The Dead Mother

Ismael (Karra Elejalde, Timecrimes) breaks into the house of a fine art restorer and shoots the homeowner dead, leaving her daughter orphaned and traumatized for life. Years later Ismael is working in a bar where he sees the daughter again. Paranoid that she has recognised him and will report him, he kidnaps her and holds her hostage, demanding that her hospital pay a ransom for her release. As he spends more time with her, a strange bond develops that causes him to delay the ransom request or fulfil his threats of throwing her in front of a train. But he can’t delay forever… A gothic thriller with pitch-black humour that recalls the Coen brothers, Juanma Bajo Ulloa’s sophomore feature won a host of prestigious international awards and was a precursor to the Spanish genre explosion.

BLU-RAY LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:

• 4K restoration of the film supervised and approved by director Juanma Bajo Ulloa
• Uncompressed stereo 2.0 audio
• Audio commentary by Bajo Ulloa
• The Story of The Dead Mother - a documentary on the making of the film featuring behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew (2008, 38 mins)
• Victor’s Kingdom [El reino de Victor] - Goya Award-winning short film by Ulloa, restored in 4K (1989, 38 mins)
• Gallery of behind-the-scenes and promotional imagery
• Trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
• Limited edition booklet featuring new writing on the film by Xavier Aldana Reyes, author of Spanish Gothic: National Identity, Collaboration and Cultural Adaptation, and newly translated archival writing by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, co-writer Eduardo Bajo Ulloa and an appreciation by Nacho Vigalondo
• Limited edition soundtrack CD featuring Bingen Mendizábal’s sumptuous score [exclusive to the limited edition]
• Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings 

Bundle: Add The Dead Mother and Scream and Scream Again to your basket and receive 10% off! Valid until July 5th.

This item is included in the Bundle Package "Jun-Dec 2023 Bundle", you will receive this release if you ordered the bundle.

Also available in USA/Canada from our partners MVD, Diabolik, RoughCut Canada and others 

Year: 1993
Cert: 18
Format: Blu-ray
Region: ABC
RAD024BDLE
EAN: 5060974680467
Release date: 02/10/23

Press:

“Sumptuously shot in ravishing painterly hues of crimson blood red, earth brown and twilight blue, this film sets up and explores a compelling set of relationships between its protagonists and achieves a series of riveting suspense set pieces.” - Jeremy Clarke, What’s on in London

“Plays with conventions of both the thriller and the jet-lack comedy. The result is an uncompromising and frequently nasty film with a bizarrely tender undertow” - Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

“A sick but haunting Spanish thriller” - Anne Billson, Sunday Telegraph

"La Madre Muerta is a true gem of a film, one that shocks and compels and remains every bit as vital a piece of work today as it must have been the day it was released." - Todd Brown, - Screen Anarchy