Mom and Dad (2017) - Brian Taylor

From the very first frame of Mom and Dad, Brian Taylor makes it very clear that his visceral, absurdist style and his penchant for depravity and superfluity are very much intact for this solo-directorial effort.  Mom and Dad is a pitch black horror comedy, a film of bad-taste, which is gleeful in its re-contextualizing of parent-child family dynamics in a way in which the expression "i love you so much, but some times I want to kill you" is presented in literal fashion.  A satire of various aspects of middle-class suburban life, Mom and Dad is an enjoyable ride in bad taste which implores a kinetic visual style that is reminiscent of Taylor's work on Crank, Gamer, etc.  While this film doesn't have nearly as much traditional action as most of Taylor's previous work, the editing remains chaotic as ever, congealing to the  snappy, absurdist dialogue to capture the same fluidity.  Nicholas Cage is a natural fit in this fluid, exaggerated style that Taylor implores, delivering a memorably campy performance as the down-beaten middle-aged father of two, who surprising to no-one, brings it when his character takes his psychotic turn.  Parental obligation, as well as maternal and paternal instincts are subverted and manipulated in Brian Taylor's solo effort, a fiilmmaker who brings a mischievously-spirited passion to his films, as Mom and Dad delivers some surprisingly poignant satire on contemporary suburban life.