Serial Mom Review

Messages: As part of the satire Beverly is a "role model" American housewife to the utmost -- perfectly mannered and spotlessly domestic -- when she isn't a profanity-spewing, murderous, manipulative sexpot psycho. Her husband and kids (normal, except for a gore-movie-loving son) vow to unconditionally love her even if she is insane.

Violence: Characters are stabbed (one character's viscera comes off on the rapier), one run over by a car, others bashed to death, and one set on fire. Gory excerpts from slasher movies.

Sex: Glimpse of nudie magazines and a topless woman on vintage exploitation video (to which a character masturbates). Mrs. Sutphin and her husband have loud sex (but stay clothed in sleepwear). References to pornography and perversion.

Language: Beverly makes horrible obscene phone calls to the neighbor, heavy on the c-sucker word, later making the victim break down in a swearing fit herself. "A-hole," the S-word, and more. For what it's worth, this same Jekyll/Hyde heroine disapproves of using profanity.

Consumerism: Mention of other movies, with favorable critiques for the adults-only horror movies Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer and Blood Feast, negative ones about family-friendly fare like Annie and Bill Cosby. A joke about a Pee-wee Herman doll, shots of major department stores and breakfast cereals. Mention of clothing labels.

Drinking, drugs and smoking: Reference to a character being a "pothead." Social drinking.