Parents is an interesting, but flawed black comedy/horror flick. This takes place in suburban 1950's America and is a story of a disturbed young boy and his nightmares. Parents is a lot of things, psychological horror film, dark comedy and social satire. But as a whole, it doesn't always flow well. The film has a lot of surreal moments and does not always make sense. Parents is really inconsistent and choppy viewing as a whole and as a genre piece it is hard to put into one category, which is a good and a bad thing. It is good that it is a different offbeat movie, but the tone of the piece is all over the place. The story is really hard to follow and is very choppy as a whole. Parents has some things really going for it, great dialouge, creepy ambiance and an outstanding performance by Randy Quiad. The whole all American middle class family that are murderers and cannibals is very interesting, but better character development and story could have made this a whole lot better. Parents has more style than substance, but is still an interesting, but very quirky and weird film . This is recommended to those who revel to watch something offbeat or unusual, Parents would most likely please those audiences.

"Parents" is a movie about that feeling, about the conviction that after the kids are in bed and their lights are out, parents engage in weird rituals and unthinkable practices. What about those roars of laughter that come echoing down the hallway from the living room, for example: Are the grown-ups just having a good time, or are they holding their nightly planning session on how to play tricks on kids? "Parents" takes place in the 1950's, an ideal decade for this material, and stars Bryan Madorsky as Michael, a solemn, owl-faced little boy whose life centers on one question: What are the "leftovers" left over from? Night after night, his parents place steaming shanks of meat, juicy red slabs of prime roast, on his plate. Where do they come from? "Leftovers," his mom says. But then his mom and dad wink at each other over the table and share a secret laugh, and little Michael knows in his bones that there is something fundamentally wrong with the menu.The cinematography in this film works to the effect that the horror is conveyed in the most unlikeliest of places, on the contorted faces of the caregivers, (people this child should be able to trust), at the family dinner table, within the realms of the perfect family home. I loved the sets and the costuming, creating this soap commercial 50's world of perfectness, where horror can lurk behind every corner. There are plenty of shots of meat platters and mincing of meat, adding to the Grand Guignol of the whole affair. Knowing what could be on those plates is enough to churn even the strongest of stomachs as Michael observes his more than slightly sinister parents devouring each mouthful with revolting delight. Randy Quaid is superb in his portrayal of the father as he becomes more and more sinister in his son's observations, bullying and abusive. He is far from the perfect father image he wants the whole world to see. Mary Beth Hurt as mother Lily is the classic Stepford Wife who dotes on her family and worries over what creations to come up with for the families 'leftovers' as she so delicately names them ( the origin of which Michael is so desperate to know).Parents can be challenging to watch at times, given the subject matter, and obvious scenes in which psychological abuse occurs as the father tries to get a grip on the situation. It would seem that this is what bothered the critics of this movie the most, given that they saw it in poor taste. However challenging for me equals thought-provoking and I have to admit I really enjoy this type of film, yes it is distasteful, even more so as it is marketed as a horror/ comedy. On a comedy level there are no laugh out loud moments, as it is mainly sick and twisted, and on this point the film fails, but then it cannot be taken wholly seriously either, so it drifts in a netherworld of some sort of undefined sub genre of horror more like a bizarre sideshow spectacle with strong freakish overtones. Parents is certainly unique and unpredictable I will give it that though, and it keeps you guessing right up to the end.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Micheal and his parents have just moved into a new town in the 1950's. Micheal's mom is a typical ditz housewife, his dad a docile-looking but threatening nerd and employee of Toxico. Toxico is the town's main employer, a large chemical factory.One night Micheal sneaks downstairs and accidentally sees his parents in some kind of bizarre act of making love and eating chunks of meat. It haunts him for a while. At school he meets a little girl named Sheila and she says her parents are very weird too, in fact her dad is also a scientist at Toxico. However, she also says she came from outer space so Micheal assumes she's just fantasizing.One day Michael goes with his dad to Toxico and meets one of the employees within a dark and creepy lab office, who tells him that everything on earth is made up of chemicals.At this point the events going on seem in no way related, but one day Micheal sneaks into Toxico and finds his dad stealing body parts from a test cadaver in the lab. What he unravels is the secret his parents have been keeping from him - they're cannibals.Parents might be comedic at some parts, but it is also highly disturbing. The dreams Michael has and the Toxico chemical factory both have their eerie and scary moments. The soundtrack is very nostalgic and fits the movie, and like Eating Raoul, it is comedic to watch the family's attempt to hide their secret. Also the school psychologist, Millie Dew, her name sounds like mildew, I think it was intended. It's a great little movie with decent acting and a creepy atmosphere.

When my parents rented this movie, I was expecting a very funny movie as Randy Quaid is very funny in comedy movies. However, this movie is not all that funny and it is somewhat boring too. You can see the surprise coming a mile away and it runs long for a movie that is supposedly only eighty one minutes long. So I can honestly say it is not a movie that is on my favorites list. It may work for some people, but it just did not work with me at all proving to be rather slow in the build-up with virtually nothing that amused me within the entire movie. Randy Quaid is wasted and the rest of the cast is a list of very bland actors and actresses. The premise of the movie had potential, as did the casting of Quaid, but all of it just sputters and the inclusion of the horror element just seems very unnecessary. Granted, the one dream sequence the kid had when he jumped on the bed and it suddenly became a whirlpool of blood was very nicely done and would have worked very well in a movie that was supposed to be pure horror, instead of one that lists comedy as its first genre.