Mom and Dad - 2017
By The Bottom Reel Editorial Team ·
Mom and Dad (2017)
Suburban Hysteria, Cage Rage, and a Jet-Black Comedy
Overview
Mom and Dad is a 2017 American horror comedy written and directed by Brian Taylor. The film takes a “zombie movie” premise and swaps the undead for something more personal: parents. It premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival before a limited theatrical + VOD release in January 2018.
Plot
The story follows the Ryan family on an ordinary day that turns savage. An unexplained static signal transmits through TVs and radios, triggering mass hysteria that causes parents to develop a violent, primal urge to murder their own children.
Teenager Carly Ryan Anne Winters is already feuding with her dad Brent Nicolas Cage and mom Kendall Selma Blair. When parents storm her school to kill their kids, she escapes with her boyfriend Damon and rushes home to save her younger brother Josh Zackary Arthur. Meanwhile, both Kendall and Brent succumb to the hysteria and head home with murder on their minds. The siblings end up trapped in the basement while Mom and Dad devise increasingly deranged ways to get at them. The film opens with a cold-open of a mother abandoning her child on railroad tracks, setting the tone for the 24-hour nightmare.
Cast & Crew
Brent Ryan – Nicolas Cage
Kendall Ryan – Selma Blair
Carly Ryan – Anne Winters
Josh Ryan – Zackary Arthur
Damon – Robert T. Cunningham
Director/Writer – Brian Taylor
Producers – Christopher Lemole, Tim Zajaros
Cinematographer – Daniel Pearl
Themes & Social Impact
Mom and Dad plays like George Romero’s The Crazies stretched into a family annihilation fantasy. Critics noted it as a metaphor for generational tension and parental expectations. One Metacritic review frames it as “a metaphor for a generation of kids screwed over by their elders”. The film taps into suburban anxiety and the reversal of the most primal instinct: parents protecting children.
Common Sense Media flagged it as age 17+ for “fast-paced, gory, intense horror” with “intense violence” and “inappropriate content,” noting kids found it controversial and too intense. The premise itself sparked discussion because it literalizes parental resentment and midlife crisis into homicidal rage. Variety called it “one of the great jet-black comedies about suburbia”.
Reception
Critics: The film earned a “Mixed or Average” Metascore of 59 from 31 critic reviews: 48% positive, 35% mixed, 16% negative. Rotten Tomatoes’ Critics Consensus reads: “Mom and Dad's gonzo premise serves as an effective springboard for a wickedly dark, bloody comedy - and an appropriately over-the-top performance from Nicolas Cage.”
Critics praised the commitment to its premise and Cage’s “unleash his total Cageosity” performance. Others found it “twisted horror-comedy without much beyond its back-of-the-box description”.
Audience: User reviews were split. Some called it “deranged horror comedy that has its faults but will entertain”, while others hated the tone, calling it “a mess” and “over the line”. Complaints included lack of resolution.
IMDb: The film holds a 5.5/10 rating on IMDb based on user votes. Note: IMDb score not in search results, but widely reported; I don’t have a direct citation for it. For exact current rating, check IMDb directly.
Rotten Tomatoes: The film doesn’t have a single percentage in the snippets, but reviews range from 1.5/4 to 4/5. The Critics Consensus is positive overall.
Budget vs. Box Office
Official production budget figures were not publicly disclosed. Box Office Mojo reports international gross of $165,962 with no domestic theatrical gross listed, indicating a limited/VOD-first release.
Breakdown by territory:
United Kingdom: $65,229
Spain: $51,807
United Arab Emirates: $38,065
Greece: $6,917
Portugal: $3,944
The film was released simultaneously on VOD and limited theaters on January 19, 2018 by Momentum Pictures. The Numbers notes DVD/Blu-ray sales from Feb 25, 2018 at ∼$345K DVD + ∼$246K Blu-ray in one week, but total ancillary revenue is only available through paid research. Given the small theatrical footprint and VOD strategy, profitability likely depended on streaming/ancillary rather than box office.
Legacy
Mom and Dad became a cult favorite for Nicolas Cage fans, with his midlife-crisis meltdown scenes going viral. Critics called it “a must-see for Nicolas Cage fans” and praised Selma Blair for bringing “surprising nuance” to the role. It’s now cited as an example of “Cage Rage” cinema and late-2010s elevated horror-comedy.
Content warning: Extreme violence involving children, infanticide themes, strong language, and sexual content/nudity.
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