Every mom is, in their own special way, kind of a hero. But in movies, our moms are sometimes total badasses.
How do movie moms go from maternal bliss to vengeful bloodletting? The same way they would in real life: somebody just has to mess with their kids. Very few bonds are stronger than the one we typically find between a mother and her child, so threatening those kids is definitely going to unleash a tiger. And in movie moms, that tiger is also kind of a terminator.
Also: The Top 15 Deadbeat Movie Parents
We’ve scoured the library of Netflix to find the most badass of badass movie moms, the ones in who thrill us and make us pump our fists. To these movie moms and to everyone’s real life mothers, we wish you all a happy Mother’s Day, full of good times and heroic thrills!
The Badass Movie Moms of Netflix:
Top Photo: RADiUS-TWC / Dimension Films
The Badass Movie Moms of Netflix
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Cujo
Dee Wallace must protect her young son from a rabid dog for days on end, when their car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. Over 30 years later, Cujo is still one of the best, scariest films ever adapted from the works of Stephen King.
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Everly
Salma Hayek kicks all kinds of ass in Everly, a film that basically boils down to "Die Hard in Just One Room." Hayek plays a mom who has been abducted for years, and finally has her chance to escape her gangster captors. Joe Lynch directs the hell out of this movie, which gives Hayek one of her coolest roles ever.
Photo: RADiUS-TWC/Dimension
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Go For Sisters
Police officer LisaGay Hamilton's son goes missing, and she's forced to reunite with her former childhood friend (now an ex-convict) and a nearly blind detective to rescue him from a drug cartel. John Sayle's mystery is a mature mystery, thrilling and smart, and the performances are fantastic.
Photo: Variance Films
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Kill Bill: Volumes 1 and 2
A former hit woman tries to go straight, but is betrayed by her former lover and teammates. Years later she's out to avenge the death of her unborn baby, and that's the kind of rage that spills the blood of hundreds. Quentin Tarantino's awesome pastiche of 1970s action classics finds its own identity thanks in large part to Uma Thurman's stunning performance.
Photo: Miramax Films
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Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Heather Langenkamp starred in A Nightmare on Elm Street, but in Wes Craven's ingenious sequel she's facing the boogeyman in the real world, trying to save her own son from Freddy Krueger before Craven's creation becomes real. It only SOUNDS like a silly idea. Wes Craven's New Nightmare is one of the very best horror films of the 1990s.
Photo: New Line Cinema
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Witness
Kelly McGillis plays an Amish widow whose son accidentally dangerous criminals commit murder in Peter Weir's suspenseful classic, forcing her to invite outsider Harrison Ford into her life in order to protect her child. She risks everything, including her faith and her soul, for his son. Now THAT'S badass.
Photo: Paramount Pictures
