Mom & Dad (2017) Review

Years and years ago, probably longer than I care to admit Saturday night would have been filled with alcoholic fun. Now however it’s more likely to see me and Mrs AcidBurnsHorrorShow searching Netflix and other online streaming services for something to kick back and watch. After looking through we settled on Mom & Dad, I mean it’s got Nicolas Cage in and lets face it that means it’s either going to be awesome or horrific. The premise of parents going mental and wanting to kill their kids for no apparent reason seemed like a good enough line to hook me in.

Director – Brian Taylor

Writer – Brian Taylor

Stars – Nicolas Cage, Selma Blair, Anne Winters, Zackary Arthur, Robert T. Cunningham, Olivia Crocicchia and Lance Henriksen.

Run Time – 86 minutes

Tagline – Sometimes, They Just Want To Kill You.

IMDB.com link

Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair play your everyday American married couple, the Dad works hard and the Mom goes to yoga classes and their two kids are a nuisance  especially the teenage girl. Thing won’t always be like this though, they will only get worse for everyone. Carly is a thief and steals money from her Mother to fund her teenager rebellion drug habit, she has a boyfriend that the parents especially the Dad do not approve of.

Whilst sat in class various students get called out and sent to the office, things begin to get even weirder as Carly and her best friend Riley head outside of the school building. For some reason all the kids parents are at the gates shouting for their kids, the school security tries to hold them back and protect the kids. The parents eventually break through and this is where the film turns from a decent start into hugely entertaining chaos. The parents start chasing and murdering their own children all over the school field.

Luckily Carly and Riley’s parents aren’t there so they manage to get back to Riley’s house but things get even worse there for Riley. Carly’s boyfriend finds her after his own traumatic experience he knows exactly what is going on. They set out on a mission to rescue her little brother, things as you’d expect don’t really go according to plan especially once Mr and Mrs Milgrom arrive home.

It’s a constant battle for survival for the kids and Carly’s boyfriend, whatever the hell is going on has caused all the parents to want to violently kill their own kids by any means they can. There’s just one thing these parents forgot and that’s that they’d invited Mr Milgrom’s parents around for dinner. The film moves from good to great at this point, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to see Lance Henriksen running around trying to murder a crazy Nicolas Cage who in turn is trying to kill his own Son?

The Good

• Nicolas Cage, for me he is the actor that has the most even ratio of entertaining films to absolute garbage. When he’s on form he’s awesome and when he’s crazy demented Nic Cage he’s a level above all.
• All the actors do a fine job in this movie.
• From the very first keys to the face kill there’s some great moments of chaos and death in this one.
• All the chases are really well done.
• Several news reports on TV and radio really help the situation unfold.
• Nicolas Cage ranting to his kids about butt plugs.
• The fact Cage’s character was slightly unhinged even before all this happened.
• Once the Grandfather arrives this films shifts up a level into chaotic splendour.
• The music is a good fit to the film all the way through.

The Bad

• At first the film feels slightly disjointed, more like a sequence of individual scenes than a film.
• Despite there being a fair few good kills and a fair share of blood I’d have wanted a bit more in here to really hammer home the violent nature of the parents.

There’s not much bad about this film at all, it was an enjoying ride all the way through. If you like crazy and unhinged Nic Cage then you should enjoy him and this film, if you don’t like mental Nic Cage then I’m not sure you should be allowed to watch any films ever again!

Overall Rating – 8/10