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Mum and Dad are normally the two people you can rely on life the most, even if they do get on your nerves from time to time while growing up, but the pair in this movie really do take the biscuit.
I first saw the lead actress, Olga Fedori (below), in an episode of Doctors in January 2009, as she played the young Russian floozy of a middle-aged man who she claimed had made her pregnant. Then I saw she was in this movie and I had to take a look as she’s very attractive.
In this film, she’s Polish, working as an office cleaner at Heathrow’s Terminal 4, and living in London, but not with her parents. The job’s far from the greatest and while being reluctant to speak to too many people, she’ll make the best of what she can with young, mouthy Birdie (Ainsley Howard) and her brother Elbie (Toby Alexander), who never says a word. As her evening pans out, she misses the last bus home and ends up back at their house on the promise of their father giving her a lift home.
What comes next is a nightmare of epic proportions and plays out like an extended episode of Dexter – without the morals – meets the The Jim Rose Circus, while living in Josef Fritzl’s cellar! I don’t want to say much more about the incredible things that you discover in this film because it would just be spoilers, but let’s just say that the twosome playing Mum and Dad (Perry Benson & Dido Miles, bottom pic) are perfect for each other!
When they do look normal, the family seemed a bit like the ’80s comedy series Bread, at one point, as they showed the kids bringing home the spoils, although for that series it was money earned from possibly-honest jobs whereas here it’s all stolen, ill-gotten gains.
Overall, Mum and Dad is perverted and sick filth that gets progressively more disgusting with each new scene…. and it’s brilliant! To cap it all, this is Steven Sheil’s first full movie as a director, and to that end he deserves a full round of applause as you would never have known it was his debut since it’s just so damn good! A must-see!
As an aside, Ainsley Howard (as Birdie, in this) has been in a few episodes of Doctors, one being 2018’s A Happy Medium, and THEY HAD ONE JOB to pair her up with this film’s Dido Miles… but no, the girl saw a different doctor instead. Good Lord!
The extras are as follows:
- Interview with director Steven Sheil (4:09): The director tells us why he set out to make this particular film, and how he wanted to make something a bit similar to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Thankfully, he made something a damn sight better, and also on a tiny budget £100,000.
- Frightfest Q&A Session with Cast and Crew (5:52): The director, plus Perry Benson (Dad), Dido Miles (Mum) and Ainsley Howard (Birdie) explain their part in the proceedings.
- Film London Interviews (15:48): More interviews that are well worth a look if you also enjoyed the film, here from Perry Benson, Steven Sheil, producer Lisa Trnovski, cinematographer Jonathan Bloom, make-up designer Vikki Lawson, production designer Jess Alexander, special effects supervisor Simon Craze and Sound Mixer Alex Thompson.
- Short film: Through a Vulture Eye (3:00): Three minutes of total grossness – and utterly compelling :)
- Mum & Dad: Behind the scenes (3:15): Various clips of on-set footage during the making of the film, the cast playing up for the camera and both cast and crew showing a humourous side during filming a story that has no laughs in it whatsoever :)
Note that while most of the above pieces are in anamorphic 16:9, this segment is in 4:3 and the above short film is in a very wide letterbox ratio (approx 2.66:1).
- Trailer (1:25): In anamorphic 16:9. An extended version of the trailer can be seen to your right, and I think I prefer that version even though it does give away a bit more, but it’s the humour in it that’s wonderful.
- Audio commentary: Featuring director Steven Sheil and producer Lisa Trnovsky.
Sadly, there are no subtitles for the DVD and, also the chapters are a bit lacking at only 12 for the 85-minute running time. Personally, I’d bank on at least one every five minutes plus one each for the opening and closing credits. The menu features various clips from the film with the music of Gemma Ray’s cover version of the song 900 Miles.
Mum And Dad is out now on DVD, and click on the packshot for the full-size image.
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FILM PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS |
10 10 10 1 |
| OVERALL | 8 |
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 85 minutes
Year: 2008
Distributor: Revolver Entertainment
Released: December 26th 2008
Chapters: 12
Picture: 1080p High Definition
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Disc Format: DVD9
Director: Steven Sheil
Producer: Lisa Trnovsk
Screenplay: Steven Sheil
Cast:
Lena: Olga Fedori
Dad: Perry Benson
Mum: Dido Miles
Birdie: Ainsley Howard
Elbie: Toby Alexander
Angela: Micaiah Dring
Van Man: Mark Devenport
Young Man: Chris Roebuck
Female Torso: Clare Dyer
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.