Parents

Parents is a must see for horror buffs. Comedy and horror are two genres that seldom work. But Parents pushes that boundary and goes beyond the usual cliches one has seen over the years.This could've been a straight up slasher film, cut and dry, studios makes a few bucks, next! But that's hardly the case here. The story takes place in the 1950's, as new neighbors (The Laemel Family) take up shop in the cookie cutter suburbia.Their youngest son Michael (Brian Madorsky in his only starring role) suspects his well to do parents of having peculiar eating habits, and that his dinner may not come from the supermarket. He is plagued by disturbing nightmares because of these worries. It's too bad this was Brian's only role, the kid had the chops for it.Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt play the parents Nick and Lily to perfection. Randy is chilling as the working class father who just wants to raise his son right and clashes with him often, trying to find a middle ground as the two have nothing in common and rarely get along. His menacing presence never lets up and just when you think he will snap, he merely stays silent, which I think is extremely effective. Mary as the stay at home wife is perfect and frankly I think she outshines Quaid at some parts. She plays her well to do housewife persona with chilling precision.Sandy Dennis (In one of her last roles) plays the concerned and worn out social worker. She effortlessly brings her quirkiness to the picture with such grace and I feel her role could've been more fleshed out (pardon the pun)Even though the film is fairly short, it touches on some poignant things such as: loss of innocence, being an outsider, realizing your parents flaws, heavy stuff for horror.Parents has this wonderful undercurrent of dread throughout. I feel that newer horror films lack the atmosphere such as these older films do. A few famous 50's songs also help set the mood and the dark nightmares that haunt Michael only make this suburban Gothic tale even more macabre.I do want to point out that the film isn't a gore fest regardless of its R rating. The content is certainly disturbing, but it never goes full on Dead Alive if you know what I mean. There are a handful of nightmares Michael has, and its what you don't see that makes it more terrifying.The film is directed by character actor Bob Balaban and I have to say I wish he did more like this. Its rare to see a film that feels truly from the director and not the studio. Siskle and Ebert predicted this would be a cult classic in the years ahead, and they were right. I am so glad that Lionsgate stepped up to the plate to make their Vestron Video Line. They have joined the ranks of Arrow, Scream Factory, Criterion, and the other titans as being the next label to give films the release they deserve. The blu ray comes with a good 1080p transfer and great 2.0 DTS sound. Special features include commentaries, a recent interview with Mary Beth Hurt, Isolated score track and a few behind the scenes selections.Parents isn't an easy film to watch and its definitely an acquired taste (again sorry for the bad puns) but Vestron Blu ray comes through again to bring us a lost cult classic.

Major Spoilers Below:This film one could say is a sort of conflict between two competing ideas. The initial idea is that the parents are cannibals and on its surface I completely agree with that theory. It is what the director leads the viewer to think. The other idea, dare I get into this, is the child, that strange, quiet, unusual little boy is a serial killer in the making and his parents, albeit secretive and disturbed at least on a mild level for the wife and up to a major level for the father, are both during the course of the story victims of a murder.Let's recap:1. The story is from the boy's point of view.2. The boy has extremely violent and graphic nightmares nightly but he has no actual reason at that point to believe his parents are cannibals. This means he couldn't have been psychologically scarred yet to justify those kinds of dreams (in theory).3. In school he speaks of cat mutilation.4. He shows signs of a Sociopath such as being apathetic (therapist said boy was rude), cruel (cat mutilation interest), emotionless (catching his parents making out should have agitated him somewhat especially if he really saw blood all over them as he remembers it), remorseless (assaulting his father with bat, spying on people, trashing house, stabbing his dad, mother dead, house blown up), murderer (trying to kill his father), serial killer in making (trying to kill his father and having no expression in face whether positive or negative as he's doing it; not even fear)5. The only time you see anything implicating parents beyond doubt in cannibalistic behavior is at the end when dad say's they should move to the woods near a highway for the accidents. Since this is all from the boy's point of view, if boy is a lunatic how can we know this is what dad said? Boy got it all wrong about the make-out scene. He saw lipstick on their faces and remembers it all as blood. I know their is an argument that maybe the boy blocked the make out blood image as he saw it and later remembered the truth but that's not how the brain works. It would have to be the other way around where boy sees the blood all over parents then remembers it as just lipstick until soul searching therapy years later finally remembering it all as blood and not lipstick.6. The way the ending was set up as if the boy now suspects grandparents of cannibalism as well which suggests he'll kill them too. Why not just turn these people in? Why kill parents and now maybe grandparents? Serial Killers justify their murders as well.Conclusion: Even if the boy was correct about all of it (he could be which would explain where he got the crazy genes to be what he is), his actions are way beyond the pale of normality and deep into the territory of Sociopath Serial Killer land. I don't know if the parents were cannibals. But what I do know is that kid is one messed up little tike.Terrific movie by the way and the Vestron remaster makes this movie worth the purchase many times over.

For the year this came out it’s a pretty good movie.

Not as good as I remember. The picture and sound are perfect and it's still a pretty cool dark comedy.

I was seeking to enjoy a little of the comedic side of Randy Quaid. It's not often one finds him as the outright lead. First off the cars most especially stand out and are perfect representations of the middle-class' auto milieu of the period. Furniture and kitchen? California sleek is the goal. As to the plot, the protagonist, and such -- think of Beaver -- Leave it To Beaver -- except June feeds Beaver and Ward human flesh cooked to perfection. It seems that Randy Quaid obtains the meat. Which the mom turns into fried liver or maybe thigh meatloaf. Randy Quaid is a true grill master The surprise is Sandy Dennis. From -- as you may recall -- Neil Simon's The Out of Towners -- starring she and Jack Lemon from 1970. She hardly looks a day older. She plays the school Social Worker. Probably an LCSW. She's fabulous in this movie. Which is, in the end, no more than a dark character study of Randy Quaid and his son. Played brilliantly by the 10-year old that is cast in the part. I'm impressed by this movie. If the metaphor was a hole then the director brings us to the very bottom. Slowly. Leaving us in a heap wondering "what just happened?" Btw Randy Quaid must have lost a good deal of weight. He's svelt and transformed into the secretive cannibal living quietly down the street. This is not gratuitous at all. It's a serious treatment of an oddball subject while ensconced in 1955 America. I could see this becoming a cult classic. Happy dining.

Saw the trailer, thought it might be exciting movie, after renting it... it turns out to be boring... poor story line.

Thank you very much!

Not your run of the mill horror. An obscure little movie that kinda stays with you afterward.

Quelques fois les films d'horreur font rire tellement ils sont ringards. Pour "Parents", ce n'est pas du tout le cas: On sourit, on rit même parfois. Dans les années 50 aux USA, les nuits de Michael le jeune héros (un enfant au regard absent) sont peuplées de cauchemars où il se débat dans des océans de sang. Quoi de plus normal, quand vos parents sont des cannibales qui vous obligent à vous gaver de viande d'origine douteuse. Quand Michael découvre le véritable visage de ses parents, c'est le drame familial. Son père essaie de le tuer, mais c'est lui qui est laissé pour mort dans la cave. Finalement Michael va vivre chez ses grands parents pour oublier ces évènements. Tous les instants tragiques de ce films sont apaisés par le sourire de la maman et une B.O. mambo, tcha-tcha-tcha qui vous amène à penser que ce film est à regarder au second degré.Jean-Marie Regimbeau

dvd decevant, on attend toujours la chute qui ne vient jamais, je ne recommande pas ce film qui m a decue, m’attendant a de l humour noir qui n y est pas!!

This is beyond a doubt one of my all-time favorite films (certainly the best role Randy Quaid ever played) the picture on the BluRay is by far the best I've seen, the audio is all buggered up though, cutting in and out during my favorite scenes. Such a disappointment given how long I've waited for this. The whole world is made up of chemicals Mike and if you're smart you can make anything with them, like opportunities, like releasing this without audio hiccups.