From what I can tell, this movie has not been hyped as much as other recent horror films. Why, you might ask, in a time of horror resurgence would a horror movie with pretty big names in the lead roles be not be shoved down our throats?

My guess is because one of those in the lead roles is Nicholas Cage. Did you just cringe? I think you just cringed.

However, if you went to the screening I did, you would realise that Mr. Cage was indeed a draw and not a deterrence. I am pretty sure 80%+ of the audience was there just to witness the spectacle that is Nicholas Cage. And you want to know what? No one else could have pulled off the role of Brent Ryan. He was perfect. And Selma Blair’s Kendall was a great character foil to Brent. It was mania balanced with calm focus, coming together to achieve a goal. That goal – to kill their children.

In the film, parents (I do not remember the movie stating if this phenomenon was contained to just the US or had spread worldwide) are overcome with an urge to kill their children. Just their own children. This premise leads to some squirm-worthy moments, particularly after Kendall’s sister gives birth.

Mom & Dad has everything, and then some. There’s gore, there’s tension, there’s the pouty teen whose death you anticipate, there is a fantastic cameo by Lance Henriksen! The only thing I feel the film could have done without is the racist portrayal of the Ryan’s housekeeper. I feel that what that was aiming to achieve (character development, if anything) could have been done in a less offensive manner. We get it, Brent is an asshole.

One might want to just blow this off as another take on a zombie film, like I initially did. In fact, that is what made me apprehensive about it. But Mom & Dad is so much more. With a tight run time (1 hour 26 minutes) there is not enough time for it to be another soap opera with zombies (a la a popular show you may watch). Yet it still manages to set up enough back story and strong portrayals of (what I imagine to be) the average suburban parent’s innermost emotions regarding their lives with children. Mom & Dad is a commentary on modern suburban life, how parents strive so hard to provide for children who are often ungrateful and oblivious to all their parents do. It also taps in to the struggle and constant anxiety of being a parent that has been around for as long as we have.

We see and understand the Ryan family in this film. What we don’t get to see or understand is the cause of this whole filicide phenomenon. We are not given a source or reason. The end of the film does not even give us a sense of closure. Mom & Dad does not muddy the plot with such extravagances. I loved this. Sometimes a gripe is how the ‘why’ is shoehorned in to a film, feels forced or is underdeveloped. No worries about that here.

So, if you haven’t already go check this movie out. It is worth a watch!

Let me know in the comments below if you have seen it, and what you thought!