Parents (1988)

"Where's the Beef...From?"

Bob Balaban's weird, quirky look at how parents might seem to their young one gets a UK Blu-ray release from Lionsgate as part of their Vestron Collector's Series.

It's 1958 and we're in the kind of American suburb beloved of advertising poster artists and TV sit-com producers of the period. Ten year old Michael (Bryan Madorksky) has moved into the neighbourhood with his seemingly squeaky clean parents, brilliant scientist Nick (Randy Quaid) and 'perfect mom' Lily (Mary Beth Hurt).

Despite that, Michael seems to be a dark little soul. In school he tells his class how to cook a dead cat and when asked to draw a picture of his family he crayons the paper red, prompting a trip to school social worker named (oh dear) Mille Dew (Sandy Dennis in her next to last role).

But does Michael have a very good reason for being such a goth child? Despite their appearances, are his Mum & Dad up to something very strange indeed? Something so nasty that Michael has every reason to be terrified of them?

One of a clutch of movies made in the late 1980s that used the sanitised 1950s US TV vision of family life as a springboard for weirdness (this subgenre would also include Tom Burman's LIFE ON THE EDGE and Michael Lehmann's MEET THE APPLEGATES), PARENTS might just have been even better than it already is if it had remained more ambiguous. Are Michael's parents monsters, or they just a couple of perfectly normal folks whose adult lives are being intermittently witnessed by an especially neurotic ten year old? One presumes the studio wanted a little bit more meat (sorry) than that and even as it stands, the best thing about PARENTS is how the whole thing is told from its young viewpoint character.

The Vestron series is building a fine reputation for stacking their discs with extras and PARENTS is no exception. We get an audio commentary with Bob Balaban and producer Bonnie Palef, an audio interview with composer Jonathan Elias accompanied by an isolated score track, interviews with screenwriter Christopher Hawthorne, star Mary Beth Hurt, director of photography Robin Vigeon and 'decorative consultant' Yolanda Cuomo. There's also a trailer, radio spots and a still gallery. 

Bob Balaban's PARENTS is coming out on Blu-ray from Lionsgate on Monday 25th February 2019