‘Parents’ Is the Middling ’80s Cannibalism Classic Worth Reheating — Again and Again
On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.
First, the spoiler-free pitch for one editor’s midnight movie pick — something weird and wonderful from any age of film that deserves our memorializing.
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Then, the spoiler-filled aftermath as experienced by the unwitting editor attacked by this week’s recommendation.
The Pitch: Is That a Meat Cleaver in Your Pocket — or Are My Parents Just Happy to See Me?
“What were they before they were leftovers?” That’s the dramatic meat hook on which Bob Balaban hangs his giddily middling 1989 horror comedy “Parents,” a surrealist satire set in 1950s suburbia, best likened to a chunky jello mold filled with human toes. I’ll admit, I wouldn’t serve cannibalism cinema this underbaked to mixed company; let alone the hubby’s new boss and his one-scene-having wife. But for the IndieWire After Dark family during ’80s Week, leftovers don’t get better than a midnight movie that grows ever-weirder meaning and mold with each new ill-advised viewing.
Written by Christopher Hawthorne, this baffling oddity centers on a bloodthirsty mom, a murderous dad, and their stunningly stupid 10-year-old son, who was either traumatized by seeing his parents have sex — or definitely knows they are closeted cannibals. Child actor Bryan Madorsky (who Wikipedia claims is now an accountant?) stars as the new-in-town Michael Laemle. Fresh off a big family move from Massachusetts to California, our wide-eyed kid hero anchors an experimental flick caught somewhere between “Blue Velvet,” “We Are What We Are,” “Skinamarink,” “We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “Antichrist,” and just the young love bits of “Moonrise Kingdom.” Yes, all of that in a narrative that boils down to the simple question: Is that or is that not human meat?
Balaban’s singularly strange direction garnishes a script that’s got some notably fun dialogue but is otherwise about as straightforward as a ham steak — effectively peppering dozens of cinematic surprises onto what could be a truly one-note affair. The filmmaker and frequent Wes Anderson actor makes as many smart choices as he does inexplicable ones though, rendering a disturbing experience even he didn’t seem to know how to digest in the end. Meanwhile, Randy Quaid achieves the second creepiest chemistry of his career (outranked only by Cousin Eddie and that septic tank in “Christmas Vacation”) with Mary Beth Hurt as Mr. and Mrs. Laemle: undeniable competitors in the tight race for most fiendishly fucked up couple in horror history — and generally, a good time as far as nefarious neighbors go.
There’s plenty to chew on here, even in the limited scope of ’89. But with A24’s fixation on intergenerational trauma still going strong (and Quaid’s new life as a bonehead conspiracy theorist on the political record), “Parents” is more flavorful than ever before. Now, eat your meat. —AF
The Aftermath: …You’re Telling Me There’s a Dark Secret at Toxico of All Places?
It’s a human rights violation that Angelo Badalamenti had to write music for “Parents” just three years after scoring “Blue Velvet.” I kept picturing David Lynch’s longtime composer spitting out his espresso every time he watched dailies and saw the misguided stylistic parallels between “Parents” and Lynch’s landmark suburban nightmare.
While “Blue Velvet” riffs on 1950s iconography with cleverly anachronistic production design, “Parents” takes place on what appears to be the set of a pornographic “ALF” remake. “Blue Velvet” surrounded its villain with a fleshed-out criminal underworld, while “Parents” houses its nefarious actors at a company called Toxico. And “Blue Velvet” reminds us that darkness can lurk behind the most idyllic settings — while “Parents” wisely observes that parents who spend 70 minutes telling you they’re probably cannibals often end up being cannibals.
I’m not trying to grade “Parents” on an unfair curve — Balaban certainly wasn’t aiming to convince anyone that his horror comedy was the second coming of “Blue Velvet” (no matter how many wildly misguided critics tried to say as much in 1989). But Badalamenti’s involvement in this piece of nonsense is an interesting window into the way pop culture flows downstream. It seems plausible that the decision to hire him was based at least partially on his success with “Blue Velvet.” For one of the greatest composers of all time, the interval between making a masterpiece and being hired for a comedic knockoff of said masterpiece was a mere three years.
Tangents aside, I found a lot to enjoy about “Parents” in my own sick way. For one, it’s almost certainly the only film that allows us to peek into a universe where Quaid was a scream king. (He gives a twisted performance, even if bad cinematography and music choices deprive him of the opportunity to slowly go crazy by painting him in an ominous light from the get-go.) There are also plenty of impressive filmmaking tricks, even if many make zero sense in the context of the larger story — why, I ask, does the kitchen table spin for no reason at the end? And I have some genuine respect for the gall that it takes to build an entire film around the idea that parents are cannibals without making any attempt to hide it or introduce a larger twist. Apparently, “they’re parents, but they eat human meat” was simply too good of an idea to waste time writing multiple drafts of a script — you just had to start production before someone beat you to it.
And of course, I was disturbed by how the ending wraps things up in a bow of intergenerational trauma — not even because the grandparents were cannibals, but because eating an entire sandwich seconds before falling asleep is absolute sociopath behavior. If anything, we’re lucky “Dad” turned out as well as he did. —CZ
Those brave enough to join in on the fun can stream “Parents” free on Tubi, or rent it on Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, and Google Play. IndieWire After Dark publishes midnight movie recommendations at 11:59 p.m. ET every Friday. Read more of our deranged suggestions…
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