.Pamela Voorhees, Friday the 13th
If we’re talking ride or die moms? Pamela is not the one to play with here, and the weird jump in votes shows that. Not only is she the first of the Friday series’ killers and, by extension, an icon of the genre, but she’s also kind of killing for a good reason?
Obviously, not every Camp Crystal Lake Counselor is culpable for bullying done by a bunch of prepubescents. Still, it’s very clear throughout the series that the campgrounds are somehow magnetized to attract jerks. Everything she does is an extension of her grieving for her son; in a way, she’s the most tragic mother figure on this list, and its clear that voters celebrate her for it.
2. Heather Langenkamp/Nancy Thompson, New Nightmare
The star of Wes Craven’s weird and highly underrated meta-fiction movie garnered a surprising number of votes, given the resident Freddy destroyer found herself at the bottom of the last list. Call it a comeback, I guess. Playing a fictionalized version of herself that’s fused with her Elm Street character’s legacy; this is the film where Heather kind of does the most and gets kicked into mama bear overdrive trying to save her son Dylan. Running across a highway, getting hit by a Pontiac, and straight-up fist fighting Freddy hand to hand in his demon lair. While she personally isn’t my pick, I fully understand why the ferocity she’s fighting with has landed her in your corner, dear voter.
1. Wendy Torrance from The Shining…& Chris McNeil from The Exorcist
But these two? These two are fully my pick.
It feels like a bit of a no-brainer that these two would reach the #1 spot in a tie, especially given their similarities. Both are women with huge hearts, thrust into situations where spectral beings haunt them. One may be ghosts and the other an ancient demon, but toma-toe tomat-o, potato Pazuzu, it’s all relative.
What matters most is their responses and drive to fight for Danny and Regan bely an intense love for their son and daughter. Whether it’s pea soup vomit and inventively crude expletives, or deranged husbands spurred by hotel-bound phantoms, the unreal performances of both Shelley Duvall and Sharon Glass show off the resilience of a mother’s love and the lengths they’ll go to to keep their child safe.
See you for the next survey, horror fans!