Main Cast: Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky, Juno Mills-Cockell
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 81 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this bizarre and very black comedy set in 1950s suburbia, Michael Laemle (Bryan Madorsky) comes to suspect that his conventional parents (Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt) have a little secret which they have kept from him. Nothing too major - - just that they happen to be cannibals. It seems that Dad has been bringing home some extra meat from his place of work, a mortuary. As the lad grows ever more hysterical, he confesses his suspicions to the school psychologist (Sandy Dennis). She ridicules his notions and even comes to the house to show him how foolish he's being. Instead, she becomes an entree in the next family dinner, as Michael's parents attempt to indoctrinate him into their odd lifestyle. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
Kathryn Grody - Miss Baxter; Deborah Rush - Mrs. Zellner; Graham Jarvis - Mr. Zellner; Mariah Balaban - Little Girl; Uriel Byfield - Little Boy; Helen Carscallen - Grandmother; Larry Palef - Announcer; Wayne Robson - Lab Attendant; Warren Van Evera - Grandfather
Credit
Andris Hausmanis - Art Director, Arthur Roswell - Costume Designer, Bob Balaban - Director, Bill Pankow - Editor, Angelo Badalamenti - Composer (Music Score), Jonathan Elias - Composer (Music Score), Sherman Foote - Composer (Music Score), Linda Gill - Makeup, Ernest Day - Cinematographer, Robin Vidgeon - Cinematographer, Mitchell Cannold - Producer, Bonnie Palef-Woolf - Producer, Steven E. Reuther - Producer, Gordon J. Smith - Special Effects, Frederick Forsyth - Stunts, Christopher Hawthorne - Screenwriter, Mike Harris - Set Decorator
Parents is a 1989 horror film directed by Bob Balaban. The film is about a disturbed young boy living in 1950s suburbia 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[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 1950's, right down to the wallpaper and carpeting.
Critics were mixed in their reaction to the film,[2] 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.[3] 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.
