Parents
Michael is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Young Michael begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside, but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker.
Why it matters
A warped suburban nightmare that blends 1950s Americana with unsettling body horror and dark satire.
- Early work from Bob Balaban that subverts the idyllic postwar family ideal with macabre humor and genuine dread.
- Practical effects and surreal nightmare sequences heighten the sense of creeping domestic terror.
- Perfect for fans of folk-tinged horror and coming-of-age tales with a sinister undercurrent, like The Reflecting Skin or Picnic at Hanging Rock.
- Uneasy atmosphere that probes anxieties about family, conformity, and hidden violence beneath the white picket fence.
Director
2 horror films in catalog
Cast
Horror DNA
Gore
0
Slow Burn
17
Psychological
71
Supernatural
0
Creature
0
Disturbing
83
Fun Factor
67
Cerebral
43
Survival
0
