Mom & Dad

MOM & DAD(18)

D: Brian Taylor

Momentum/Armory/XYZ/Fyzz (Christopher Lemole & Tim Zajaros)

US/UK 2017 (released 2018)

83 mins 

Horror/Comedy

W: Brian Taylor

DP: Daniel Pearl

Ed: Rose Corr & Fernando Villena

Mus: Mr. Bill

Nicolas Cage (Brent Ryan), Selma Blair (Kendall Ryan), Anne Winters (Carly Ryan), Zackary Arthur (Josh Ryan), Robert T. Cunningham (Damon), Lance Henriksen (Mel Ryan)

Mom & Dad is a horror black comedy which spent a few months on the festival circuit before getting a widespread release in early 2018.

The plot sends up the zombie sub-genre, becoming increasingly zany as the story progresses.

Focusing on the Ryan family as an unexplained phenomenon causes parents to attack their own children, teenage daughter Carly and her younger brother Josh escape the murderous intentions of their mom & dad as their methods to kill become increasingly twisted and surreal.

For me, this film was a little too offbeat and utterly ridiculous, despite giving a perfect opportunity for a Nicolas Cage freakout (who doesn't enjoy those?). The comedy element also fluctuated a little too much between outlandishly bizarre and unpleasantly tasteless, which would have been fine if it decided from the outset what type of laughs it wanted to go for.  There's also no excuse for such a lazily-written ending. It did provide one or two laughs, but there was also an awful lot of eye-rolling.

4/10