MUM AND DAD

Polish girl Lena (Olga Fedori) works as a cleaner of an airport down south. One night while cleaning the filthiest toilet imaginable, she befriends fellow cleaner Birdie (Ainsley Howard). Birdie never shuts up, asking lots of probing questions about Lena's family and living arrangements. Lena simply smiles and answers obligingly. Birdie seems affable enough - she buys Lena a sandwich and introduces her to her silent brother Elbie (Toby Alexander).

As their shift ends, Lena grabs her coat and makes her way towards the bus stop. Birdie invites Lena for a drink with her and Elbie. Lena politely declines, suggesting they do it some other time.

But then Birdie offers to walk Lena to the bus, only to realise she's left her mobile phone in the office. Lena waits and misses the last bus in the meantime. Not to worry - Birdie, feeling responsible, says her parents live nearby, and Lena can kip there for the night.

"We're back!" Birdie shouts as she guides Lena through the kitchen door, Elbie locking it behind them. The siblings disappear, leaving Lena to look around. Things look normal enough - meals left on the side in clingfilm, photos of the kids on the fridge and so on. But normality is shattered when Lena is clubbed on the back of the head and injected in the throat.

When she awakes, Lena is in a grimy bedroom with damp walls, chained to a bed facing two doors. A woman's screams can be heard from behind one. The door burst open and in walks Dad (Perry Benson) clutching a bloodied clawhammer. The second door then slowly creaks open and Mum (Dido Miles) enters, introducing herself and informing Lena that she's now part of the "family".

Mum injects Lena in the throat again, with an agent that prevents her from screaming. It also knocks her out. When Lena next awakes, the real torture begins …

A thoroughly British serial killer film replete with "Royle Family" style in-house bickering and wry observations on this country's working class ethics, MUM AND DAD wears its homegrown roots on it's sleeve with lashings of mordant humour and truly quirky performances to boast of.

Howard as Birdie is the standout, incessantly chatty at one moment then bitterly resentful the next when Mum seems to be taking to Lena a little too much. It's a spirited portrayal of an emotionally under-developed teenager that grates, amuses and shocks in equal amounts.

Miles' Mum is not unlike the cruel, cool matriarch in last year's THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. Benson's Dad is almost caricature-like in his broad repugnance - sometimes you'll laugh, at others you'll positively shudder.

Of course, the audience is invited to empathise with Lena. Despite Fedori' likeable persona her role as victim is never really fleshed out satisfactorily - her background never truly explored - and therefore this is the film's only real stumbling block. What happens to Lena is undeniably dreadful (beaten with a mallet; sliced with razors; raped off-screen by Mum) but we await her escape attempts not because we pine for her safe release, but because they punctuate an otherwise virtually plotless catalogue of abuse and killings.

That last remark makes MUM AND DAD sound like yet another foray into mindless torture-porn territory. It isn't. It rises above suck cack by way of a witty script, eccentric (and manic) acting and an off-beat feel to it that only the British and Australians seem to be capable of mustering on screen. Every character - even Lena - has a disposition that makes them far more interesting than the groomed teenaged victims and faceless killers of your typical contemporary American horror offering.

The film's micro-budget is evident in the small cast, simple set-up and economic setting (90% of the film is set in the house), as well as the lack of elaborate FX. When there's a killing it tends to happen off-screen, with only the aftermath being shown. And so, MUM AND DAD derives it's already notorious nastiness from other sources: Dad fucking a raw piece of meat, then resting on the side while semen oozes out of it; Lena having to massage Dad's swollen feet; deliciously horrid sound effects applied to the mallet beating scene (Lena's hidden in a sealed suitcase at the time).

But the small budget (MUM AND DAD comes to DVD partially co-funded by no less than the UK Lottery Fund and the BBC!) doesn't matter when you've got a cast this good, and a set design that's so economically inventive (the Xmas day set-piece is a triumph). The little traces of everyday family life littered amongst the body parts are at once amusing and chilling. The photography mustn't go unmentioned either - for a low-budget film, MUM AND DAD, shot in HD, looks spectacular.

All in all, it's a very accomplished debut that comes highly recommended. With a lesser script, lesser direction (kudos to Steven Sheil who handled writing and directing chores) and lesser cast, this could've easily been another addition to the tiresome post-SCRAPBOOK "abduct them and torture them" sub-genre that shat out the likes of THE CELLAR DOOR. But this is so much more: a film destined for cult status, and likely to be remembered as one of the defining British horror films of this decade. A success.

Set for simultaneous releases on DVD, download and at the cinema, MUM AND DAD looks great on this disc.

The 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer is pin-sharp, with strong vibrant colours and excellent detail. And it's uncut, of course.

The English 2.0 audio is equally impressive, offering a solid and consistent clear playback.

An animated main menu page leads into a static scene-selection menu allowing access to the main feature via 12 chapters.

Extras kick off with a fluent audio commentary track from Sheil and producer Lisa Tmovsky. It's a lively chat, with Sheil offering a plethora of information (pointing out the scenes that were shot in London or Nottingham, the seamless edits, explaining how he overcame the problems surrounding a pivotal bathroom scene, etc). The pair get a bit over-excited at times, tending to talk over one another. But it's a great insight into the 17-day shoot, and a recommended listen.

Next up is a 4-minute interview with Sheil in a film festival lobby, which manages to pack plenty of detail into its meagre running time.

A Fright Fest Q&A session follows, with Sheil holding court once more. As with the commentary and previous interview, he's quick to credit films such as FRIGHTMARE and MUMSY NANNY SONNY AND GIRLY as direct influences. Look out for Alan Jones lurking in the background of this 6-minute featurette.

Then there's "Film London" interviews shot on location, offering 16 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage and talking head-style interviews.

"Through A Vulture Eye" is a stylish short film from Sheil, presented in non-anamorphic 2.35:1. This concerns a voiceover from a very articulate killer as he contemplates his latest victim's corpse. It's brief at 3 minutes in length, but it's good-looking and blessed with an enjoyably grim denouement.

"Behind The Scenes" is 3 more minutes of jovial video footage from the film's shoot.

Finally, there's the excellent 90-second trailer for MUM AND DAD, presented in anamorphic 1.78:1.

MUM AND DAD is a very quirky, highly enjoyable throwback to 70s-style exploitation with all the irreverent black humour and political incorrectness left intact. Any British horror fan (and any fan of British horror films) deserves to see it. And the best way to see it, with all those fine extras and that pin-sharp presentation, is in this superb DVD.

Review by Stuart Willis