credit: Mom and Dad
Most families aren’t perfect, right? Every now and then, kids and their parents find it almost impossible to compromise with each other for quite a few reasons, and it creates tension that’s just a matter of growing up and getting used to each other. But there are always those times when parents and their children look at each other in ways that make it clear that something is brewing beneath the lackadaisical manner some families exhibit so regularly. In this movie, that feeling is taken to an extreme as mothers and fathers actively seek to murder their children due to some mysterious signal that affects parents and makes them go haywire. It’s easy to think that the parents in this movie aren’t exactly stable beneath the surface. Still, before the hysteria that hits the parents within the neighborhood, it’s easy to say that the parents are just like any other parents, kind of boring and not in tune with their kids. But the homicidal part is tucked away deep into their psyches until later in the movie.
credit: Mom and Dad
The relationship between parents and their kids isn’t always perfect, but on a subconscious level, wow.
Sure, this movie doesn’t show much realism regarding the realistic relationships between family members. However, initially, things still aren’t that great between Brent, Kendall, and their two kids, Carly and Josh. To say that the Ryan family is a bit troubled is as close to accurate as it can get, as they don’t agree on everything but they do know how to get along. Their daily lives are about as one would expect, bland and boring. But when the hysteria starts, things kick into another gear, and madness ensues as parents begin to kill their children in an unexpected and unprecedented manner as Carly and her friend escape their school to reach her friend’s home, where her friend is swiftly killed by her own mother as Carly escapes. Heading to find her friend Damon isn’t any better as Damon’s father attempts to kill him with a broken bottle.
On a scale from one to ten, this madness in this movie hits about a 6, maybe a 7.
To be certain, parents trying to kill their kids is a shocking image since many kids have no defense against their parents, given that they’re younger and don’t have the experience or strength to do so. Even those tough enough children think practically, meaning they would try to survive, aren’t always likely to figure out what’s going on until it’s too late. There were a few deaths in this movie that were brutal and unforgivable, but they do drive home the point that whatever hysteria grips the adults, it’s too powerful to fight, and the results are deadly in a way that the kids don’t see coming until it’s too late. Once Carly survives a couple of encounters, the battle with her parents goes a little better as she and her brother Josh take refuge behind a closed, locked door. Unfortunately, that’s not as safe as it should be.
credit: Mom and Dad
Nicolas Cage can act unhinged a little too well sometimes.
Throughout his career, Nicolas Cage has become very well known for being able to act completely unhinged. The actor has portrayed so many characters who have flown off the hook for one reason or another that it’s expected at this point. He doesn’t disappoint in this movie since he ends up going psycho at times, but he can still find the calm moments that help balance insanity. For a lot of actors, it feels as though this would be a stretch, that they might have to take a time out between takes, but for Cage, it almost feels as though it’s something he can slip into and out of at a moment’s notice. The great thing is that he’s convincing and that, unlike a lot of other actors, Cage can make a person feel that he’s committing to the role in a manner that would likely scare the hell out of a lot of people.
Overall, this movie wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t that memorable.
In terms of being a horror movie, it feels like this movie could have brought the overall horror element a lot stronger than it did. But at the same time, the hospital scene in which a mother tries to kill her newborn is rather dark and redeems this movie in a very controversial way. But the rest of it feels like another day in the life of a rather average family that doesn’t offer a whole lot other than the possibility of a freak-out that’s long overdue.
If nothing else, it’s worth watching on a rainy day.
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