Serial Mom is a 1994 American satirical black comedy crime film directed and written by John Waters[3][4] and starring Kathleen Turner as the title character along with Sam Waterston as her husband, and Ricki Lake and Matthew Lillard as her children.

Patty Hearst, Suzanne Somers, Joan Rivers, Traci Lords, and Brigid Berlin make cameo appearances in the film.

Serial Mom was released theatrically in the United States on April 13, 1994, to mixed reviews from critics and grossed nearly $8 million.

[5][6][7] Beverly Sutphin appears to be an unassuming upper-middle-class housewife living with her dentist husband Eugene and their teenage children, Misty and Chip, in Towson, Maryland.

One morning, detectives Pike and Gracey question the family about the vulgar telephone harassment of their neighbor, Dottie Hinkle.

Eugene discovers serial killer memorabilia beneath his and Beverly's mattress, which includes recordings from Ted Bundy in the week of his execution.

Police follow the Sutphins to church on that Sunday as Beverly is named as the prime suspect in the Sterners' murders.

Chip encounters regular customer Mrs. Jenson and fines her for neglecting to rewind her rented videotapes before returning them, whereupon she insults him.

Actresses considered for the role of Beverly Sutphin before Turner was cast included Meryl Streep, Kathy Bates, Glenn Close, and Julie Andrews.

In his 2019 book Mr. Know-It-All, Waters states that studio executives who viewed an early cut objected to its violence and dark comedy.

[11]: 73–74  Acrimony between the two sides intensified following a poor test screening, which Waters believed was deliberately held before a conservative audience unlikely to enjoy the film.

Smith intervened with a column titled "Leave Serial Mom Alone", publicizing the situation, and Savoy eventually relented on its demands.

The website's consensus reads: "Kathleen Turner proves an ideal match for John Waters' suburban satire in Serial Mom, even if the somewhat scattershot end results often lack the expected bite.

"[20] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 64 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

[25][24][10] In 2008, Slant Magazine critic Eric Henderson called Serial Mom "the strongest film of the post-midnight-movie chapter of John Waters's career.