Mum & Dad

Plot synopsis:
The film begins at Heathrow Airport, where Lena, a polish immigrant (Olga Fedori) is working her shift as a cleaner. While there, her colleague Birdie (Ainsley Howard) helps her to clean the toilets. Lena talks about her family and living alone in Hounslow. Lena pulls out a mirror that her grandmother left her, and Birdie takes a shine to it. They get some sandwiches, and Birdie introduces Lena to her adopted brother Elbie (Toby Alexander). Lena tells Birdie that she doesn't get on with her family. Birdie tells Lena that her family care for her, and that they work at the airport too.Lena tries to get Elbie to talk to her, but he doesn't respond. Later, Birdie tells Lena about someone they know who has a dirty sexual fetish, before stealing an MP3 player from the office. She tells Lena that people shouldn't leave things lying around if they don't want them stolen. Lena sees some scars on Birdie, and she tells her that she used to have behavioural problems but she is better now.Afterwards, Lena misses her bus home, and Birdie invites her to stay at her house, near the end of the runway. They climb through a hole in the fence, and enter the house through the back door. Lena discusses how difficult it is to keep in touch with her family.Birdie disappears up the stairs, and Lena decides to look around the house for a while, only for Dad (Perry Benson) to knock her out, and inject her with something. She wakes up in a dark room after hearing tortured screaming. She gets mad, and Dad arrives with Mum (Dido Miles), who tells Lena that when she gets mad, Dad gets excited, and they need to calm him down. Dad spits on the floor, and then leaves the room. Mum tells Lena that as long as she is with her, Dad won't hurt her.Lena is unable to speak, and Mum tells her not to try to talk, because she has had a little jab. She gives Lena another injection, and Lena falls asleep. She wakes up later, tied to a frame. Mum tells her that she wanted another girl to come and live there. Mum then pierces Lena's skin with some metal and carves some marks into her back.Mum takes Lena in to see Dad, who is masturbating. When he finishes, he tells Lena that in his house, she abides by his rules. He then grabs her by the throat, before sending her to bed, The next morning, Birdie cleans Lena's scars and she shows her the scars on Elbie's back, which she compares to crazy paving.At breakfast, the family are watching pornography, as Birdie plays with Lena's mirror. She then puts the MP3 player into a pot, and tells Mum that she couldn't get any more stuff because she was doing Lena's work. Lena tries to escape, but Dad grabs her and tells Mum to control her children. Elbie drags her on to a chair, and Mum tells her not to go anywhere.Birdie takes Lena through her chores, and tells her that Elbie has nothing going on in his head or in his pants. Mum arrives and tells Lena that she is doing a good job. In her room, Lena attempts to escape, but hears Dad watching her through the keyhole.At breakfast the next day, Lena sees that Birdie has been hiding money from the family and takes it from her pocket. Dad accuses Birdie of lying to the family and shouts at her. Mum sends her to her room, where she cries before making a mess of what Lena has tidied up. When Elbie arrives, Birdie tells him that Lena is his replacement, and he shoves her to the ground. She compares him to the "spastic thing" upstairs.Later, Lena massages Mum's feet until she falls asleep before doing the same to Dad, who asks her to kiss his foot and make him happy. He shouts at her and throws her to the floor. The next morning, Lena greets Mum with a hug and tells her that her voice is back. Birdie tries to convince Mum that Lena is hiding things from her, but Mum shouts at her instead. Mum attempts to give Lena a top up of the voice paralysing drug, and Lena tells her that she won't scream because of Dad. Mum tells her it is much nicer when she plays along, before cutting her leg open.Lena does her chores and finds a mobile phone, which she hides in her knickers. Birdie phones the phone, and Mum finds it, and tells Lena that she is very disappointed in her, before getting Elbie to hold her down while she gives her a stronger dose of the drugs.Later, Lena is washing clothes, when she hears a man outside. She tries to get his attention by calling for help and when that doesn't work, she throws a human tooth out of the window. Dad sees it and blames the roof. He rushes upstairs and drags Lena into his torture room, before putting her inside a suitcase and making Elbie hit it with a hammer.The man enters the house, where Mum is waiting, and suffocates him with some bubble wrap. After the man has been chopped up, Dad tells Lena he warned her of what would happen if she broke the rules before making her kiss the man's decapitated head, then choking her again.The next day, Mum tells Dad she has a surprise with the man's parts, and makes them into sausages, as Birdie tells her about some new girls at work on dodgy visas.After spending the night tied to the radiator, Lena breaks into the torture room, and finds a staircase up to the attic, where she sees a mentally ill girl in bed (the spastic that Birdie was referring to). The girl wakes up and has a fit, but Lena calms her down, before finding a man in the torture chamber, and calming him down too, before stealing a weapon.The next morning, Birdie enters Lena's room and tells her it's Christmas. She goes downstairs to find the man crucified on the wall, and "the spastic" in her chair. Dad pours wine down Lena's throat before spitting in her face. She bites him, causing him to hit her on the head. They open their presents next; Birdie has been given some knives, and Elbie has been given some porn.Dad tells Lena that he knows she has been visiting "the spastic", and she is like that because the cord was wrapped around her neck when she was born and she is his real daughter. He calls Lena a pet, and tells her a pet isn't for life, just for Christmas. Mum can't bear to look at "the spastic" and tells Dad she shouldn't even be there in the first place. Mum gives Lena a dress for Christmas and they get her to try it on.Dad arrives in Lena's room wearing a dress, and unties her, causing her to stab him with the weapon she stole from the torture chamber. She makes her way downstairs, followed by Dad, who collapses, causing Mum and Birdie to rush to help him. She stabs Mum, then Birdie attacks her, but Lena slams her into a wall and takes Dad's knife, stabbing her in the stomach.She opens the back door, but Birdie attacks her again, so she hits her over the head with the iron and rushes outside. She climbs over the back gate, but falls and twists her ankle. Mum and Dad rush out, bloodied and battered, chasing her. She fights them off, and stabs them both repeatedly. Meanwhile, Elbie sets "the spastic" free of her restraints, before strangling her. He then walks out of the front door. The final shot is of Lena screaming in the field.

Tags: brainwashing, violence, murder

Review:
While some might call it another variation on the crazy family theme, it holds more in common with a film like Killers (or Real Killers, as it is also known) than it does with the Chainsaw Massacre or Rob Zombie flicks.One thing about horror flicks is that you can often derive a lot from the title of the film.
Mum and dad might look like ordinary people from the outside, they certainly are a little different from your regular household setup.The fun starts when one of their children drags in a Polish immigrant girl who gets "integrated" into the family.
Add some nicely built up tension near the end and what you have is a pretty neat little horror flick that is sure to entertain and repulse at the same time.Mum & Dad is not as good as any of its influences as Sheil's style is a little less refined.
I recently saw Mum & Dad at UK's FrightFest festival, and have to say it blew me away as being one of the best, most balls-out British horror films in years.The cast are all uniformly excellent (with Ainsley as Birdie and Perry as Dad being particularly brilliant), and the well-written script is full of very dark humour.
Imagine The Royle Family meets The People Under The Stairs as interpreted by Mike Leigh.The film is brilliantly directed by Steven Sheil for it's reported £100k budget limitation, and there are several classic scenes - the best being the nightmarish Christmas party which will bring uncomfortable laughter to anyone who has experienced a 'traditional British family Christmas' (although how can you also forget the scene where Dad pleasures himself with a piece of flesh!).A genuinely solid shocker - I hope that Mum & Dad gets the release it deserves..
Loosely inspired by Fred and Rosemary West sick murderous activity "Mum and Dad" doesn't disappoint when it comes to brutality.Mum and Dad and their 'adopted' children,Birdie & Elbie,work at the airport.The family live off whatever they scavenge from cargo holds,offices and hotels - including a steady stream of transient workers who populate the airport's soulless hub.When Lena,a young Polish office cleaner,is befriended by Birdie,she gets drawn into a nightmarish world of torture,murder and perversity.Imprisoned in a suburban House of Horrors and designated a 'Mummy's Girl',Lena's only options appear to be to become part of the family-and join them in their insanity-or die painful death.The film despite its general misanthrophy and unsettling violence plays like a black comedy.It certainly has plenty of humorous moments to relieve the tension.It's quite disturbing and torture-laden too.8 out of 10..
With a constant soundtrack of jumbo jets screaming overhead and an almost religious zeal for making even the most mundane of British customs (cups of tea, Christmas sherry, fried breakfasts) seem perverted and wrong, 'Mum & Dad' stands out amongst the usual horror fare of good-looking teens being bumped off.
This seems like a normal family, yet we're dragged (bloodily) through their degradation, here we get a film where the horror is not all in your face gore, it's unsettling and dirty feeling.
My only possible complaint here is that it may actually be too much like the lives of real serial killers, I can't help thinking of Fred & Rose West when I watch this.As an aside, this movie really gets a lot better with repeat viewing, maybe this is where the complaints come in...
In short, it amounts to eighty-odd minutes of aggrieved yelling braided into several totally asinine moments of bloody, lavatorial sleaze.It isn't even momentarily frightening, suspenseful or inventive, and for a flick so proudly and loudly "inspired" by the murders of Fred and Rosemary West, the complete lack of taste, insight and tonal composure is unforgivable.The story behind the film's funding and production is fascinating however, and well worth investigating online.
The acting in all fairness is between good and excellent at times, its just the story is very weak - no justification for anything that happens - I have read on here its based on Fred and Rose west but there is nothing really to indicate that in any great depth other than its based around a pair of psychotic parents.I enjoyed Saw and the rest of the films in that series although not as good are all better than this, Hostel is probably one of the worst films I have sat through - I am not squeamish and love a great horror film but I do like to actually have some semblance of a plot to go with the gore - this is more gore for gore's sake in the vein of Hostel than something clever (yeah yeah Saw ain't gonna win an Oscar but at least it had a plot and some twists)with gore added into the mix, this is closer to Hostel than Saw by a mile, when it ended I really did think I wonder what all the fuss was about - OK its shot on a cheap budget which does show at times, the special effects are very good in fairness, its just the whole thing was written on the back of a fag packet.......1/10 because I am sick of being disappointed by films that really are a waste of time.
It certainly isn't as shocking as one would like, even when Lena is exploring her environs and discovers the extent of the crimes of Mum & Dad. Fedori never does make Lena too likable a character; the one person who's more sympathetic is the unspeaking Elbie (Toby Alexander), another member of the adoptive "family".Sheil does cannily stress the nearness of the abode to the airport, filming planes in the air at every opportunity, but his ending is seriously underwhelming; again, a sense of deja vu dominates the proceedings.It's doubtful that even die hard genre lovers will find that much of value here.Five out of 10..
When i fist heard about this movie I was under the impression that Mum and Dad was based on the true life story of Fred and Rosemary West but seeing as no-one else appears to have mentioned that in their reviews i must be wrong, although I'm not sure what would have given me that impression?On to the movie then...The story has been pretty much covered by all the other reviews so there's not much point in me going over that again.
What i will say though is that based on the West's or not, this movie is one of the sickest and most disturbing i have ever seen!I've always been a horror fan from a child and my stomach for gore has changed considerably over the years and i try to avoid it unless it is an essential part of the story telling.
Mum and Dad is a true masterpiece in my mind because it effected me and did so in such a profound way, something no other movie ever has done.If like me you enjoy a good story and enjoy being moved by that story then Mum and Dad is a must see although you'll definitely only want to see it the once because i know that i couldn't sit through it again!10/10.
The cast are very well played, especially the mum who steals every scene she appears in, a true portrayal of evil.In my opinion this is the type of film that British financing should go to, not because it is horror, but because what it is trying to achieve.
And as a struggling film maker I find what Steven Sheil has made a great inspiration.I 100% recommend Mum & Dad, it's not for everyones tastes, but then if everyone liked the same thing, life would be boring!.
The makers of this film, along with those behind the likes of Eden Lake and The Disappeared, provide every reason to believe that British cinema can produce horror that is as distinctive, thought provoking, horrific, and downright scary as the rest of the world..
Not everyone's cup of tea, but well worth the time of every horror film fan.The film displays great taste in recognising it's lineage: not just Tobe Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but also (perhaps more crucially) British Horror Films of the 1970's and in particular Mumsy, Nanny, Sonny and Girly (from the great Freddie Francis) and Pete Walker's excellent Frightmare.This above all else (great cinematography, a graphic style, low budget, pitch black streak of humour and great writing) is truly refreshing: here is an honest to goodness British Horror film, not afraid to stand on it's own two feet as independent to most of what the genre seems to be churning out, particularly from the USA.
I wanted to give this chance because it was a British film, but I was unprepared for the depravity on show here.I cannot believe that the BBC saw fit to be involved with this awful piece of 'torture porn', and following their recent lapses of judgement, this will be more ammunition for the people who think 'Auntie' has lost her way.I for one object that part, however little, of my licence fee has gone into funding this obscene film.I love horror films, but this just went too far, and I never want to see it again.Finally, I'm surprised that this got past the censors, it truly shows how desensitised people have become, and why the human race is truly on a downward spiral when this is considered to be entertainment..
Unfortunately, that isn't the case, since 'Mum & Dad' is best described as a low budget British version of the more well known Hostel movies.It's not even a case, as is with more recent Saw movies, that Mum & Dad appeals on gore rather than plot and characters, since the actual "violence" in this film isn't as sick as you would initially believe, and is kept to a minimum (running time being 85 minutes).The performances are well done, especially the 'Dad' who manages to pull off the schizophrenic mentality authentically.
Furthermore, the way in which the film is shot is quite impressive.But still, as British horrors go, this isn't on par with something like Creep, and doesn't contain enough of the gorehound stuff to compete with any of the Saw movies.
Therefore I cannot recommend this film to fans of smart horrors with comprehensive plots, or to people who just simply like sick and twisted visual displays..
I guess we are allowed to like depraved movies without feeling particularly guilty...Without giving too much away, the film involves the incarceration of a young woman against her will, and she is abused in various ways by a family of loonies.
First time filmmaker Steven Sheil's debut horror flick Mum & Dad is already causing a stir, although I'm secretly guessing his Telegraph headlines of 'Ban this sick filth' and 'torture porn made with tax payers money' are welcomed and in some respects enjoyed.
Yes there is torture and plenty of gore and there is even one scene that out grossed me and went one step further than even I had thought but that aside the real underbelly of the film is in its sheer creepiness, thanks partly to the acting of mum (Miles) and dad (Benson), the way that it gets right under your skin and stays there making it crawl.
Surprisingly i do not know many people who have had the chance to watch or even heard of this film, which shocks me as i have a few very good friends who are fellow horror fanatics.
Mum & Dad (2008) ** (out of 4) British horror film about a girl named Lena (Olga Fedori) who is kidnapped by her co-workers (Ainsley Howard, Toby Alexander) and brought back to their mom (Dido Miles) and dad (Perry Benson) who will allow her to live as long as she plays by their rules.
MUM & DAD is the latest in a very long line of torture horror films but this one here doesn't depend on a lot of graphic violence and gore.
I think a little bit more originality would have helped matters but as it is, MUM & DAD is a twisted little movie that will rub some the wrong way but the targeted audience should be able to make it through..
To be honest I had never heard of MUM & DAD, I just bought it because it sounded interesting and I love horror films.It's about a Polish girl and an English girl who both clean the bogs at Heathrow airport, they become friendly and when the Pole misses her bus home with the other Poles, she gets offered a night round the Brit girls house with her creepy mute brother and her mum and dad!
So when they arrive at the house the Pole gets knocked unconscious and awakens to all sorts of torture and abuse....Basically thats the plot.We loved it, it is grim, some scenes are pretty horrible but it has that British humour to it as well....(one minute the dad's hacking some poor bugger up, next he's at the breakfast table reading his newspaper talking about knock-off jeans!) Good acting all round, realistic gore effects...if this sounds your sort of thing, you must check it out, BUT this is definitely not for everyone, especially kids!!!
Pretty Polish night worker Lena (Olga Fedori) is their latest victim, and she soon learns that if she doesn't obey the rules, Dad gets very angry indeed.Chained to her bed in a squalid room, with the endless roar of jets passing overhead acting as a constant reminder that civilisation and safety are tantalisingly close, but yet so far, Lena's plight automatically brings to mind the terrible suffering endured by the victims of real-life sickos Fred & Rosemary West and Joseph Fritzl, people for for whom torture, murder and sexual abuse were normalcy.Perhaps, if director Steven Sheil's debut feature had been released before the unspeakable acts perpetrated by such messed-up families came to light, it might have been deemed a little far fetched; however, with every lurid detail of Fred, Rosemary and Joseph's dreadful acts still fresh in the mind, Sheil's film is only too plausible, and therefore all the more horrifying.Of course, this being a movie, Lena finally gets to exact bloody revenge on her tormentors, thus allowing the audience an ultimately cathartic experience, whereas in reality—where happy endings are rare—she would have ended up under a patio or in a cavity wall.
I'm not sure what sort of person enjoys watching something like it, but, apparently, I'm it.A young cleaning girl at a British airport is lured home where she's held captive by 'Mum' and 'Dad' (obviously), plus their equally twisted offspring.
I wish I could recommend this movie more strongly.It's competently made for its budget, the acting is above average and very convincing, good photography, creepy sound design and production...The problem with Mum & Dad is literally that the script just doesn't try for much more than the standard horror gimmicks and gross-outs.
I've watched countless horror films and this is one of the very best.I agree with a previous reviewer that the Americans are generally better at making these sorts of films, but this particular film proves beyond doubt that the best British efforts are at least as good as anything the Yanks can do.If this really was made on a budget of £100k it just goes to show how much bang for your buck you can get with the right writer/director and cast.
Mum & Dad is one of the better torture films I've seen, and yet I remain a fan of true Horror films..
I really enjoyed Mum & Dad, A British horror film that was disturbing.
Where do I start, basically Perry Benson and Dido play a sadistic couple who after stealing a boy and girl brainwash them into their way of living, as the two work at an airport they soon ensnare a poor girl as a new daughter for the couple, this poor girl is tortured by the sick woman by cutting her while the dad figure likes killing people and jerking off to their body parts yuck,!
You just wanted her too get free and kill the sick family, a good film with sickening violence but worth a view, Perry Benson as the sadistic 'dad' is a must see..
Mum & Dad, as director Steven Sheil testifies in the interviews accompanying his work on this disc, is a production which consciously draws on the sleazier tradition of British horror cinema, such as the films of Pete Walker.
A big man known as Dad (Perry Benson) & a slim woman known as Mum (Dido Miles) tell Lena that she now lives with them as part of their family, a sadistic family who murder & steal to survive & Lena must either accept her new family & become part of it or become one of Mum & Dad's victims...This British production was written & directed by Steven Sheil & according to him is a British take on the twisted family horror films from the US like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) & Wrong Turn (2003) but with a very quirky British feel to it, which you can't argue with to much once you have seen it I suppose.
In fact Mum & Dad feels like a bizarre mix if The Texas Chainsaw Massacre & any old British sit-com that leers between being gross & unsettling one moment & darkly comic & funny the next.
The acting is very good with the entire cast bringing their character's to life with Mum, Dad & Birdie in particular.Mum & Dad is a low budget British twisted family horror thriller that maybe isn't as gory as some might have you believe but has a good script that balances gross out imagery with dark comedy really well.
They seem to think here in the UK that a good horror movie means deeply disturbing the viewer with horrific and gross scenes that do not entertain but leave a bad mark in your mind that stays with you for days.I wish I had never watched this cheap trash.