Parents (1989)

Like most kids I went through a period where I just didn't understand my parents. They might as well have been aliens from outer space for how bizarre they were to me. I'm no psychologist but I'd wager it has something to do with growing up and finding your own identity, your mind's method of putting space between you and the ones that raised you.

Parents takes that fear and uncertainty and amplifies it by ten. It's a 1950s period piece about ten year old Michael who is plagued by vivid nightmares at night and deathly fear of his father during the day. At first the fear is vague with no origin, but soon Michael starts to suspect his parents are actually… wait for it… cannibals.

Randy Quaid turns in an awesome performance as Dad. His usual bouncy demeanor is here much more subdued and understated. His devilish smiles and verbal punishments of Michael genuinely creeped me out. Mary Beth Hurt turns in an equally interesting performance as the quintessential 1950s mom, always cooking dinner for fifteen people and seemingly oblivious to the growing tension between father and son.

The pacing for the first half of the movie is glacial but there's never a lack of atmosphere. Michael's nightmare sequences are surreal and poetic and the tension is always sharp even though it rarely has a payoff. It's that lack of payoff that ultimately leaves you unsatisfied, especially with the predictable ending.

Despite its flaws, though, Parents is a good watch. Really, who can resist watching Randy Quaid chop off limbs and then throw them on the grill?