When a disease sweeps the area, all parents become crazed killers going after their offspring. In one house, a teenage girl and her little brother try to survive while their parents do all in their powers to kill them.
Written and directed by Brian Taylor, the insanity is something most familiar with his work will be going into this film looking forward. And it delivers. The film takes the simple premise of Anytown, USA and gives the parents of all children a need to kill their young instead of protecting them. This leads to some levels of “what the fuck” that is great and greatly entertaining. Most of the film centers on this one family, setting them up as a normal family with its own problems. The father is stuck in the dead-end job, the mother is bored halfway to death and looking for something to make her life feel fulfilling again, the teenage daughter is up to no good while rebelling against her parents in the usual ways, and the son is too young to understand what is going on. While they are the center of this, they seem to be part of the last few to be affected as the viewer is shown what happens around them and not to them just yet. The film takes the premise and cranks it to 11 to make it a true Taylor film and give Nicolas Cage a part he was born to (over) play.
The cast of “Mom and Dad” is composed of the aforementioned Nicolas Cage as the Dad, Selma Blair as the Mom, Anne Winters as they daughter, Zackary Arthur as their young son, and many more. Cage and Blair have the meatiest, craziest parts. They start off as a normal couple with normal issues trying to find happiness, something most people, parents or not, can connect with. They play their parts well, with restraint even. That is until the insanity gets to the level where most would expect it to and then keeps going up. Cage plays the crazed father very well, a part seemingly meant for him and his usual unhinged acting that has been kind of a signature and something his fans know and love. Here he gets to go really nuts and ham it up in a way that makes sense and is ridiculously entertaining. Playing with him, Selma Blair gives a similarly crazy performance that works well and ties in with him. She also adds a lot of the emotional content of the film in a few scenes that will not be spoiled but are important in setting the story and its boundaries. Her acting in those scenes is superb. Then she pushes up the crazy and just goes for broke. This is all beautiful to watch. Playing against them, Winters and Arthur show more restraint and play the scared children of a crazed couple with the right amount and mix of fear, concern, and want for survival. Also, genre fans, keep an eye open for a delightfully nuts Lance Henriksen in a small but quite fun part.
Considering the level of insanity and carnage in the film, the special effects are not as big and numerous as one would expect, but all of what is seen is very well done. These effects are done with talent and a knowledge of how to get the most impact from the least gore. That being said, it doesn’t makes that the gore and blood is inexistent. A few scenes have some that is just gross and superbly effective. The film just doesn’t rely on the gross factor to create it’s insanity.
“Mom and Dad” is a nutter of a film that is highly entertaining and knows exactly what it is doing. Brian Taylor definitely knows how to craft insanity and how to make it fun to watch. Here the use to Nicolas Cage is genius and it makes the film just about perfect. For those who love watching Cage and love films that go balls to the wall crazy and violent. “Mom and Dad” can remind of a different take on Cooties or a virus a la Mayhem that only affect parents. To most people with kids, it will even be relatable on some level as most people with kids have known how crazy they drive you but you can’t do anything about it. Here the parents go all out in how they take that to the extreme. It’s a fun, hilarious, insane watch that somehow makes complete sense when you watch it.