Stranded at work and with no hope of getting home, airport cleaning woman Lena accepts an invitation to spend the night with her perky colleague Birdie, only to find that her unusually close-knit family has some sinister secrets. Writer/director Steven Shiel makes his feature directorial debut with this distinctly British shocker. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
Despite droll moments and impressive production values for an allegedly tiny ($200,000) budget, an extra idea or two would have made this a little bit better than just OK.
riffs off The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but its setting in a house right under the flightpath of Heathrow Airport brings some peculiarly English shadings to the butcher's table.
There's not much to Mum & Dad, besides what needs to be there to achieve grisly effectiveness. What is most disturbing about it is the way that it captures and distorts the very dynamics that exist in any family.
Overall, it's a solid package. The movie is well shot, well acted, interesting and at times darkly comedic and cringingly gross. It's just really well done and worth watching.
Yet another 'demented family' movie, this time from Britain where a 50-something couple and their adopted son and daughter kidnap a female Polish immigrant and try to add her to their sick household. It's pretty good, nothing too original or groundbreaking and certainly not "the best UK horror of the last decade" as
said by gorezone magazine. It does manage to be a little disturbing and the family do come across genuinely unpleasant. There's a bit of gore and torture but nothing too graphic or disgusting. Well acted too, which is something British actors excel at no matter what the genre. Definitely a wothwhile watch, but nothing outstanding.
August 12, 2011
Lee ?
Super Reviewer
The real life events of the likes of Joseph Fritzl make a film like this surprisingly believable. Mum & Dad may not be pushing the boundaries of taste, nor is it anything new or shocking, but it does what it can on it's budget. It also has a few sly punches at the disgustingly working class Brits. The Royle Family
meets Hostel. The Christmas scene and the petty squabbles, are little comedic moments that suggest this film could have gone for all out satire. The acting is mostly of British-drama-TV caliber, so it's bearable, but not enough for what the film wants to achieve.
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