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| Vestron Pictures | Release Date: January 27, 1989 |
Starring:
Bryan Madorsky, Deborah Rush, Graham Jarvis, Helen Carscallen, Kathryn Grody, London Juno, Mary Beth Hurt, Randy Quaid, Sandy Dennis, Warren Van Evera
Summary:
A young boy living in 1950s suburbia suspects his parents are cannibalistic murderers.
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PARENTS defies all categories but one - it is a virtuoso display of
movie-making, a multi-textured and pyschologically intense work
unimaginable in any medium except film, a tale fantastic in style yet
deadly serious in its intent and absolutely horrifying in its
implications. [27 Jan 1989]
A very unsettling black comedy....although by the end, you might feel as if you have been assaulted by a combination of ''Blue Velvet'' and ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'' This is a very impressive directorial debut for Bob Balaban, working from a chilling (and eventually cutting and slashing) script by Christopher Hawthorne. [28 Apr 1989, p.6F]
At just 82 minutes, the film's welcome doesn't have time to wear out; especially amusing is the use of '50s pop ballads and some droll elementary-school classroom scenes. Randy Quaid and Mary Beth Hurt are as ''right'' as the indoor production design. [30 June 1989, p.3D]
PARENTS concentrates heavily on Michael's Freudian pathology; however, in its emphasis on psychological themes, the film loses sight of its story and becomes a confused collection of isolated vignettes. In adopting the boy's single-minded perspective, it prevents its characters from developing, so that Quaid hovers and glowers, Hurt giggles and flirts, and Madorsky lurks in dark recesses without variation from beginning to end.
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Because it speaks to a terror that lurks deep within our memories, Parents has the potential to be a great horror film. But it never knows quite what to do with its inspiration. Is it a satire, a black comedy, or just plain horror? The right note is never found, and so the movie's scenes coexist uneasily with one another.
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Aggressively inane. [14 Apr 1989]
Dec 6, 2021
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