User reviews

46. PARENTS (comedy, 1988) Ever since their move to a new town 10-year old Michael has been feeling strange. Maybe its because his new house seems so big and spooky. Or maybe its because his parents have started serving him a new recipe they call "leftovers". Whatever the case he has grown very suspicions of anything and everyone. His growing anxieties instill in him a wicked outlook towards life that gets him in trouble at school. Things turn for the worst when they investigate Michael's private home life.

Critique: Strange little film is the blackest of comedies. The story is told from Michael's P.O.V so everything looks abstract and weird. Attention to detail of setting (50s Americana), production design and costumes is very rewarding. Bob Balaban's craftily directed 'Pax Americana' scenes seem aesthetic and distant. The film has strong thematic qualities with David Lynch's own subversive 'Twin Peaks' society of evil lurking underneath a wholesome facade. Lynch's own regular composer, Angelo Bandalamenti, provides the music.

It also benefits from the stylistic brushes of cinematographer-turned-director Barry Sonenfeld. The use of sweeping, low-angle shots (illustrating this child's nightmare world) and use of hand-held are wonderful. The subversive overtones of the film make it not for all tastes.

QUOTE: Michael: "Well, what were they before they were leftovers?"

Dad: "Leftovers to be."

A dark comedy which is amusing and interesting to watch, due to a different approach from Bob Balaban, this is his debut directorial feature. The story involves around a introvert boy, slowly revealing what's happening to him. Dark humor, and some interesting scenes makes it not a really boring movie. But, after watching, it's not really worth remembering for a long time. The three lead characters; Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt and Bryan Madorsky did a great job. Yet, this is the only film of Bryan I can find.

Interesting movie, but far from a total success. The director uses his camera cleverly and executes some fine visual tricks, but they don't lead anywhere, because the film has such an "one-joke" premise and a repetitive script. Great music score, astonishingly mature work by the boy who plays the central character, a few scares at the end, but the movie still rings hollow, and gets no more than a 6/10 from me.

Young Michael (Bryan Madorsky) notices his parents have a strange fondness for meat and wonders where all the meat they eat for dinner comes from. And what goes on after he goes to bed.

Exceptionally well acted and crafted horror-comedy that takes place in the 1950's. The sets, costumes, style, detail paid to flavor of the 50's, and the cars & houses will WOW you and give you a feeling of nostalgia. A nice change of pace for Randy Quaid and it is nice to see Sandy Dennis at work again.

Be forewarned though this is one of the most disturbing films I have ever seen in my entire life. There is absolutely no letup.

My rating: 9 out of 10.

This was a very creepy & uneasy to watch movie. The ending could've been better.

Michael Laemle (Brian Madorsky) is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents.

This film is well made, well acted and is a fun (yet creepy) idea. The only problem is that the game is given away from the very beginning. The "secret" of Michael's parents is known before the film even starts if you read the summary on Netflix. And then, where do you go with it?

Clearly, the writer did not know where to take it, because it never really goes anywhere. There are an endless series of strange scenes, but no real plot or story arc. I like watching Randy Quaid be weird for 90 minutes, but I also like knowing there is going to be a beginning and an end... here, we never really know where it is going and that just makes it hard to watch.

I had never heard of this movie before, and it looked like it had the same sort of weird zany surrealism as Society, which I massively enjoyed. What I was not expecting was how much darker in tone this film was going to be, and how massively uncomfortable it can be at times with some of the thematic undertones.

It taps into the inherent surreal nature of 1950's idyllic suburbia and builds wonderfully off of that horror, as well as delving into the true horror of being stuck in the same house as people who might want to hurt you. While there was a lot that just didn't hit and some spots where I felt the movie lacked, overall I found the movie to be interesting and kind of fun.

This movie is definitely not for everyone and is bound to disappoint quite a few horror fans, but for those that like surrealism in the vein of Society, this is definitely worth the watch. It's a solid movie and even if it's not the best out there, it has some merit as a film and some solid thematic undertones.

If asked which movie has been the most uncomfortable watch for me, it has to be this one. Bob Balaban has put together a film that encompasses all those dark feelings about our parents. With a beautiful performance from Randy Quaid as the strangest father in the world, it is from the dark place where all great black comedies come from. His dizzying combination of gruesome and mundane is incredibly well crafted, not falling into either one but dancing back and forth between them. I HIGHLY recommend this movie. Strange it comes from the man who played the chummy cartographer in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I saw this for the first time recently.

Generous with a 3 only for its cinematography.

The sets, costumes, cars, verandas, lawns, flowers, greenery & those beautiful houses are amazing to look at.

I didn't like this as it is neither scary nor comical.

As I watched this film, I thought, if I was a kid around Michael's age watching this film, it would give me nightmares for years. Some good-natured books stir up the imaginations of youngsters with the possibilities of what our parents really do when they're supposedly at work--this movie takes those possibilities to an incredibly dark level.

Even though I'm supposedly all grown up, I found this to be one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. The film is incredibly stylish and expressionistic, surprisingly so. I personally think it would be hard finding compelling aesthetics in suburbia, but the director of this movie does it well.

There are some humorous moments (thanks for the tension release), but it is incredibly dark humor. I can't help but think the director might be a "graduate" of the "school" of David Lynch. Overall, an incredible, creepy movie that deserves to be seen at least once.

In the 50's, the Lamele forms a typical medium-class American family, and they have just moved to a house in the suburbs. Dad Nick Lamele (Randy Quaid) has a new job in the city, Mon Lily Lamele (Mary Beth Hurt) is a lovely housewife and Michael Lamele (Bryan Madorsky) is the lonely and weird son, who believes that Mon and Dad are cannibals. Their parents become very happy while preparing lots of meat everyday, what is not common in USA, and the boy is intrigued about the provenience of the meat. He become friend of Sheila Zellner (Jun Mills Cockell), a strange girl and daughter of her father's boss. In the school, the social assistant notices that the boy has some kind of psychological problem and tries to help him. This movie is a weird, dark and bizarre tale, with great interpretation of the cast, but something is missing to make it an excellent film. The problem is that the director did not define well what genre he wanted to present to the audience. Therefore, the plot is too much dark for a black-humor comedy, and too much funny for a horror movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): `O Que Há Para Jantar?' (`What Do We Have For Dinner?')

The problem with Parents is it reveals its 'secret' far too early. At the start, despite acting like a perfect 50's family, we can already see Randy Quaid and his wife Mary Beth Hurt are a pair of weirdoes who talk funny, act far too nice and eat virtually nothing but disgusting, bloody meat. Then, a few scenes later, we find out from their son they slaughter household pets to maintain their feeding frenzy, not to mention Quaid's trip to a mortuary to stock up on fresh supplies...

So, seeing as it's made very clear from the beginning this psychotic couple are a pair of cannibals, where else is the movie left to go? Could it on focusing the juxtaposition of their 'nice' behaviour to their morally bankrupt actions? Yes, very funny, ha ha... that joke gets old after five minutes tops. Perhaps we could see more of their unlucky son's budding relationship with an older girl in his class who isn't mentally deranged? Nice try, but she's only in it for a little while before being written out... then it's back to weak social satire and close-ups of gory body parts being cooked. Hurray!

Wouldn't it be so much more fun if Quaid and Beth Hurt went around the neighbourhood themselves, killing people to make their Sunday barbecue? At least then, we'd get a bit of excitement instead of the indescribably dull talkfest we have instead. One predictable moment follows another, until we get to the ending... which is also very easily foretold. Snore.

Someone more capable please remake this film, and hire a better writer too. We have the germ of a good idea here. Now all we need is some adults to take the tools and produce something halfway decent. Not too difficult, surely? 3/10

Years go by and I still adore Parents and make sure to watch it every so often. Impeccable casting, including a never-better Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, and Sandy Dennis, truly energizes the film. Preteen lead Bryan Madorsky has become a personal hero of mine, perfectly capturing the essence of fear and revilement that ten-year-olds can develop for their seemingly monstrous parents. Unfortunately for Madorsky's character Michael, his parents truly are monsters. I love the burgeoning friendship/romance between the two young kids, particularly in the telling sequences where they get drunk and end up in the freezer and where they speculate on the secret lives of their parents. And any movie that uses Perez Prado's "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" over the opening credits is peachy in my book.

Directed by Bob Balaban. Starring Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Bryan Madorsky, Sandy Dennis, Juno Mills-Cockell, Kathryn Grody, Deborah Rush, Graham Jarvis. (R)

Young Madorsky ought to be living the mundane-but-idyllic life in 1950s suburbia, but something is definitely off about his folks (Quaid, Hurt), and where does all that leftover meat they serve up every day come from? Bizarro black comedy/horror pic isn't especially funny or scary, but does manage to weave a discomforting spell from start to finish. Quaid and Hurt bring the right askew notes of alienation and predatory abuse to their square-shaped personas, but Madorsky's quiet, wide-eyed anxiety doesn't make him a particularly engaging protagonist--he never does much of anything, even when things start escalating outrageously in the final act. Individual creepy, unsettling moments stand out, but its aggregate effect is awfully mild considering the offbeat and grotesque subject matter. Feature directing debut for actor Balaban.

56/100

This movie has mixed reviews. I think some people think it wants to be satire or comedy, because of the very very 50s look, and this is where the bad reviews come in. This is a disturbing tale that is a slow but relatively short burn at an hour and 20 minutes. If you are in the dark about the grizzly truth behind this family I won't spoil it but as the film progresses we get an increasingly unsettling feeling that comes to a final crescendo. Ithink if it is viewed through the lens of a horror flick and nothing else it is very dark, satisfying, and highly unique and original.

There's some beautiful set/art design in this film, it really does look a treat. Sadly that's all it had going for it IMO. The first hour of the film gets us almost nowhere, and matters are made worse by the boy's terrible diction - he mumbles and slurs his way through his dialogue and I honestly couldn't tell what he was saying 90% of the time. Most of this hour is made up of the kid going to bed and having dreams or wandering about the house. Yes these are necessary, but we got it in the first 20 minutes, no need to keep repeating it. The last 40 minutes gets to the meat of the story, but it is entirely expected as it has been telegraphed almost since the film started. Sorry, I was expecting something much better.

Although directed by Bob Balaban of all people (most will know him as one of Christopher Guest's regulars in his series of comic pseudo-documentaries like "Best in Show"), "Parents" is clearly heavily influenced by David Lynch (Lynch's regular composer Angelo Badalementi is put to good use here by Mr. Balaban). One wonders if this is what life was like for David Lynch growing up as an Eagle Scout in the picture perfect 1950's. This is one of the most disturbing darkly comic horror movies I have ever seen. My jaw hung open for the film's entire length, my heart was racing at the climax in the cellar, and by the time the "sitcom-style" end credits rolled I was laughing out loud.

The film is told from the point of view of a 10 year old boy growing up in a cold, sanitized, and Uncanny 1950's suburbia with his parents who are so perfect they are down-right creepy (played wonderfully by Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt). The kid knows something must be up, and the film eerily displays the dark fantasies that can develop in a child's mind when he isn't quite sure why the world is the way it is and that everything seems slightly off-kilter. We've all had these feelings when lonely and isolated and it is especially apparent in those odd pre-teen years when we are old enough to know the difference between fantasy and reality yet not mature enough to handle just what that reality now is. What essentially happens in this film is the young boy walks in on his parents having sex one night after waking up from a nightmare and then develops a bizarre fantasy where they have become cannibals. Freud would have a field day with this film. Balaban puts the psycho back in psychosexual with the kind of wanton abandon only Hitchcock, Kubrick, and Lynch have previously dared. The latter half of the film follows the conventions of your standard horror flick and does it so beautifully you will be left shivering. Sublime, satirical, uncanny, and as near perfect a cult film as you could ask for.

Also recommended: "Psycho," "The Shining," "Blue Velvet," "Twin Peaks," "Frailty," and "Donnie Darko."

Randy Quid just chills you in this movie. Most of his movie roles are comedic, this is not. At all. He was really great in this. It's not a comedy. It's not a classic horror. Just a good, creepy mystery.

Just a few points on this movie as it happens to be one of my all time favourites (thank you Mr Balaban and Mr Hawthorne).

There is an aspect to childhood that is too often (and in the case of Hollywood almost always) forgotten and that is the dark side. The world for a child does not always appear as a bright, shining place of wonder and joy; more often than not the world is strange, forbidding and completely out of our control. That appearance is not deceptive; what is deceptive is the web of fictions we build up over time to help us deal with this. For me part of the thrill of horror (real horror, not simply the slash and stack variety), is the remembrance of that childhood chill, the memory of what Lovecraft termed cosmic horror and Freud called the Uncanny. Regardless of who those people are, parents as the symbol of unimpeachable, unquestioned authority whom we have to trust regardless of their real motives, are a potent representation of this chaotic universe, a universe that could crush us at any moment if it wanted to, but which we're stuck with. "Parents" the movie, evokes this side of childhood in a way unlike almost any other movie I know.

It is not coincidental then that the movie should also be a satire on 50's America and indeed America of any age since. The dependence of a people on its leaders - leaders who have secrets they cannot reveal for the public's good - is analogous to the childhood state and the child's dependence on those mysterious authority figures at the dinner table. In this respect, "Parents" follows on in an honourable tradition of American weird fiction, with antecedents in the works of Ambrose Bierce (read "Oil of Dog") and Shirley Jackson (read "The Summer People"). For both these writers, both the state and conventional society were to be distrusted rather than accepted blindly as unquestionably good. "Parents" shows the limitations of those we put our faith in, pointing out their potential for evil and for weakness. Indeed if ever a country needed a biting critique of lying, cannibalistic authority figures, the America of George W. Bush is that country.

Of course, the movie also follows on in the grand fairy-tale tradition of the Brothers Grimm, who populate much of their fiction with deceitful parents and cannibalistic feasts. Children's fiction is rarely afraid to show the monsters under the bed, nor does it try to fool kids into thinking they're not there. Hollywood should learn from this lesson instead of hypocritically loading their fare with ludicrous violence and simplistic visions of the world. By the way, I am talking about their adult fare; adaptations of Dahl's stories and other so-called children's fare are already more mature than most of Hollywood's "adult movies".

It's a real shame more films like "Parents" are not made as it is on a par with the high standards set by the best of European cinema (the most obvious parallel here being the delirious "Delicatessen" which also features cannibalistic parents in a stylised setting). Made in 1989, I cannot remember too many movies to come out of the 90's with the bite of this wonderful feature. Make no mistake this is a MASTERPIECE and should be seen.

Michael Laemle (Bryan Madorsky) and his parents (Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt) move to Massachusetts where they quickly set up the perfect suburban life. His father, Nick, secures a well paying job at Toxico and his mother, Lily, is the consummate housewife who spends most of her time in the kitchen. From the outside, they're living the American dream but something sinister lurks behind their doors - Michael's parents.

He's befriended by Sheila, his father's boss's daughter. He confides in her about his strict father but can never find the right words to voice his other fear about the source of the meat he avoids at every meal. He's equally as hesitant to open up to the school counselor (Sandy Dennis), a free-spirited social worker who's honed in on his perceptive yet odd nature. The stronger his curiosity grows, the worse his nightmares become. Where exactly is the mystery meat coming from?

Although billed as a dark comedy, I failed to see any humor in the story. This is a bleak, deranged, horrific cannibalism tale but also a playful satire on the facades put on by human monsters, ones that could very well be tucking you in at night. Don't let the visual horror distract you from the underlying message of Parents.

Randy Quaid aces his character with such perfection, you'll squirm with uneasiness every time he has a confrontation with Michael. Mary Beth Hurt is the polar opposite as the sweet, doting mother and she too nails it. Bryan Madorsky's performance as the intuitive and very aware Michael is thankfully subtle, as it should be. The set designs, the clothing and hair styles, and golden oldies like "Chantilly Lace" and "Purple People Eater" will have you believing you're in the 1950s with the characters. You'll either love or hate Angelo Badalamenti's orchestral score, as he has a distinctive eerie sound to his compositions.

The gore and violence are minimal and the scares are more of the lingering kind, like the lump in your throat that gets bigger and bigger and when the time comes to scream, you can't. Every horror fan should see this. It bombed at the box office back in 1989 (budget of $3 million with a measly $870,532 in gross profits) but it's gained a cult following with many of its most recent reviewers rating Parents at the highest level. I wouldn't go so far as to say this is a masterpiece or brilliant horror but it's definitely one to watch.

Parents, do not ever, ever, ever let your child see this movie unless you want your little one scarred for life.

Please tell me what is funny about this movie. I watched almost all of it. Not at one time did I see any thing funny.. it's a disturbing film with zero redeeming storyline. Yes the acting was fine but it was a complete waste of time and talent. Yuck

It's been 13 years since I saw this movie, but it made such an impact on me that to this day I can close my eyes and visualize the characters, and feel the mood that make this film worth watching. Not too many movies scare me like this one did. It wasn't the use of vast quantities of blood, or the killings that scared me, as much as it was the Ward and June Cleaver-ness of the parents. What really did it for me was the mind twist the director built into this film, and the way it was pulled off by the actors. If you're squeamish then this probably isn't for you, but if you can watch a movie and appreciate it for the art it is, I recommend it.