Mum & Dad is a 2008 British horror film by director Steven Sheil. Its premiere was on 22 August 2008 during the London FrightFest Film Festival. One day later it was shown during the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany. The film is the directorial debut of Steven Sheil.
The film begins at Heathrow Airport, where a Polish immigrant named Lena Malley (Olga Fedori) is working a shift as a cleaner. While there, her colleague Birdie (Ainsley Howard) helps her to clean the toilets. The two begin to talk and Lena reveals that she lives alone and doesn't keep in touch with her family. Birdie introduces Lena to her adopted brother Elbie (Toby Alexander), who also works at the airport and is a mute. Lena tells Birdie that she doesn't get on with her family. While talking, Lena notices scars on Birdie's arm; Birdie explains that she used to have behavioral problems; but states that she's better now. At the end of the shift Lena misses her bus so Birdie tells her that her dad will drive Lena home if they walk to Birdie's house.
Upon arriving at the house Lena is knocked out from behind and injected with a syringe. She wakes up dressed as a child and tied to a chair to the sound of screaming coming from another room. Moments later, Mum (Dido Miles) and Dad (Perry Benson) enter the room and introduce themselves. Mum tells Lena that if she does what she is told everything will be ok. Lena is unable to respond because of the injection she received earlier and Mum proceeds to inject her with a sedative. When she wakes up again Mum begins carving marks into her back. Lena is unable to speak, and Mum tells her to not to make any attempt to talk. She gives Lena another injection, and Lena falls asleep. She wakes up later, tied to a frame. Mum tells her that she wanted another girl to come and live there. Mum then pierces Lena's skin with some metal and carves some marks into her back. Following this incident Lena is taken to see Dad, who tells her that she will be a member of their family, and in his house she will follow his rules.
At breakfast, the family are watching pornography. Lena makes an escape attempt but Dad grabs her and Elbie drags her back to the table. Birdie takes Lena through her chores. Back in her room, Lena attempts to escape, but hears Dad watching her through the keyhole. Over the following days Lena is repeatedly humiliated for no particular reason. Lena finds and hides a mobile phone but is quickly caught and put on heavier sedation as a consequence. A few days later Lena catches the attention of a man outside but is seen by Dad, who drags her into his torture room, puts her in a suitcase and orders Elbie to hit it with a hammer. Meanwhile, the man from outside enters the house but Mum and Birdie see him. They then suffocate him with bubble wrap. The family then dismember the man and make Lena kiss his severed head. They then proceed to cook the man's appendages as sausages and eat them. As further punishment Lena spends that night tied to the kitchen radiator.
The following night Lena manages to break free from the restraints of her bedroom while the family is sleeping. She makes her way to the torture room and finds a staircase up to an attic, where she finds a mentally ill girl in a bed. The girl begins to struggle, so Lena leaves. In another room she finds a man who is being restrained, he too begins to struggle, almost getting her caught but calms him down and finds a weapon.
The next morning, Birdie enters Lena's room and tells her it's Christmas. She goes downstairs to find the same man from the attic crucified on the wall, and the mentally ill girl in a chair. Dad tells Lena that he knows she broke free the previous night and saw the girl. He explains that the girl is his daughter and that she was a "spastic" because the umbilical cord got wrapped around her neck during birth and he had to bite it off with his teeth, implying that the birth didn't occur under medical supervision. The family proceeds to open a series of inappropriate Christmas presents. However, Mum neglected to buy a present for Dad so she tells him that he can "have Lena for Christmas".
Dad arrives in Lena's room wearing a dress and makeup and telling Lena that he is "Mum" before attempting to sexually assault her. Previous to this and unbeknown to Dad, Elbie had taken pity on Lena and left Lena's handcuffs loose allowing Lena to stab Dad with the weapon she had stolen from the attic. She flees downstairs, followed by Dad, who trips, causing Mum and Birdie to help him. Lena stabs Mum and Birdie attacks her, but Lena slams her into a wall and stabs her in the stomach.
The woman opens the back door, but Birdie attacks her again, so she hits her over the head with an iron she finds on the floor and rushes outside. Lena climbs over the back gate, but falls and twists her ankle. Mum and Dad rush out limping, bloodied and battered, chasing her into a field. Lena then falls and then Mum stabs her with a knife she took from the house. But Mum and Dad are too weak to kill her so Lena fights them off, and stabs them both repeatedly back and forth. Meanwhile, Elbie sets "the spastic" free of her restraints, before strangling her. He then walks out of the front door. The next and final shot is of Lena screaming in the field as planes take off overhead.
The War Zone is a 1999 British drama film written by Alexander Stuart, directed by Tim Roth in his directorial debut, and starring Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton, Lara Belmont, and Freddie Cunliffe. The film is based on Stuart's 1989 novel of the same name and takes a blunt look at incest and sexual violence in an English family.
Martyn Pig is a thriller by Kevin Brooks, published on April 1, 2002 by The Chicken House and aimed at teens and young adults. Martyn Pig won the Branford Boase Award in 2003 and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal in 2002.
Sorority House Massacre II is a 1990 American slasher film directed by Jim Wynorski, featuring scream queens Melissa Ann Moore and Gail Harris. It follows five sorority sisters who are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant after purchasing a large house. Much like its predecessors, Sorority House Massacre II has received a cult following over the years.
The Suitcase Kid is a children's novel written by Jacqueline Wilson and illustrated by Nick Sharratt. The story focuses upon a young girl, Andy, caught between her warring parents' bitter divorce, and the determination Andy has to get her parents back together. However, as the story proceeds, Andy realizes that she has to accept that her parents will not reunite and that she must move on like they did.
Clean Break is a best-selling children's novel by Jacqueline Wilson, first published in the United Kingdom in 2005. It deals with the consequences of a father abandoning his family.
Leaving Poppy is a 2006 young adult thriller/horror novel by Kate Cann. It won the 2008 Angus Book Award and was shortlisted for the 2007 Booktrust Teenage Prize.
Buddy (1982) is a novel written by Nigel Hinton. The main characters are Buddy Clark, his mother Carol Clark, his father Terry Clark and Julian and Charmian Rybeero. The story deals with issues such as racism, juvenile delinquency and child neglect.
Shivers is a series of thirty-six children's horror novels written by M.D. Spenser. These are horror novels, each 120-125 pages long, for readers between the ages of 8 and 14. The series was created during the popularity of the Goosebumps series, and it has a similar style.
The Ghoul is a 1975 British Tyburn Film Productions horror film directed by Freddie Francis and starring Peter Cushing, John Hurt, Alexandra Bastedo, Veronica Carlson, Gwen Watford, Don Henderson and Ian McCulloch. In the United States, the film was released as Night Of The Ghoul and The Thing In The Attic.
The Diary of Anne Frank is a BBC adaptation, in association with France 2, of The Diary of a Young Girl originally written by Anne Frank from 1942 to 1944 and adapted for television by Deborah Moggach.
Wicked is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Michael Steinberg and starring Julia Stiles as a disturbed teenage girl. The film also stars Michael Parks and William R. Moses. The film debuted at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival but had a delayed release due to a financial dispute between a producer and the studio. The film was released on DVD in 2001.
Secrets is a young adult book by Jacqueline Wilson, published in 2002 by Doubleday. Secrets is told from the point of view of two pre-adolescent girls, Treasure and India, via their diary entries. Despite their very different backgrounds - Treasure coming from a violent and abusive household, India having rich but inattentive parents - the girls strike up a friendship and their stories begin to intertwine. The Diary of Anne Frank is frequently referred to in the novel and influences the girls' actions.
Scarlett is a 2006 novel by Cathy Cassidy. It won the 2007 Royal Mail Award for Scottish Children's Books in the 12–16 age group. It reached number 8 in the Ottakars sales chart for children's books in June 2006. The plot revolves around the 12-year-old girl of the title, who is badly affected by the break-up of her parents. After leading a food fight at school, she is sent from London to live with her father in Ireland.
Amityville: The Horror Returns is a 1989 horror novel and the fifth installment in Amityville book series written by John G. Jones. It is the final book to be about the Lutzes as they are stalked by the presence they fled from in Amityville.
Midnight is a children's novel by English author Jacqueline Wilson.
Jason Costello is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Victoria Atkin. The character debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 2 August 2010 and was introduced by series producer Paul Marquess as a member of the yet to be established Costello family.
The Nutcracker in 3D is a 2010 3D Christmas musical fantasy film adapted from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet The Nutcracker. Directed, co-written and produced by Andrei Konchalovsky, the film stars Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane, John Turturro, Frances de la Tour, Richard E. Grant and Yulia Vysotskaya, with Charlie Rowe and Shirley Henderson as the Nutcracker. Set in 1920s Vienna, the plot follows a young girl who receives a magical doll that is revealed to be a prince and embarks on an adventure to save his kingdom from the Rat King.
Chizuko's Younger Sister is a 1991 Japanese film directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. It was filmed in Mukaishima Island, Hiroshima.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
