''Mum & Dad'' is a 2008 British horror film by director Steven Sheil. Its premiere was on 22 August 2008 during the
London FrightFest Film Festival
FrightFest, also known as Arrow Video FrightFest is an annual film festival held in London and Glasgow. The festival holds three major events each year: a festival running five days over the UK late August Bank Holiday weekend, a Halloween event ...
. One day later it was shown during the Fantasy Filmfest in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The film is the directorial debut of Steven Sheil.
Plot
The film begins at
Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
, where a Polish immigrant named Lena Malley (Olga Fedori) is working a shift as a cleaner. While there, her colleague Birdie (Ainsley Howard) helps her to clean the toilets. The two begin to talk and Lena reveals that she lives alone and doesn't keep in touch with her family. Birdie introduces Lena to her adopted brother Elbie (Toby Alexander), who also works at the airport and is a
mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
. Lena tells Birdie that she doesn't get on with her family. While talking, Lena notices scars on Birdie's arm; Birdie explains that she used to have behavioral problems; but states that she's better now. At the end of the shift Lena misses her bus so Birdie tells her that her dad will drive Lena home if they walk to Birdie's house.
Upon arriving at the house Lena is knocked out from behind and injected with a syringe. She wakes up dressed as a child and tied to a chair to the sound of screaming coming from another room. Moments later, Mum (Dido Miles) and Dad (Perry Benson) enter the room and introduce themselves. Mum tells Lena that if she does what she is told everything will be ok. Lena is unable to respond because of the injection she received earlier and Mum proceeds to inject her with a
sedative
A sedative or tranquilliser is a substance that induces sedation by reducing irritability or excitement. They are CNS depressants and interact with brain activity causing its deceleration. Various kinds of sedatives can be distinguished, but t ...
. When she wakes up again Mum begins carving marks into her back.
Lena is unable to speak, and Mum tells her to not to make any attempt to talk. 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. Following this incident Lena is taken to see Dad, who tells her that she will be a member of their family, and in his house she will follow his rules.
At breakfast, the family are watching
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, . Lena makes an escape attempt but Dad grabs her and Elbie drags her back to the table.
Birdie takes Lena through her chores. Back in her room, Lena attempts to escape, but hears Dad watching her through the keyhole. Over the following days Lena is repeatedly humiliated for no particular reason. Lena finds and hides a
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
but is quickly caught and put on heavier sedation as a consequence. A few days later Lena catches the attention of a man outside but is seen by Dad, who drags her into his torture room, puts her in a suitcase and orders Elbie to hit it with a hammer.
Meanwhile, the man from outside enters the house but Mum and Birdie see him. They then suffocate him with bubble wrap. The family then dismember the man and make Lena kiss his severed head. They then proceed to cook the man's appendages as sausages and
eat them. As further punishment Lena spends that night tied to the kitchen
radiator
Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics.
A radiator is always a ...
.
The following night Lena manages to break free from the restraints of her bedroom while the family is sleeping. She makes her way to the torture room and finds a staircase up to an attic, where she finds a
mentally ill
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
girl in a bed. The girl begins to struggle, so Lena leaves. In another room she finds a man who is being restrained, he too begins to struggle, almost getting her caught but calms him down and finds a weapon.
The next morning, Birdie enters Lena's room and tells her it's Christmas. She goes downstairs to find the same man from the attic
crucified
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagin ...
on the wall, and the mentally ill girl in a chair. Dad tells Lena that he knows she broke free the previous night and saw the girl. He explains that the girl is his daughter and that she was a "spastic" because the umbilical cord got wrapped around her neck during birth and he had to bite it off with his teeth, implying that the birth didn't occur under medical supervision. The family proceeds to open a series of inappropriate Christmas presents. However, Mum neglected to buy a present for Dad so she tells him that he can "have Lena for Christmas".
Dad arrives in Lena's room wearing a dress and makeup and telling Lena that he is "Mum" before attempting to
sexually assault
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
her. Previous to this and unbeknown to Dad, Elbie had taken pity on Lena and left Lena's handcuffs loose allowing Lena to stab Dad with the weapon she had stolen from the attic. She flees downstairs, followed by Dad, who trips, causing Mum and Birdie to help him. Lena stabs Mum and Birdie attacks her, but Lena slams her into a wall and stabs her in the stomach.
The woman opens the back door, but Birdie attacks her again, so she hits her over the head with an iron she finds on the floor and rushes outside. Lena climbs over the back gate, but falls and twists her ankle. Mum and Dad rush out limping, bloodied and battered, chasing her into a field. Lena then falls and then Mum stabs her with a knife she took from the house. But Mum and Dad are too weak to kill her so Lena fights them off, and stabs them both repeatedly back and forth. Meanwhile, Elbie sets "the spastic" free of her restraints, before strangling her. He then walks out of the front door. The next and final shot is of Lena screaming in the field as planes take off overhead.
Cast
*
Perry Benson
Perry Benson (born 9 April 1961) is a British character actor best known for his regular roles in British television sitcoms ''You Rang, M'Lord?'' (1988–1993), ''Oh, Doctor Beeching!'' (1995–1997) and ''Operation Good Guys'' (1997–2000). ...
as Dad
*
Dido Miles
Dido Miles is an English actress. She is known for her role as Emma Reid on the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'', for which she has won two awards for at the RTS Midlands Awards. From 2001 to 2002, she starred in the CBBC children's series ''Oscar Cha ...
as Mum
*
Olga Fedori
Olga Victorivna Fedorishcheva ( uk, Ольга Вікторівна Федоріщева, Ol'ha Viktorivna Fedorishcheva; born 17 March 1984), known as simply Olga Fedori, is a Ukrainian actress who works in English language films and programmes ...
as Lena
* Ainsley Howard as Birdie
* Toby Alexander as Elbie
* Micaiah Dring as Angela
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mum and Dad
2008 films
British horror films
British slasher films
2008 horror films
2000s English-language films
2000s British films