In honor of Mother’s Day, we here at Well Told Tales came up with our top 10 moms from horror, sci-fi and crime/hardboiled films.

Chime in on the comments section if you think we missed someone.

Happy Mother’s Day!

10. “Pamela Voorhees” (Betsy Palmer) from “Friday the 13th”

Pamela was not above slapping around promiscuous camp counselors who wronged her hockey mask-wearing boy, “Jason,” as you can see in the clip below, from 1980’s “Friday the 13th”. Murder, of course, is also in her repertoire.

Though she played such a devoted on-screen mother, her reaction to the script when she was first offered the role was a bit less-than-devoted: “What a piece of junk! Nobody is ever going to see this piece of crap.” (So says Wikipedia, at least.)

9. “Rosemary Woodhouse” (Mia Farrow) from “Rosemary’s Baby”

Poor Rosemary had a hellish pregnancy in this 1968 classic, written and directed by Roman Polanski and based on the novel by Ira Levin. And despite the intrusion of elderly, satan-worshipping neighbors and her child’s questionable paternity, Rosemary did sing a heckuva lullaby.

8. “Vernita Green” (Vivica A. Fox) from “Kill Bill: Vol. 1″

It’s tough to be a working mom, as illustrated by “Vernita Green” (Vivica A. Fox) in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino flick, “Kill Bill: Vol. 1″. During a fight to the death with “The Bride” (Uma Thurman), a school bus pulls up to drop off Vernita’s young daughter. Awkard!

7. “Diane Freeling” (Jobeth Williams) from “Poltergeist”

Diane dances on the ceiling, swims with skeletons (real, btw) in the muddy hole that was her unfinished swimming pool and goes through a portal to the spirit world for the sake of her kids in this 1982 film, directed by Tobe Hooper and co-written by Stephen Spielberg.

And she looks good in a football jersey doing it all.

6. “Wendy Torrance” (Shelley Duvall) from “The Shining”

Jack Nicholson (deservedly) garners loads of accolades for his portrayal of “Jack Torrance” in 1980’s “The Shining.” But no one does blubbering/terrified better than Shelley Duvall, as evidenced by the clip below. Author Stephen King is no fan of the movie that Stanley Kubrick made based on his novel … but he might be the only one who isn’t.

5. “Sarah Connor” (Linda Hamilton) in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”

Sure, her kid was a delinquent in foster care. But you can’t blame mom for that — she was locked up in a loony bin after her “Terminator” hijinks.

When her boy gets into life-threatening trouble, Sarah comes through like nobody’s business. And, man, is she buff.

4. “Mrs. Bates” from “Psycho”

A boy’s best friend is his mother. So says “Norman Bates” (Anthony Perkins) in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 classic “Psycho.” Maybe he’s right, but when a grown man starts sharing housedresses with mom, it’s probably time for a check-up from the neck up (or at least an express check-out for the guests at the Bates Motel.)

3. “Margaret White” (Piper Laurie) from “Carrie”

Sure, nowadays, mothers know that advice like “They’re all going to laugh at you!” is not healthy for a child’s esteem. But “Carrie,” the 1976 film directed by Brian DePalma and based on Stephen King’s novel, was from a different era. Magaret was simply trying to keep her daughter “Carrie” (Sissy Spacek) out of hell.

Some other fun Margaret White quotes (from the IMDB):
Margaret White: Carrie, you haven’t touched your apple cake.
Carrie: It gives me pimples, Mama.
Margaret White: Pimples are the Lord’s way of chastising you.

…

Margaret White: I can see your dirty pillows. Everyone will.
Carrie: Breasts, Mama. They’re called breasts, and every woman has them.

…

Margaret White: I should’ve killed myself when he put it in me. After the first time, before we were married, Ralph promised never again. He promised, and I believed him. But sin never dies. Sin never dies. At first, it was all right. We lived sinlessly. We slept in the same bed, but we never did it. And then, that night, I saw him looking down at me that way. We got down on our knees to pray for strength. I smelled the whiskey on his breath. Then he took me. He took me, with the stink of filthy roadhouse whiskey on his breath, and I liked it. I liked it! With all that dirty touching of his hands all over me. I should’ve given you to God when you were born, but I was weak and backsliding, and now the devil has come home. We’ll pray.

2. “Ma Jarrett” (Margaret Wycherly) from “White Heat”

Ma Jarrett was the doting mother and closest confidante of criminal gang leader “Cody Jarrett” (James Cagney) in the 1949 classic gangster film noir “White Heat.”

Whenever the borderline insane Cody suffered one of his migraine headaches, Ma Bailey was there to comfort him. She also helped to keep his gang members — and scheming wife “Verna” (Virgina Mayo) — in line.

After a botched prison hit on her boy, Ma Jarrett goes for revenge. When she ends up dead, Cody goes throws a one-man riot in the prison mess hall, eventually escapes and ends up, “on top of the world, ma.”

1. TIE — “Ellen Ripley,” (Sigourney Weaver)/ “Alien queen” from “Aliens”

Two mothers — well, Ripley is a surrogate, really — engage in the ultimate intergalactic catfight in the climax of this 1986 action/sci-fi masterpiece written and directed by James Cameron.

Ripley is trying to protect “Newt” (Carrie Henn), the feral child/sole survivor rescued from an alien-infested planetoid.

The alien queen is looking for payback (Ripley toasted a few hundred of her children), along with a snack, possibly, and hosts for her next batch of hatchlings.

Never has a futuristic forklift seemed so cool.

Did we miss anyone? Let us know!