Parents

“There's A New Name For Terror...”

Michael (Bryan Madorsky) is a ten-year-old in 1950s California who can't say what's wrong with his house, only that the nightmares are bad and the meat on the grill smells off. His father Nick (Randy Quaid) and mother Lily (Mary Beth Hurt) keep the table set and the lawn trimmed, and no one at school takes his questions seriously. Bob Balaban, in his first film as director, shoots the tidy kitchens and pastel living rooms like a place Michael cannot leave.