Mom and Dad (2018)

Review

86min

Genre:       Horror, Thriller

Director:    Brian Taylor

Cast:         Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters…and more

Writer:      Brian Taylor

-Synopsis-

When a mysterious condition causes parents in unassuming American suburbia to turn on their kids with violent murderous intentions, a brother and sister must survive the day and avoid their rampaging folks in this demented parental metaphor B-movie from the writer/director of ‘Crank’.

Even a quick glance at Brian Taylor’s filmography will reveal his penchant for the madcap and the frenzied, having penned and helmed action/thrillers like ‘Gamer’ and the ‘Crank’ films. Now the American writer/director applies his irreverent cinematic voice and indie B-movie sensibilities to a bloody and bizarre parental allegory dressed in comedy/horror clothing—perhaps exercising his own paternal demons in outrageous but morbidly relatable fashion.

Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair star as ‘Brent’ and ‘Kendall Ryan’, a typical white middle-class suburban couple raising a predictably resentful teenage daughter ‘Carly’ (Anne Winters) and her gregarious nine-year-old brother ‘Josh’ (Zackary Arthur) in unassuming modern middle-America. But when parents begin to inexplicably hunt and murder their children all over town, Carly and Josh must find a way to survive their own afflicted and rampaging mom and dad, threatening to turn their family home into an impromptu slaughterhouse.

Any fan of the ludicrous but undeniably entertaining Jason Statham action vehicle ‘Crank’ will attest to fact that Brian Taylor is capable of injecting plenty of irreverent black humour into a genre piece, and that’s certainly what the intention is with this film—a modern B-movie billed and marketed as a horror/comedy. But this is a textbook example of how misleading a trailer can be, as the lack of genuine comedy in the ‘Mom and Dad’ narrative is truly glaring.

Aside from some welcome mad moments of signature Nicolas Cage wide-eyed flamboyance, plus a couple of perceptive quips and a few bits of moderate comedic carnage, there’s a distinct lack of considered humour built into a film which hardly qualifies as a comedy at all . . . and is nowhere near as funny as it thinks it is, let alone a memorable pitch black suburban comedy.

Instead we get an indie horror/thriller with unnaturalistic performances and a homemade score, featuring a moderate amount of kills and gore but proving a huge disappointment for dedicated fans of the genre, or anyone looking for legitimate sustained tension—yet might ironically prove be too gruesome or frenzied for anyone convinced by the trailer that this is in any way a comedy/horror, filled with madcap charm.

You shouldn’t expect much from the plot either, which apart from drawing tentative parallels with the natural phenomenon of ‘savaging’, makes no effort to explain the motives for the breakout of parental ultra-violence, or contextualise the nature of the affliction. Ultimately all of that is relegated to a backdrop for the characters and kept a mystery throughout—but at least Taylor doesn’t burden the audience with narrative intricacy, which would just pile up on top of a lack of balance, and instead he keeps the little story there is nice and simple.

The one way in which ‘Mom and Dad’ does however manage to shine is in its injection of a perceptive message into a B-movie genre piece, which is really the purpose of the film, with the madcap comedy/horror serving as mere dressing—giving the audience a cynical take on parenthood laced with some uncomfortable truths.

Taylor paints a familiar picture of awkward relationships and exasperated parents trying to handle obstinate and resentful children, while dealing with their own issues of regret and unfulfilled dreams, cleverly weaving an extreme metaphor for the pain and self-sacrifice of parenting which will be relatable to many parents . . . even if they won’t want to admit it. But of course he takes it all to unthinkable morbid extremes, tuning one’s natural parental instinct to protect their children on its head.

The film is also slightly redeemed by a clever generational final twist, and the occasions where Nicolas releases his over-the-top ‘Cage-rage’, but even that is somewhat one-note and not frequent enough. Ultimately there just isn’t the balance between spectacle, the characters, the story and the message to save ‘Mom and Dad’ from being a disappointment in all the genres it tries to straddle, and most importantly to keep you entertained throughout.

The Bottom Line…

Unsatisfying as a horror film, lacklustre as a thriller and almost devoid of real humour, ‘Mom and Dad’ works only as a clever and morbid, albeit less-than-subtle metaphor for the trials and inner-conflict of parenthood, and the parenting paradox—but lacks the spectacle or balance to keep you engaged for a measly ninety minutes . . . let alone thoroughly entertained.

Similar films you may like (Home Video)

Green Room (2016)

A young underground punk band’s gig at a remote rural Oregon Roadhouse turns into a brutal nightmare after they witness a murder; hunted by the club’s skinhead patrons and their ruthless leader, our ‘heroes’ struggle for survival as a diabolical plan evolves.

Directed by Jeremy Saulnier and starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots and Patrick Stewart among others.

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