Mum and Dad |  | Director: Steven Sheil
Actors: Perry Benson, Dido Miles, Olga Fedori, Ainsley Howard, Toby Alexander
Studio: Revolver Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $8.95
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Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 53493
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: REVA1025DVD
UPC: 829461000080
EAN: 0829461000080
ASIN: B001RTKKQW
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: May 5, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | One of the most disturbing shockers to emerge in recent years, "Mum & Dad" will leave the toughest horror fan gasping in shock. When Lena, a young Polish immigrant working as an airport office cleaner, misses her last bus home, she accepts an offer of help from friendly co-worker Birdie, who lives nearby with her "adoptive" parents. Knocked unconscious after arriving at the house, |
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Product Description
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 05/05/2009 Run time: 84 minutes
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
 Absolutely brilliant! August 25, 2009
Music lover. (England.)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"Mum and Dad". What a great movie! Showing how bad life can be in a seriously dysfunctional family! Something of an understatement here when given the kind of 'family' involved.
Polish immigrant worker at an airport finds herself stranded for the night in her work colleague's home and ends up staying much longer than expected, being held captive and made to live as part of the mad family set-up, with ma and pa and the work colleague and her brother, whom never speaks a word throughout the entire movie. (No doubt he's been too traumatised by the goings-on to ever find his voice again!).
Apparently the director wanted a British version of a "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" type movie, but in my view he succeeds in making a far superior film to that old cult classic, which I found myself quickly bored with owing to the tedious, nonstop screaming of Marilyn Chambers, the 'heroine' of TCM.
In fact, in my opinion, "Mum and Dad" is better than all of the TCM movies (including the remake) and Hostel movies put together. It is far more interesting, and believable. It has realistic and credible effects, nothing OTT silly like the hanging eyeball sequence in the first "Hostel" film, an effect that was frankly ludicrous and destroyed any credibility the movie had had up until then. I had found myself soon bored with "Hostel" anyway. Not so with "Mum and Dad" which managed to keep my interest absorbed throughout.
Unlike the tiresome screaming of Chambers in TCM, which only served to make the movie irritating, our heroine in "Mum and Dad" makes you root for her all the way. This girl used her intelligence to think of cunning ways to extricate herself from the horrendous situation, instead of resorting to mindless screaming like Chambers did in "Chainsaw". (Though admittedly, this one would not have been able to make much of a noise, as she'd been injected to silence her voice, at least at first).
The movie also has a great theme tune, a haunting. traditional song called "900 Miles" sung by Gemma Ray. You get to hear it a lot on the DVD's menu.
The DVD also boasts some interesting extras, including the director's admission that the movie only cost £100,000 to make. Which, in my estimation makes this film even more of an achievement.
There are interviews with most of the leading cast, though strangely minus one with our heroine, making me wonder if perhaps she had declined to be interviewed, as it seemed a little odd that the main character was not asked to give some input into the interviews.
To sum up, a great effort, and well done to all concerned. A triumph!
 Mother doesn't always know best. March 14, 2009
M. S. Skidmore (Kinver, United Kingdom)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
Imagine if Mike Leigh and Tobe Hooper got drunk one night, fooled around and had a love child, then this new movie by director Steven Sheil would surely be the ghastly outcome. Shot like a kitchen sink drama but with the mean spirited nature that is prevalent in the horror genre at the moment - ''Mum and Dad'' is one sick puppy that like others who venture down this road, fails in comparison to the 70s homegrown horror big hitters like ''Texas Chainsaw'' and ''Halloween'' which it is so desperately trying to emulate.
The story has Lena (played well by Olga Fedori), a young polish cleaner working the nightshift at an airport in London. There, she unwittingly befriends brother and sister duo Birdie and Elbie. Enticing Lena back to their home, she is then tortured for the rest of the movie by the pseudo siblings' monsterous parentage, the mum and dad of the title.
Essaying 'Dad' is 1980s British comedy actor and Shane Meadows regular Perry Benson. His portrayal is ugly and off putting, and a million miles away from his comedic roles such as 'You Rang M'Lord'. 'Mum' played by Dido Miles, is another abomination and her deviant nature is depicted in graphic detail.
Across the board, the movie is well acted and observed in a usual british, gritty reality. Sheils' direction is paced well and he has an eye for the bizarre, however his screenplay is nothing more than what you have already seen before in other movies of this ilk which have used their obvious budgetary limitations to a much better use. The film does feel in parts like an overlong episode of the UK TV series 'The Royal Family' if uncle leatherface came to stay. I assume the main characters were modeled after recent tabloid british serial killers and this seeps through into the atmosphere and feel of the film and does add a sense of authenticity to the proceedings - however, from my old man and jaded point of view, it all feels a little stale and I really wish this 'toture porn' cycle would come to it's end soon. It really is a shame as this could have been a contender, but again the hype surrounding the film is inaccurate and only there to give the film notoriety. Just a shame it doesn't warrant it. Sure, its sick and distasteful, but where is the power and real horror that those older movies (Psycho, Henry and the aforementioned Texas Chainsaw Massacre) displayed so effortlessly?
If you need to see a good 'bad family' picture, check out Bob Balaban's late 80s horror film ''Parents''. Same kind of story, just done with more style, wit and genuine dread. Rent 'Mum and Dad' if you must, but don't go in expecting the next 'big thing'. Just an R Rated episode of The Royal Family would be a more precise analogy...
 I'm on the fence on this one... shocking, certainly... but... June 10, 2009
Paulo Leite (Lisbon, Portugal)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Well... I admit this film surprised me. I wasn't expecting anything from this film, and I did got something. The story is simple: a lonely girl meets another girl while cleaning toilets on an airport. She misses her bus and accepts help from the colleague. So lonely girl goes to other girl's home and - bang! - she is imprisoned by the family. A sadistic family beyond limits.
The good things about this film:
It's all beautifully made. The violence is top notch and everything is made to get your worst reaction. There's one scene, where Dad is masturbating with the help of "some piece of meat cut from someone" and when he finishes and puts the meat down, you can see the semen oozing from it... yes, it's shocking! So the extreme violence IS extreme. The Christmas party is another chocking moment with victims as deco.
Interesting that this film is one of a handful of projects (ten) produced by Microwave... all made under $200.000 that are supposed to discover new directing talents. And that is surprising because they did an excellent job with such a budget. And in fact, this film looks like it cost much more than just that - which is amazing.
The bad things about this film:
I don't know... I think those torture films are so boring. You can do the laundry and leave the film playing and there's almost no story to miss... except that when the next torture set piece begins the screams will alert you that something is going on. You stop what you're doing (laundry) for five minutes, take a look, get shocked, say "ok, next!" and resume laundry until more screams.
What can I say, I miss story. I miss a great screenplay - something that's very rare in horror movies nowadays[...]
But that's MY opinion... If you want to be shocked, get this film ASAP... and I DO admit that this film is very good on the "torture/cruelty/visceral/exploitation" horror sub-genre, miles above the 90% of what is produced today.
It is recommended IF you love the said genre.
I used to like it in 2005...
Now... (yawn!)
 Coronation Street Goes To Hell January 19, 2010
JJ LoveBeast (The House Beside the Last House on the Edge of Dead End Park)
Wonderfully demented black comedy/horror about a kidnapped immigrant girl forced to endure some brutal "behavioral modification" at the hands of a seriously twisted family.
A sick, slick bit of nastiness and darker than dark humor.
The Most Disturbing Film Ever? April 28, 2009
Johnny Cohen (Los Angeles, CA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I have watched many horror movies in my time but this film is SICK. I am surprised a film like this is able to be released. Having said that it is an amazing film and I thought the director did an amazing job on the small budget he was working with ($200k). I think Steven Sheil is a director to watch out for in the future. Hollywood could never have made a movie like this. How fitting that Mum and Dad is being released on Mothers day. I am left wondering though - how much of this film was actually based on the serial killers Fred and Rosemary West?
Showing reviews 1-5 of 8
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