Parents (1989) on Netflix
R19891h 21mComedyHorrorMystery
Ten-year-old Michael Laemle moves with his parents to a California suburb in 1958. Nightmares and his father's chemical work unsettle him, and he suspects the grill holds more than hamburgers.
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- Netflix2.7/5
- IMDb6.1/109,843 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes64%
Trailer
Plot summary
Michael Laemle is a ten-year-old with an overactive imagination. In 1958 his family leaves Massachusetts for a California suburb, and he has trouble making friends at his new school. A glimpse of his parents in the living room disturbs him, and so does the sight of his father Nick cutting into a corpse at Toxico's Division of Human Testing, where Nick is developing a chemical defoliant for use in jungles. Michael takes some comfort in Sheila Zellner, a classmate whose parents know Nick and Lily and are hiding a troubled marriage of their own. He is convinced his parents are cannibals, though his school guidance counselor, Millie Dew, treats the claim as a fantasy.
Cast
- Bryan Madorskyas Michael Laemle
- Juno Mills-Cockellas Sheila Zellner
- Helen Carscallenas Grandmother
- Warren Van Everaas Grandfather
- Uriel Byfieldas Little Boy
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Parents (1989)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Christopher Walken was originally considered for the role of Nick Laemle in Parents, before Randy Quaid was cast in the part.
- During filming, director Bob Balaban would not let young Bryan Madorsky read the screenplay or learn his lines in advance; instead he walked the boy through the scenes and gently told him what to say.
- Parents lost its cinematographer shortly after shooting began: Ernest Day was replaced by Robin Vidgeon because Day's wife had fallen ill. Vidgeon had just finished Mr. North and Hellraiser.
- The interiors of the Laemles' mid-century modern home were filmed on original sets, and director Bob Balaban partly furnished them with his own period furniture.
- Randy Quaid met his future wife, Evi Motolanez, while making Parents, where she worked as a personal driver for him.
