Parents

Parents
DVD cover.
Directed by	Bob Balaban
Produced by	Bonnie Palef
Written by	Christopher Hawthorne
Starring	Randy Quaid Mary Beth Hurt Sandy Dennis Bryan Madorsky
Music by	Jonathan Elias Angelo Badalamenti (orchestral music)
Cinematography	Ernest Day Robin Vidgeon
Editing by	Bill Pankow
Distributed by	Vestron Pictures
Release date(s)	January 27, 1989 (USA)
Running time	81 min.
Country	Canada USA
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	$870,532 (USA)

Parents is a 1989 horror-comedy film written by Christopher Hawthorne and directed by Bob Balaban. The film is about a suburban boy in the 1950s who suspects his parents of cannibalism. The film starred Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, and Bryan Madorsky. Although the film is primarily in the horror genre (it can also be categorized as surrealistic horror, and the film has sometimes been compared to the work of David Lynch, particularly Blue Velvet^[1]), it features many comic moments, including the use of sitcom-like music in its soundtrack, and has sometimes been categorized as a black comedy. The production of the film spared no expense in creating each detail, reproducing accurately the modern style of the 1950s, right down to the clothing, wallpaper and carpeting. It was filmed in Ontario. Its tagline is: There's a new name for terror!.

Plot

Michael Laemle is a ten year old boy living in 1954 suburban Massachusetts. He has new friends at his school, a father with a great job at a chemical plant named Toxico, and a mother who is the perfect homemaker, both always smothering him with kindness. However, when he questions where the huge cuts of meat come from that his parents serve every night, his parents aren't so kind. They are short tempered, and refuse to answer his questions. He quickly begins to fear both of his parents when he begins to suspect his "perfect" family of keeping dark secrets from him. Why isn't he allowed in the basement? Michael knows his parents are engaging in cannibalism, and that he is in danger. Michael grows more hysterical and disturbed every time his parents try to feed him their "choice cuts". He confesses to the school counselor why he is afraid of his parents. She doesn't believe him, and if she doesn't, who will?

Cast

Main characters:^[2]

• Randy Quaid as Nick Laemle
• Mary Beth Hurt as Lily Laemle
• Sandy Dennis as Millie Dew
• Bryan Madorsky as Michael Laemle
• Juno Mills-Cockell as Sheila Zellner
• Kathryn Grody as Miss Baxter
• Deborah Rush as Mrs. Zellner
• Graham Jarvis as Mr. Zellner
• Helen Carscallen as Grandmother
• Warren Van Evera as Grandfather
• Wayne Robson as Lab Attendant
• Uriel Byfield as Little Boy
• Mariah Balaban as Little Girl
• Larry Palef as Announcer

Critical reception

Critics were mixed in their reaction to the film,^[3] and it was not well received by audiences when it was originally released. The film had an estimated budget of $3 million, according to the Internet Movie Database, but grossed only $870,532 in the United States.^[4] Since its initial box office failure, however, the film has developed a cult following on home video. The film was released on DVD on May 25, 1999 in its unmatted full screen format. The original DVD went out of print for a brief period of time before the film was re-released in the DVD format as a double feature with the film Fear, and Parents was presented for the first time in widescreen since its original theatrical release.

References

External links

• Parents at the Internet Movie Database
• Parents at AllRovi
• Parents at Rotten Tomatoes