Mom and Dad (2017)

Directed by: Brian Taylor | 86 minutes | comedy, horror | Actors: Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, Olivia Crocicchia, Lance Henriksen, Marilyn Dodds Frank, Samantha Lemole, Joseph D. Reitman, Rachel Melvin, Bobby Richards, Sharon Gee, Edwin Lee Gibson, Brionne Davis, Mehmet Ozo

When the parents in an American suburb suddenly turn against their offspring en masse, Carly Ryan and her brother Josh have to avoid being killed by their own educators. Locked up in their own home, the children must defend themselves against a father and mother overcome by blind rage.

Many a parent will, figuratively speaking, sometimes have the tendency to stick a surly child behind the wallpaper. But in Mom and Dad, a mysterious epidemic takes that frustration over annoying kids to grotesque and murderous proportions. The biological instinct to protect your own children turns into a homicidal urge that seems as natural as putting the two-wheeler on the road.

This premise is the starting point for an adrenaline-filled and darkly comic rollercoaster ride, an at times delirious trip that swings between horror and boundless absurdity. Nicolas Cage, an actor with whom you always have to wait to see if he is inspired, is given all the space to get on with it fiercely. The scene in which, happily singing and dancing the ‘hokey cokey’, he attacks a pool table with a sledgehammer in manic frenzy is as fascinating as it is disturbing. In any case, it is noticeable that Cage and co-star Selma Blair, who portray the parents of the children through whose eyes we experience the story, have excellent chemistry. Cage is the slightly cartoonish and insane half of the duo, while Blair manages to shape her transformation from caring mother to ruthless and crafty murderess.

As a horror film, ‘Mom and Dad’ is, despite some beautifully shot scenes reminiscent of the film style of zombie great George A. Romero, due to the high ADHD content (director Brian Taylor is also one of the men behind the pumped up action hitch ‘Crank ‘) and the lack of real tension building are hardly to be taken seriously. But it’s a fine, blood-soaked satire on themes like aging, the downsides of modern parenting, and materialism-driven, petit-bourgeois America. It is a pity that Taylor looks for the edges of the unseemly, but still keeps the film on the good side.

‘Mom and Dad’ is certainly not a print that will appeal to everyone. You have to be able to tolerate some blood and have a weakness for morbid humor to be able to digest this B-movie with A-actors. Do you have those qualities? Then this work guarantees a good portion of nonsensical and slightly socially critical entertainment.