Mum and Dad (2008) - Directed Steven Shiel

Mum & Dad’s opening title sequence, all jet planes and barbed wire fences, sets the film up as some kind of social-realist, state-of-the-nation, kitchen-sink mini epic. Which it sort of is. But it is also a visceral, nightmarish horror film which seizes on the blandness and anonymity of certain aspects of 21st century Britain and twists them into something utterly unforgettable. It’s all very Shane Meadows, right down to the casting of Meadows regular Perry Benson in the role of “Dad”. This particular actor is never going to be the next James Bond, but it’s to be hoped that he one day gets to play people who aren’t completely scuzzy and grubby and just plain revolting. Meanwhile, here he is, being all those things, and more.

The film’s plot involves a Polish immigrant working in an unnamed British airport. She is befriended by Birdie, a co-worker (played, not all that convincingly, by Ainsley Howard). It is all innocent enough, but there is an undercurrent of menace from the very beginning: Birdie’s questions are just a tad unsettling; her mute brother is also cause for concern, along with her habit of stealing things from the offices she’s supposed to be cleaning. At this point, the film could go either way. It could have been a larky little comedy-drama with a few salient points to make about the immigrant experience. Or, it could have been a nerve-shredding, wince-inducing freak-out, whose brief moments of humour are of the blacker-than-black variety.

Plan B, then. Because, make no mistake, Mum & Dad, for all its faults, is intense stuff. And intelligent stuff, too. The grimness and matter-of-fact horror is brutally effective. The little details (porn at breakfast, the Christmas prezzies, the toe-nail of terror) go a long way to making this film so strong. Its obviously low budget and occasionally weak acting actually help to make it believable. The points it raises along the way, about how easy it is for people to disappear, are as chilling as the gore and the torture. Similarities to the crimes of Fred and Rosemary West are there if you want them, which might put off some potential viewers. I wouldn’t blame them: Mum & Dad is not much fun, but it’s thrilling and disturbing, and very hard to forget.