Born in 1945 in Chicago, Bob Balaban has carved a niche in cult cinema through his diverse roles and directorial ventures. He gained prominence with his performance as a young hustler in Midnight Cowboy (1969), showcasing his ability to navigate complex characters. Balaban's work in Altered States (1980) further solidified his standing in the genre, blending psychological horror with a thought-provoking narrative. As the director of Parents (1989), he explored darkly comedic themes, adding depth to his contributions within the realm of cult and exploitation films.
Parents
Ten-year-old Michael Laemle has moved with his parents Nick and Lily from Massachusetts to a Californian neighborhood in 1958 suburbia. As Michael is very socially awkward and also has an overly active imagination, he has trouble making friends at school. He is also prone to extremely weird dreams, such as dreaming that he has jumped into bed, only for it to collapse into a pool of blood. Emotionally distraught from the move and the dreams, Michael is traumatized by accidentally viewing his parents having sex (he believes that he is seeing them biting into one another) and by viewing his father cutting into a corpse in the Division of Human Testing at Toxico, where Nick is developing a chemical defoliant (like Agent Orange) for use in jungles. As time progresses, Michael begins to suspect that his parents are cannibals, after he discovers (or dreams that he discovers) body parts hanging on a meat hook in the basement. Michael is convinced that what he has seen is true, much to the chagrin of his school guidance counselor Millie Dew. One afternoon Millie goes home with Michael in order to convince him that he is imagining everything, only for the two of them to find a corpse in the basement. Michael runs up to his room while Millie, hiding in the pantry, is found and killed. When Nick and Lily arrive home, Michael attacks his father. Later that evening Nick tries to feed Michael (possibly human) meat assuring him he will develop a taste for it like his mother did while Lily smiles in agreement but he fights back and manages to stab his father in the shoulder. Nick then tries to kill Michael, only for Lily to try to protect Michael and die in the process. Michael is then chased around the house by his injured father, who accidentally runs into a gas line due to his injuries. Nick breaks the gas line and then runs into a shelf of wine bottles, which he pulls down onto him and presumably dies. As gas fills the room, Michael has barely enough time to escape before the gas ignites and blows up the house. The film ends with Michael's paternal grandparents assuming his care. After placing him to bed, Michael's grandparents leave him a midnight snack consisting of a glass of milk and a suspicious-looking meat sandwich, implying perhaps that his father learned cannibalism from his parents.
