You know that Youtube video that compiles short clips of Nicolas Cage freaking out and mashes them together into four minutes of unhinged, mental breakdowns? If 'Mom And Dad' was made a decade or so earlier, you can bet a few choice cuts would have made it.
It's a low-budget horror-comedy that is only too aware that it's an exploitation film. Cage and the ever-reliable Selma Blair play a married couple who one day, find themselves beset by the irresistible urge to murder both of their children. Teenage daughter Carly soon finds herself wishing she hadn't talked back so much while struggling to stay alive and protect her eight year old brother, all while their parents swing household items at them.
It takes a little longer to get going than you might expect, and it doesn't go quite as unhinged as expected (where was the blender death they telegraphed?), but it's a fun, blood-soaked romp. It's at its best when Cage goes full madman and the last ten minutes is utterly insane.
And yes, if you're a parent, some of it is relatable. The realisation that you're not young and hot anymore, that a lot of your teenage dreams have gone unrealised and you're now "just mom and dad," can be difficult to come to terms with and this movie is only too happy to exploit that. It takes that grain of truth and escalates it to a demented extreme.
The abrupt ending is a bit frustrating and some might be annoyed that the plot threads weren't tied off by the finale. However, that's not the point. The destination isn't the enjoyable part, the journey is. And this journey has Nicolas Cage trying to murder people with a handheld electric saw.
It's a low-budget horror-comedy that is only too aware that it's an exploitation film. Cage and the ever-reliable Selma Blair play a married couple who one day, find themselves beset by the irresistible urge to murder both of their children. Teenage daughter Carly soon finds herself wishing she hadn't talked back so much while struggling to stay alive and protect her eight year old brother, all while their parents swing household items at them.
It takes a little longer to get going than you might expect, and it doesn't go quite as unhinged as expected (where was the blender death they telegraphed?), but it's a fun, blood-soaked romp. It's at its best when Cage goes full madman and the last ten minutes is utterly insane.
And yes, if you're a parent, some of it is relatable. The realisation that you're not young and hot anymore, that a lot of your teenage dreams have gone unrealised and you're now "just mom and dad," can be difficult to come to terms with and this movie is only too happy to exploit that. It takes that grain of truth and escalates it to a demented extreme.
The abrupt ending is a bit frustrating and some might be annoyed that the plot threads weren't tied off by the finale. However, that's not the point. The destination isn't the enjoyable part, the journey is. And this journey has Nicolas Cage trying to murder people with a handheld electric saw.