Review of Mom and Dad (2018) by Maddy S — 21 Jan 2018

Nicolas Cage is one of my favourite actors. Is he always good? Nope. Has he made his share of stinkers? Yup. However he has that kinetic screen energy, that always seem to balance on the precipice of sanity, that makes him always watchable. Playing the titular 'Dad' in Brian Taylor's bat-shit crazy 'Mom and Dad' he is no different. The premise is - parents are becoming demented and seeking out their own children to kill them. That is it. We are never really told why - it is left ambiguous, much in the way of something like Romero's 'The Crazies' which this film owes a lot to.

I personally think it is some kind of allegorical commentary on technology, in that the film places an emphasis on how embedded it is in the lives of the younger generation today, and how it is driving parents literally 'crazy' - there is one scene early on, that hammers this point home, where Selma Blair's character (Mom) is driving her daughter to school, all the while losing out to Facebook for her kid's attention. The film then shows static on a television and it is strongly implied that somehow this is causing the parents to flip out and embark on their murderous rampages.

The film is, as mentioned, pretty out there. It does remind me slightly of Taylor's previous work 'Crank' in terms of style. It sells itself as a black-comedy, but it has no jokes, is never funny, yet that makes it work well as a horror film. Another interesting take, is that the character's are written as unsympathetically as possible - they are all unlikable from the start, which tends to flip the standard horror trope on it's head - Cage's character wouldn't actually have surprised you if he had murdered his kids, even before the slaughter-plague hits him.

The flick has a nasty streak that I really appreciated though - there is a sub-plot early on, involving a pregnant character, where you can anticipate the outcome a long way off, and they actually go there. I also enjoyed how distasteful the film becomes as it progresses, with a conclusion that has almost Grimm Brother's like tones, with the methods the parents use to 'gas out' their kids increasingly menacing. For all it's WTF-moments though, the movie is also smart at times - the way the kids escape their situation is actually cleverly written and logical.

This is Cage's show though. There is a scene mid-way through, that is so well-acted (involving the destruction of a pool table) that it will certainly be added to his career highlight reel. In that moment, he goes from almost severely unlikeable to border-line sympathetic, in his pondering of his lost youth and approaching mid-life crisis. Your appreciation of the film will hinge on your opinion of him though - if like me, you are a fan, I think you will really like this flick, as it is him at his demented best. It certainly wouldn't have worked as well with any other actor in the role. He is perfectly cast.