Parents

Director - Bob Balaban (Tales from the Darkside)
Starring - Randy Quaid (Freaked, Kingpin), Mary Beth Hurt (My Boyfriend's Back), and Bryan Madorsky
Release Date - 1989
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "There's a new name for terror"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (8 horror film set)

Rating (out of 5):

     Lately I took a break from watching films sent to me for review and decided to watch a few movies recommended to me by other movie fans.  After watching Midnight Skater I decided to give the film Parents another shot.  Yes, I did say another shot.  When I first got a Netflix account last year I saw this film and added it to my instant queue.  One evening after work I decided to give it a go and after 10 minutes I turned it off.  A few weeks back Brandon Salkil, an actor in a majority of Dustin Mills' films, recommended that I watch.  I respect Salkil and his taste in movies and started questioning myself.  I honestly love Randy Quaid and believe he is an amazing actor.  I had recently purchased an 8 film set containing this film along with Blood Diner, Earth Girls are Easy, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Fido, and Boy Eats Girl.  I had seen the last three films and really enjoyed them so I grabbed the set for around $5.  I hoped that after the first 10 minutes the film picked up so I put it in to see.  

     The film follows a young boy who just moved with his parents to a new community.  His father received a bigger and better job which required them to move.  Here the young boy is a bit of an outsider and befriends an older girl that was held back because of her grades.  She is the daughter of the supervisor his father works for and is often forcing him to do things his father would not be fond of.  He starts to suspect that something is wrong with the meals his father and mother has been preparing after he sneaks in to where his father works and catches him dissecting a cadaver.  He refuses to eat dinner and his father does not like that and tries to discipline him.  That backfires and the young boy stabs him in the chest with a knife.  His father snaps and tries to kill the young boy before his mother steps in and stabs him in the back.

      This movie was a huge disappointment.  The film looked like it would have a sense of humor with Randy Quaid leading the charge but it did not.  In fact, this is probably the most serious role I have ever seen him in.  He does a great job in his role I was just expecting him to make me chuckle a time or two.  That leads me to the acting.  The entire film has an amazing cast and they do their job well.  It was the story that killed this film.  When I think of a film with the plot this one has I imagine a dark film filled with blood and gore or a happy film filled with humor.  The post made me think this was a black comedy but it was not.  The film was actually very serious in tone but did not offer the blood and gore one would expect with a serious film about the subject matter.  I just personally feel that the film could have been handled in a different way.  Finally, we do not get any real kills or deaths on screen.  Those expecting a bloody and gory cannibal flick will not be happy when they see this one.  Overall, this is a slow burning attempt at a clever horror film that fails to gain momentum.  I do not recommend this one.