Parents (film)

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Parents
DVD cover.
Directed by	Bob Balaban
Produced by	Bonnie Palef
Written by	Christopher Hawthorne
Starring	Randy Quaid Mary Beth Hurt Sandy Dennis Bryan Madorsky
Music by	Jonathan Elias Angelo Badalamenti (orchestral music)
Cinematography	Ernest Day Robin Vidgeon
Editing by	Bill Pankow
Distributed by	Vestron Pictures
Release date(s)	January 27, 1989 (USA)
Running time	81 min.
Country	Canada USA
Language	English
Budget	$3,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$870,532 (USA)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Parents is a 1989 horror film directed by Bob Balaban. The film is about a disturbed young boy living in 1950s suburbia who suspects his parents of cannibalism. The film starred Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, and Bryan Madorsky. Although the film is primarily in the horror genre (it can also be categorized as surrealistic horror, and the film has sometimes been compared to the work of David Lynch^[1]), it features many comic moments, including the use of sitcom-like music in its soundtrack, and has sometimes been categorized as a black comedy.

Critics were mixed in their reaction to the film^[2], and the film was not well received by audiences when it was originally released. The film had an estimated budget of $3 million, according to the Internet Movie Database, but grossed only $870,532 in the United States.^[3] Since its initial box office failure, however, the film has developed a cult following on home video. The film was released on DVD on May 25, 1999 in its unmatted full screen format. The original DVD went out of print for a brief period of time before the film was re-released in the DVD format as a double feature with the film Fear, and Parents was presented for the first time in widescreen since its original theatrical release.