Parents

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Product Details

Director : Bob Balaban
Actor : Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky, Juno Mills Cockell
Format : NTSC
Binding : VHS Tape
EAN : 9786301249034
Product Group : Video
Release Date : 2001-07-01
Studio : Alliance (Universal)
UPC : 028485152786

ASIN : 6301249038

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

In Parents, director Bob Balaban deconstructs our Father Knows Best perception of '50s suburbia, skewing it via moody cinematography and Angelo Badalamenti's sinister score. Ten-year-old Michael Lamele (Bryan Madorsky) thinks his parents (Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt) are cannibals. His constant fear of his folks and their supposedly evil doings begin to warp his view of the world, and he starts seeing a social worker to confront his problems. Are they merely childhood fears intensified by an overactive imagination, or do Michael's parents really crave human flesh? Much in the way that David Lynch approached the sinister underside of small-town America in Wild at Heart, so too does Balaban challenge our notion of the 'burbs as an escape from the harsh reality of the city. If anything, Michael's parents show their true colors once they become wrapped up in the materialistic, socially predatory world of suburban life. Vastly underappreciated, Balaban's Parents is one of those rare modern horror films that uses psychology to freak you out rather than tossing buckets of blood at you (although there are a few in the film, given its theme). This is one horror film that stands up, and deserves repeated viewings. --Bryan Reesman

Customer Reviews

Parents (1988) (2004-06-20)

Bizarre film takes place in the 50's and is the story of a boy who wonders where his parents get all their leftover meat from and what it was before it was leftovers...and soon he discovers the terrible (but obvious) truth. "Parents" could have been a nice little horror/comedy like "House," but turned out to be more of a weirdo, bizarro, psycho film that is just too weird to be excepted as proper entertainment. The 50's was portrayed in the most horrific and lurid manner, and the way of life was just heartbreaking (ie. the little girl that Michael befriends). I was looking forward to a fun little horror/comedy, but was disappointed when I found it was a weirdo, bizarro, psycho film (hehe). It's alright, but I don't think it's really that special. Too weird for my tastes.

Duuuuuude... (2004-05-25)

This movie was really, really weird. I turned on the TV at 2 AM, and the first thing I saw was a kid drowning in a pool of blood. Needless to say, I had no choice but to watch the rest of the movie. The movie seemed to serve no real purpose, which is why I liked it. It was incredibly surreal. (Then again, part of that might have been because I was half-asleep.) In the morning, I actually convicned myself it had been a dream.

Anyway, through this whole thing I was expecting it to be deep, but it had a Goosebumps-type ending, which sort of ruined it for me. Well, anyway, I'm done now. I should never write reviews.

zero stars. terrible horrible no good very bad movie (2004-05-19)

People have compared this movie to David Lynch. David Lynch this is NOT. People have called it artistic because it has an ethereal dream-like quality to it. I think it's fine to have dream sequences, but to have absolutely nothing happen for 1.5 hours into the movie is unacceptable. The child's acting (if you can call it acting) was awful. It was as if his face had been injected with massive amounts of botox. no expressions. no emotion.

The storyline was predictible with little to offer in the way of ingenuity or thrill factor. The scariest part of the movie might have been when the child turned around and ran into a foot hanging on a meat hook in the cellar. Even then, his face (weighed down by the botox) registered nothing. The father's death scene in the end lasted about 10 minutes of him flopping about trying to lay his hands on the child.

And having his grandparents lay a meat sandwich on his nighttable in the end was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Do not rent this movie. Do not buy it. Exit this screen and never think about this movie ever again.

Something's rotten in the basement of suburbia... (2004-04-20)

"Parents" is a really odd blend of your basic "something's rotten in suburbia" movie, a genuine horror flick, a lovingly created period piece, and...something else. Something even more disturbing than the movie's pretense.

The plot is fairly simple: poor Michael becomes convinced that his parents, who are paragons of suburbia, are cannibals. Are they? Really? The movie is told from Michael's point of view, and it sure looks like they are from here. The premise, and some of the touches, really have the feel of dark satire, and in fact I see "Parents" gets billed as a black comedy.

But look deeper in Michael's eyes, and it looks like something darker than comedy is going on here. It's not much of a stretch to interpret "cannibalism" as "child abuse" - look at how badly Michael is affected by his discoveries. The actual theme is broader, I think - essentially, the movie argues that the surface of suburbia can mask some really horrible things. Which isn't a particularly new notion, but it's worth pointing out sometimes.

I can't say I enjoyed "Parents," but it's extremely well-made and acted. I love the period look, and the shots of meat are appropriately disgusting. Maybe it's a comedy, but I didn't laugh once - instead, I shrunk in both the exaggerated horror of Michael's nightmares, the campy horror of his perception, and the genuine horror of his reality.

SUPERB !!! (2003-05-29)

Parents is a fantastic film with alot of exciting moments. If you like comedy with horror BUY THIS ONE!!!!!

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