Mum & Dad

It’s perhaps surprising that it has taken so long for Britain to venture into the grimy world of torture porn. However, this year we have both Eden Lake and Mum & Dad leading the UK charge to become the pretenders to Eli Roth’s crown (not to mention the plethora of Saw sequels and imitations).

Writer-director Steven Sheil’s feature debut is a micro-budget quickie, having been shot on a £100k budget and a shooting schedule of a mere 17 days. An evident fan of '70s exploitation and giallos, Sheil has set a high benchmark with the sheer griminess of his material here. Birdie and her brother Elbie work menial jobs at Heathrow airport and encounter newcomer Lena, a Polish immigrant who quickly becomes prey to the sibling’s parents (Perry Benson and Dido Miles) and their nightmarish house of horrors.

What follows is truly a catalogue of brutality, allegedly loosely based on Fred and Rosemary West, but in actuality focussing very much on the horror vogue of the day as it becomes and endurance test to witness the iniquities that are visited on Lena and the dysfunctional mores of the family and its titular figureheads. The Christmas dinner scene especially doffs the proverbial homage hat to both the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and also the Eli Roth trailer Thanksgiving that intersected the Rodriguez/Tarantino Grindhouse double-bill.

The unique selling point of this minor shocker is that it is released simultaneously to cinemas, DVD and also “electronic sell-through” all on the same day and, whilst such chicanery never helped Soderbergh and his “multi-platform” forgotten work Bubble, it may just be the gimmick that aids this British quickie notoriety it so evidently craves.



Extras: Director and Producer Commentary, Through a Vulture Eye - A short film by Steven Sheil, Behind-the-scenes footage, Cast and Crew Q&A at Film4 FrightFest 2008, Interview with Steven Sheil, 8 on-set interviews with cast and crew, Theatrical Trailer.

Released in cinemas and on DVD on 26th December 2008 by Revolver Entertainment.

Written by Simon Cole.