66
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 80EmpireKim NewmanEmpireKim NewmanUnfairly neglected, perfectly creepy and disturbing suburban bizarro drama.
- 80Time OutTime OutIf the film finally fails to shock or surprise, it's nevertheless both imaginatively shot and wittily scripted, and strikes a nice balance between gentle parody and a queasy unease associated with bona fide genre suspense. Superior performances by Quaid, Hurt and Madorsky.
- 80Chicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumChicago ReaderJonathan RosenbaumThe script runs out of ideas long before he does, and the film doesn't build dramatically as much as it could. But it's an impressive debut, full of bizarre imagination and visual flair—a must for fans of offbeat horror films.
- 80Washington PostDesson ThomsonWashington PostDesson ThomsonParents is an impressive debut, and certainly the most provocative new release around town. You may leave this movie realizing how dark your childhood actually was. You may also leave a vegetarian.
- 80Washington PostHal HinsonWashington PostHal HinsonEven with its collapse, Parents is remarkably accomplished for a first outing. It's good enough to make you wish desperately that it had hung together.
- 60TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazinePARENTS concentrates heavily on Michael's Freudian pathology; however, in its emphasis on psychological themes, the film loses sight of its story and becomes a confused collection of isolated vignettes. In adopting the boy's single-minded perspective, it prevents its characters from developing, so that Quaid hovers and glowers, Hurt giggles and flirts, and Madorsky lurks in dark recesses without variation from beginning to end.
- 50Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertBecause it speaks to a terror that lurks deep within our memories, Parents has the potential to be a great horror film. But it never knows quite what to do with its inspiration. Is it a satire, a black comedy, or just plain horror? The right note is never found, and so the movie's scenes coexist uneasily with one another.
- 50The New York TimesCaryn JamesThe New York TimesCaryn JamesThe satire of the 50's is more bland than biting, dependent on authentically garish costumes and sets. And when the horror-film scenes begin to intrude on normal life (what is hanging from the cellar ceiling, anyway?) Mr. Balaban can't make the dark elements seem comic enough to mesh with the rest of this nightmarish joke.
- 42The A.V. ClubJoshua AlstonThe A.V. ClubJoshua AlstonThe mark of a great horror comedy is the degree to which it delivers the two generally incompatible genres in equal measure. By that metric, the 1989 horror comedy Parents is an abject failure. Sure, the film has elements of both horror and comedy, but overall, the film falls firmly in the horror category. The laughs are few and far between, and once the dread starts creeping in, it intensifies until the final shot.