Mommas from hell

Mother's Day is fast approaching and lots of guys are moaning over the fact they are going to have to do something nice for mom.

In Hollywood, moms are usually treated as special women who are sweet and kind and loving, and did I say sweet?

You know the kind of movie moms I mean. Myrna Loy raising 12 children and keeping a handle on her husband in "Cheaper by the Dozen." Or more recently, Bonnie Hunt doing the trick in the remake and its sequel.

But sometimes, filmmakers turn the tables and create movie moms who are as nasty as Klingons and a little off upstairs.

Anjelica Huston, who played a nice Irish mom in "Agnes Browne," is a cold, manipulative con artist whose son (John Cusack) is a cold, manipulative con artist in "The Grifters." The ending is chilling.

In 1993, Holly Hunter stars as a murdering mom in "The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom."

Here are six movies available on video and DVD that are sure to make you worship your own mom on Sunday.

"Throw Momma from the Train" (1987) -- Danny DeVito concocts a plan to murder Billy Crystal's shrewish ex-wife if Crystal will return the favor and dispose of DeVito's overbearing and acid-tongued mom (Anne Ramsey, who was also a nasty mom in "Goonies.")

"Mommie Dearest" (1981) -- Christina Crawford (Diana Scarwid) painted her adopted mother Joan Crawford (Faye Dunaway) as an abusive harpy in her memoirs that were the basis for this biopic. Wire hangers, anybody?

"Public Enemies" (1996) -- Theresa Russell stars as an overly possessive Ma Barker in this glorified look at her bank-robbing brood that terrorized the Midwest in the 1930s. Other stars include Eric Roberts and Alyssa Milano. This is one of those films that is so bad, it's good.

"Mother's Boys" (1994) -- Jamie Lee Curtis stars as a troubled mom who returns after walking out on her husband (Peter Gallagher) and sons three years earlier. They want nothing to do with her, but she won't take "no" for an answer.

"Serial Mom" (1994) -- Kathleen Turner is all sugar and spice until you mess with her family. That's when she pulls out the butcher knife and becomes Serial Mom in this John Waters black comedy. It has most of Waters' usual stars including Ricki Lake, Traci Lords and Patricia Hearst.

"Ever After" (1998) -- Anjelica Huston (again) is the evil stepmother of Drew Barrymore in this above-average adaptation of "Cinderella."