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Movies like Parents

Key Features:
Suburban life, Cannibalism, Dysfunctional family, Psychological horror, 1950s, Childhood trauma, Nightmares, Suspicion, Dark comedy, Coming-of-age, Satire, Disturbing imagery, Paranoia
Tone:
cynical, humorous, stylized
Target Audience:
Horror fans, Viewers interested in dark comedies, Fans of psychological thrillers, Those who appreciate satire
Emotional Arc:
Innocence → Unease → Terror

Parents

1989-01-27
Parents Poster - Find Similar Movies

Michael is a young boy living in a typical 1950s suburbanite home... except for his bizarre and horrific nightmares, and continued unease around his parents. Young Michael begins to suspect his parents are cooking more than just hamburgers on the grill outside, but has trouble explaining his fears to his new-found friend Sheila, or the school's social worker.

Genres
Horror, Comedy
Cast
Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis, Bryan Madorsky, Juno Mills-Cockell, Kathryn Grody, Deborah Rush, Graham Jarvis, Helen Carscallen, Warren Van Evera
Crew
Bob Balaban, Christopher Hawthorne
Rating
5.88(182 votes)
ParentsParents
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Mom and Dad
5.402

In a suburban community, moms and dads, one after the other, mysteriously feel the irresistible impulse to attack and kill their own offspring.



Cobweb
Cobweb(2023)
6.452

Eight year old Peter is plagued by a mysterious, constant tapping from inside his bedroom wall—one that his parents insist is all in his imagination. As Peter's fear intensifies, he believes that his parents could be hiding a terrible, dangerous secret and questions their trustworthiness.



Mikey
Mikey(1992)
5.845

Mikey just needs a good stable home. He's bounced from foster home to foster home his whole life. He finally lands himself with a new loving family, but their perfect little child is not what he appears to be. His previous caretakers all died of mysterious "accidents" that weren't really accidents at all. Mikey is a cold blooded killer, and it doesn't take long for him to aim his sights on his new adoptive family and anyone else who stands in his way.



Neighbors
Neighbors(1981)
5.638

One man's quiet suburban life takes a sickening lurch for the worse when a young couple move into the deserted house next door. From the word go it is obvious these are not the quiet professional types who *should* be living in such a nice street. As more and more unbelievable events unfold, our hero starts to question his own sanity... and those of his family.



The 'Burbs
6.77

When secretive new neighbors move in next door, suburbanite Ray Peterson and his friends let their paranoia get the best of them as they start to suspect the newcomers of evildoings and commence an investigation. But it's hardly how Ray, who much prefers drinking beer, reading his newspaper and watching a ball game on the tube expected to spend his vacation.



Flesh & Blood
6.9

Kimberly, a teenager suffering from agoraphobia, has not left the house since her mother's unsolved murder. On the eve of Thanksgiving, she begins to suspect that the safe harbor of home and her doting father may be a dangerous mirage.



Life During Wartime

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.



Consenting Adults
5.4

Richard and Priscilla Parker are an ordinary suburban couple whose lives are invaded and rocked by their hedonistic, secretive new neighbors, Eddy and Kay Otis.



Amusement
Amusement(2008)
5.596

While being interrogated by a police psychiatrist, the near-catatonic Tabitha tries to explain why she and two of her childhood friends are being hunted by a serial killer. The truth that's dying to come out weaves together three tragic secrets from their past. Two of the girls' boyfriends become unwitting targets in their deadly game.



Frightmare
6.4

In 1957, Dorothy and Edmund Yates were committed to an institution for the criminally insane, she for acts of murder and cannibalism and he for covering up her crimes. Fifteen years later, they are pronounced fit for society and released. However, in Dorothy's case the doctors may have jumped the gun a bit. Edmund and eldest daughter, Jackie, try to discover just how far Mother's bloodlust has taken her. Meanwhile, youngest daughter Debbie begins to explore the crazy roots of her family tree as fully as possible.



Suburbicon
5.9

In the quiet family town of Suburbicon during the 1950s, the best and worst of humanity is hilariously reflected through the deeds of seemingly ordinary people. When a home invasion turns deadly, a picture-perfect family turns to blackmail, revenge and murder.



The Good Son
6.775

A young boy stays with his aunt and uncle, and befriends his cousin who's the same age. But his cousin begins showing increasing signs of psychotic behavior.



Serial Mom
6.7

Beverly is the perfect happy homemaker, along with her doting husband and two children, but this nuclear family just might explode when her fascination with serial killers collides with her ever-so-proper code of ethics.



Microwave Massacre
4.3

Construction worker Donald is having a hard time getting anything good to eat since his wife has decided to only cook gourmet foods. That and her constant harping causes him to snap, so he whacks her. Somewhere in the confusion he comes up with a new use for the microwave oven, and begins to eat much better. Soon he's experimenting with different recipes. And different meats.



Carnage
Carnage(2011)
7.172

Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.



House
House(1985)
6.2

Roger Cobb, a divorced horror novelist coming to terms with the disappearance of his young son, inherits an old mansion home to malevolent supernatural residents.



Sitcom
Sitcom(1998)
6.38

The adventures of an upper-class suburban family abruptly confronted with the younger brother's discovery of his homosexuality, the elder sister's suicide attempt and sadomasochist tendencies, and the intrusion of a very free-spirited maid and her husband. And it all started with the arrival in the family of an innocent looking rat.



Dark Circles
4.985

When new parents Alex and Penny retreat from the city and move into a place outside town, the stress and massive sleep-deprivation caused by their infant has both of them seeing things in the house that may or may not exist. Persistent sightings of a strange woman has each of them wondering if they are suffering from hallucinations, or if their new home holds a dark, supernatural presence. As their fragile grasp on reality spirals into delirium, Alex and Penny find themselves nearly helpless to deal with the horrific truth of what is really going in this house.



Fright
Fright(1971)
6

Young babysitter Amanda arrives at the Lloyd residence to spend the evening looking after their young son. Soon after the Lloyds leave, a series of frightening occurrences in the gloomy old house have Amanda's nerves on edge. The real terror begins, however, when the child's biological father appears after recently escaping from a nearby mental institution.



Son
Son(2021)
6.009

When a young boy contracts a mysterious illness, his mother must decide how far she will go to protect him from terrifying forces in her past.



Adulthood
Adulthood(2025)
6.017

The lives of two siblings are completely upended when they discover a dead body, long buried in their parent’s basement, sending them down a rabbit hole of crime and murder.



Society
Society(1989)
6.7

Bill Whitney is worried that he is different to his sister and parents. They mix with other upper-class people while Bill is more down to earth. Even his girlfriend seems a bit odd. All is revealed when Bill returns home to find a party in full swing.



The Clovehitch Killer
6.406

A picture-perfect family is torn apart after Tyler finds a cache of disturbing images in his father's possession. He begins to suspect that the man he trusts most in the world may be responsible for the murder of 13 women ten years prior.



The Butcher Boy
6.8

Francie and Joe live the usual playful, fantasy filled childhoods of normal boys. However, with a violent, alcoholic father and a manic depressive, suicidal mother the pressure on Francie to grow up are immense. When Francie's world turns to madness, he tries to counter it with further insanity, with dire consequences.



Two Heads Creek
5.164

A timid butcher and his drama queen twin sister quit the hostile confines of post-Brexit Britain and venture to Australia in search of their birth mother, but the seemingly tolerant townsfolk are hiding a dark, meaty secret.



Monstrous
Monstrous(2022)
5.83

Laura, traumatized by an abusive relationship, runs away from her former husband with her seven-year-old son Cody. But in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find they have another, bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with…



Motherly
Motherly(2022)
6.132

Kate and her daughter Beth live alone in an isolated farmhouse in the woods, but when Kate slowly begins to suspect that something sinister is happening, her motherly instincts are put to the test.



Burnt Offerings
6.5

A couple and their twelve-year-old son move into a giant house for the summer where things aren’t quite what they seem. Every time someone gets hurt on the grounds, the beat-up house seems to repair itself…



The Parenting
6.055

Boyfriends Josh and Rohan plan a weekend getaway to introduce their parents, only to discover that their rental is home to a 400-year-old poltergeist.



The War
The War(1994)
6.6

The son of a Vietnam War Veteran must deal with neighborhood bullies as well as his dad's post-traumatic stress disorder while growing up in the deep south in the 1970's.



The Dinner
4.542

Two brothers and their wives meet up at a haute-cuisine restaurant to discuss what to do about a horrific crime that their sons committed together. As the quartet debate their options, the conversation reopens old wounds between the siblings.



Ken Park
Ken Park(2003)
6.012

Ken Park focuses on several teenagers and their tormented home lives. Shawn seems to be the most conventional. Tate is brimming with psychotic rage; Claude is habitually harassed by his brutish father and coddled, rather uncomfortably, by his enormously pregnant mother. Peaches looks after her devoutly religious father, but yearns for freedom. They're all rather tight, or so they claim.



Nightmare
Nightmare(1964)
6.8

A young student is haunted by recurring dreams of her mother murdering her father, but her nightmare is just beginning as she tries to prove to her loved ones that she is not insane.



Parental Guidance

Artie and Diane agree to look after their three grandkids when their type-A helicopter parents need to leave town for work. Problems arise when the kids' 21st-century behavior collides with Artie and Diane's old-school methods.



Friendship
6.5

Suburban dad Craig falls hard for his charismatic new neighbor Austin, and his attempts to make an adult male friend threatens to ruin both of their lives.



Home Movie
4.875

Reverend David Poe and his psychiatrist wife trade hectic New York life for an idyllic rural farmhouse; the perfect place for 10 year old twins Jack & Emily to run, play and imagine. Documenting this lifestyle change, David decides to film every holiday and special family event. To the Poe's horror their home movies reveal an increasing malice and evil within their children.



Hush
Hush(1998)
5.7

Jackson and Helen are in love and about to have their first child when they move in with Jackson's mother, Martha, in order to take care of the family estate. But all is not well in this household. Martha is jealous of her son's affection for Helen, and, despite her Southern smile, she's starting to act strangely. As Helen tries to create a happy home life, Martha attempts to divide the family so that Jackson will become hers alone.



The Mutilator
5.1

As a child, Ed was cleaning his father’s hunting rifles - a surprise birthday treat for the old man - when one of them went off, hitting and killing his mother. On seeing the bloodshed, his father flew into a murderous rage - Ed just barely escaped with his life. Now in his teens, he returns home; he doesn’t expect to find his father, still there, waiting for a chance to settle the score . . .



Orphan
Orphan(2009)
7

After losing their baby, a married couple adopt 9-year old Esther, who may not be as innocent as she seems.



The Hamiltons
5

The Hamiltons seem to be the picture-perfect American family. They are hardworking community members; giving to their local charities, attending town hall meetings and always respectful of their neighbors...except for the fact that they usually end up killing them.



Danika
Danika(2006)
5.071

Traumatized since childhood by her brother's accidental death, Danika Merrick hallucinates a bank robbery and quits her job. Despite support from her three children and loving husband, Danika continues to experience unnerving visions. She seeks help from therapist Evelyn Harris but pervasive reports of violent incidents involving children make Danika fear for her own family, and she grows increasingly paranoid, worrying she may be going insane.



M.O.M. Mothers of Monsters

A distraught mother suspects her teenage son is a psychopath who may shoot up his high school, but when he outsmarts the mental healthcare system she is forced to take matters into her own hands.



SubUrbia
SubUrbia(1997)
6.2

A group of suburban teenagers try to support each other through the difficult task of becoming adults.



Drunk Parents
4.6

Two drunk parents attempt to hide their ever increasing financial difficulties from their daughter and social circle through elaborate neighborhood schemes.



Nightbitch
5.79

A woman, thrown into the stay-at-home routine of raising a toddler in the suburbs, slowly embraces the feral power deeply rooted in motherhood, as she becomes increasingly aware of the bizarre and undeniable signs that she may be turning into a dog.



Poltergeist
7.153

The Freelings' suburban home becomes the center of paranormal activity that opens a portal to the 'other side'. With help, they must cross over to get their daughter back.



Don't Go in the House

As a child, Donald was tormented by his mother who used fire as a punishment. Now a deranged adult, Donald stalks women at clubs, then takes them home where he kills them with a flamethrower.



The Children
6.04

A relaxing Christmas vacation turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the children begin to turn on their parents.



1922
1922(2017)
5.938

A simple yet proud rancher conspires to murder his wife for financial gain, convincing his teenage son to participate.



Boogeyman
Boogeyman(2005)
5

Every culture has one – the horrible monster fueling young children's nightmares. But for Tim, the Boogeyman still lives in his memories as a creature that devoured his father 16 years ago. Is the Boogeyman real, or did Tim make it up to explain why his father abandoned his family?



Partisan
Partisan(2015)
6.1

On the edge of a crumbling city, 11-year-old Alexander lives in a sequestered commune alongside other children, their mothers, and charismatic leader, Gregori. Gregori teaches the children how to raise livestock, grow vegetables, work as a community - and how to kill. With the birth of a new baby brother weighing on his mind, Alexander begins to question Gregori’s overpowering influence on the children and their training to become assassins. Threatened by his increasing unwillingness to fall in line, Gregori’s behavior turns erratic and adversarial toward the child he once considered a son. With the two set dangerously at odds and the commune’s way of life disintegrating, the residents fear a violent resolution is at hand.



Duplex
Duplex(2003)
6.1

When a young couple buys their dream home, they have no idea what the sweet little old lady upstairs is going to put them through!



There's Someone Inside Your House

As the countdown to graduation begins, students at Osborne High are being stalked by a maniac intent on exposing their darkest secrets to the entire town, terrorizing victims while wearing a life-like mask of their own face. With a mysterious past of her own, Makani and her friends must discover the killer's identity before they become victims themselves.



Blockers
Blockers(2018)
6.3

When three parents discover that each of their daughters have a pact to lose their virginity at prom, they launch a covert one-night operation to stop the teens from sealing the deal.



House Hunting
5.111

Two families go to an open house and can't leave



She's Having a Baby

Jake and Kristy Briggs are newlyweds. Being young, they are perhaps a bit unprepared for the full reality of marriage and all that it (and their parents) expect from them. Do they want babies? Their parents certainly want them to. Is married life all that there is? Things certainly aren't helped by Jake's friend Davis, who always seems to turn up just in time to put a spanner in the works.



The Girl Next Door
6.638

In a quiet suburban town in the summer of 1958, two recently orphaned sisters are placed in the care of their mentally unstable Aunt Ruth. But Ruth's depraved sense of discipline will soon lead to unspeakable acts of abuse and torture that involve her young sons, the neighborhood children, and one 12-year-old boy whose life will be changed forever.



Eating Raoul
6.433

A prudish married couple feel put upon by the swingers living in their apartment building. One night, by accident, they discover a way to both rid themselves of the “perverts” down the hall and simultaneously realize their dream of opening a restaurant.



Daddy's Home
6.293

The story of a mild-mannered radio executive who strives to become the best stepdad ever to his wife's two children, but complications ensue when their freewheeling, freeloading real father arrives, forcing stepdad to compete for the affection of the kids.



We Are What We Are
5.761

The Parkers, reclusive people who cling to ancient customs, find their secret lives threatened when a torrential downpour and the death of the family matriarch forces daughters Iris and Rose to assume special responsibilities.



Joshua
Joshua(2007)
5.641

The arrival of a newborn girl causes the gradual disintegration of the Cairn family; particularly for 9-year-old Joshua, an eccentric boy whose proper upbringing and refined tastes both take a sinister turn.



Mother
Mother(2016)
6.5

A pregnant woman, who is taking care of her son with development problems, is at her breaking point when a caregiver from the Philippines steps into her life. Diana suspects that she’s using voodoo against her after the quick improvements of her son.



Skinamarink
5.404

Two children wake up in the middle of the night to find their father is missing, and all the windows and doors in their home have vanished.



American Gothic
5.9

When six friends fly off on a weekend getaway and are suddenly plagued by engine trouble, they're forced to land on a remote island. Looking for shelter, they're grateful to encounter Ma and Pa and their children - an eccentric family living in the island's backwoods. But what begins as simple hospitality turns into a terrifying race for survival as the friends start disappearing one by one ... and turning up dead.



Scary Movie
6.4

A familiar-looking group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a more-than-vaguely recognizable masked killer! As the victims begin to pile up and the laughs pile on, none of your favorite scary movies escape the razor-sharp satire of this outrageously funny parody!



The Other
The Other(1972)
6.5

A series of gruesome accidents plague a small American farming community in the summer of 1935, encircling two identical twin brothers and their family.



Z
Z(2019)
6.6

A family find themselves terrorized by their eight-year-old son's imaginary friend.



The Stepfather
5.82

Michael Harding returns home from military school to find his mother happily in love and living with her new boyfriend, David. As the two men get to know each other, Michael becomes more and more suspicious of the man who is always there with a helpful hand. Is he really the man of her dreams or could David be hiding a dark side?



Freddy Got Fingered
4.704

Unemployed cartoonist Gord Brody moves back in with his parents Jim and Julie and younger brother Freddy. When his parents demand he leave, he retaliates by spreading rumors that Jim is sexually abusing Freddy.



Family Life
7.2

A young woman, Janice, is living with her restrictive and conservative parents, who lead a dull working-class life and consider their daughter to be “misbehaving” whenever she’s trying to find her own way in life.



St. Vincent
7.1

A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.



Baby Blues
6.01

On a secluded family farm, a mother suffers a psychotic break due to postpartum depression, forcing the eldest son to protect his sibling from the mother they have always known and loved.



This Boy's Life
7.1

When a son and mother move to Seattle in hopes for a better life, the mother meets a seemingly polite man. Things go south when the man turns out to be abusive, endangering their lives. As the mother struggles to maintain hope in an impossible situation, the son has plans to escape.



How to Grow Up Despite Your Parents

More and more parents take competitive behavior towards the teachers of their children: deny votes and programs, vaneggiano of likes, dislikes, and conspiracies. So, instead of helping in the training of their children, they become insurmountable obstacles to their growth. Presumptuously they think: "We know better than anyone else our children and we know what they are worth and how and what you have to teach."



Torment
Torment(2013)
4.724

Newlyweds Cory and Sarah Morgan take Cory's 7-year-old son Liam up to the country for some much needed family time. When it appears as if Liam has run away, psychological suspense becomes straight-out horror, as Sarah and Cory must now confront a sadistic cult-like family who have been hiding in the house all along and have taken Liam for themselves.



The People Under the Stairs

Trapped inside a fortified home owned by a mysterious couple, a young boy quickly learns the true nature of the homicidal inhabitants, and secret creatures hidden deep within the walls.



In Their Skin
5.303

A couple and their young son retreat to their woodland vacation home, only to face sinister neighbors who intend to kill them and steal their identities.



Most Likely to Murder
5.549

Billy, once the coolest kid in high school, comes back to his hometown 15 years later to find he’s no longer cool and the girl he still has feelings for now dates the former class outcast. Billy becomes obsessed with proving the outcast is a murderer.



11/11/11
11/11/11(2011)
3.8

Jack and Melissa are frightened by their son's bizarre and violent behavior; they soon learn that he is the gateway to the Apocalypse, and it will happen on his birthday, 11-11-11.



Bad Ronald
6.209

When awkward teen Ronald Wilby accidentally kills a young girl whose sister rejected his affections, his overbearing mother decides to hide him from the law by creating a concealed room in their home for him to live.



Crawlspace
5.3

A man who runs an apartment house for women is the demented son of a Nazi surgeon who has the house equipped with secret passageways, hidden rooms and torture and murder devices.



Cheap Thrills
6.4

Recently fired and facing eviction, a new dad has his life turned upside down when he meets a wealthy couple who offer a path to financial security... but at a price.



Return
Return(2015)
6.434

A young couple purchase their new home to start a life together, only to find out the elderly couple next door have other plans for them.



Before and After
5.907

Two parents deal with the effects when their son is accused of murdering his girlfriend.



Funny Games
6.6

When Ann, husband George, and son Georgie arrive at their holiday home they are visited by a pair of polite and seemingly pleasant young men. Armed with deceptively sweet smiles and some golf clubs, they proceed to terrorize and torture the tight-knit clan, giving them until the next day to survive.



The Radleys
5

A seemingly ordinary family harbors a dark secret: they are vampires. They choose not to drink blood despite their natural cravings, but one day, their truth comes to light.



The Open House
3.699

A teenager and his mother find themselves besieged by threatening forces when they move into a new house.



Happiness
Happiness(1998)
7.4

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.



Thanksgiving
6.484

After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious Thanksgiving-inspired killer terrorizes Plymouth, Massachusetts - the birthplace of the holiday. Picking off residents one by one, what begins as random revenge killings are soon revealed to be part of a larger, sinister holiday plan.



The Disappointments Room

A mother and her young son release unimaginable horrors from the attic of their rural dream home.



Pleasantville
7.259

Geeky teenager David and his popular twin sister, Jennifer, get sucked into the black-and-white world of a 1950s TV sitcom called "Pleasantville," and find a world where everything is peachy keen all the time. But when Jennifer's modern attitude disrupts Pleasantville's peaceful but boring routine, she literally brings color into its life.



The Harvest
6

After becoming orphaned, a lonely girl moves in with her grandparents and tries to befriend a sick, bed-ridden boy next door, despite his mother’s strong objections. Her persistence leads to a friendship, but during secret visits, she uncovers dark secrets in the boy's home.



The Humans
6.1

Erik Blake has gathered three generations of his Pennsylvania family to celebrate Thanksgiving at his daughter’s apartment in lower Manhattan. As darkness falls outside and eerie things start to go bump in the night, the group’s deepest fears are laid bare.



The Home
The Home(2025)
6.5

A troubled man starts working at a retirement home and realizes its residents and caretakers harbor sinister secrets. As he investigates the building and its forbidden fourth floor, he starts to uncover connections to his own past and upbringing as a foster child.



Clown
Clown(2014)
5.8

A loving father finds a clown suit for his son's birthday party, only to realize the suit is part of an evil curse that turns its wearer into a killer.



Who Invited Them
5.474

Adam and Margo's housewarming party goes well enough except there's this one mysterious couple lingering after the other guests have left.



They
They(2002)
5

A psychology student who experienced night terrors as a child must face the chilling realization that her nightmares were not all in her head.



Megalomaniac
5.536

Felix and Martha, the two offspring of legendary serial murderer The Skinner of Mons, grapple with the grotesque legacy bequeathed to them. While Martha works a menial janitorial job, Felix continues his father's reign of terror. But following a brutal attack at work, Martha quickly descends into madness, finding she must come to terms with the infamous blood that flows through her veins.



House Party
6.4

Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.

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