Welcome to Knockout Horror. Today we are reviewing brand new horror comedy The Parenting. Before I start, I have to be honest for a minute. I hate when the movies I review line up in this way. And, by this way, I mean below average movie after below average movie. It makes me look super negative.

I’m really not trying to be a downer about everything I watch but I am, also, not going to blow smoke up a film’s arse to sound more positive. So many horror review sites have the niche of sunshine pumping filled. I really don’t want Knockout Horror to be like that so my opinions will always be honest.

Another Let Down

The fact of the matter is that if I have to be a horror review bad guy. Shitting on all of the movies that I consider to be bad. Then so be it. I don’t mind. This website barely gets any views, anyways, so who cares, right? The Parenting is another derpy faced soldier in the relentless march of disappointing 2025 horror. The year started off so promising with Heart Eyes and Companion. I thought we were in for a repeat of 2024.

A screenshot from comedy horror The Parenting (2025)

As it stands, the last few movies I have reviewed have overcorrected that in a big way and The Parenting is no exception. This is horror comedy at its fluffiest and most annoying. We have an intolerably saccharin lead couple, a trope heavy plot, jokes that don’t land, Lisa fucking Kudrow, and Brandon Flynn doing his best impression of Jim Carrey. This is a tough one to get through.

The story follows a couple renting a holiday home for a winter getaway with their parents. Only to discover it is inhabited by an ancient poltergeist. And by ancient I mean 400 years old. Are there even any surviving houses in the USA that are 400 years old? Has this poltergeist just been chilling in a field for 300 years waiting for this house to be built so that they can haunt it?

Pointless Horror

Horror comedy can always be a little hit and miss. Good horror comedy takes a subtlety that is hard to come by. The strange thing with The Parenting is that the horror elements play second fiddle to the comedy. This is far more of an awkward “Meet the parents” style familial movie than anything else. The bulk of the plot centres around the differences between the two main character’s families. One is from a working class background, the other is from a well to do background. It’s a heavy does of that usual type of “odd couple” stuff that you have come to expect from this type of film.

It’s not the type of movie I would watch, anyways, but it isn’t done particularly well, regardless. Being over familiar and recycling elements from much better films. When the horror does kick in, it is used to transform the movie into a more gross out comedy, rather than trying to blend the two elements together. It’s the filmmaking equivalent of putting a sock puppet on your hand so that you can say something offensive and get away with it. A horror, comedy, Triumph the Dog, if you will.

The poltergeist elements feel pretty redundant and there are no scares. Something which you don’t expect en masse in comedy horror but does happen. The plot goes into derivative possession territory before throwing a ton of horror shit at the wall to see if any of it will stick. I can’t shake the feeling that if The Parenting was made by a predominantly black cast and had the “Wayans” name attached to it, it would be mercilessly panned. It is no better than the awful A Haunted House series. It just benefits from a more well known cast. Speaking of which.

Propped Up

This is a good example of a very shallow movie that intends to be propped up by its cast. Hence why you will see names like Brian Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and… Well, I don’t know, I don’t follow mainstream movies so I have no idea who any of these people are but you get the picture. While this works, on occasions, with Cox being a particularly fun addition. It’s impossible to ignore how formulaic the story is and how played out the jokes are.

The humour, here, is of the school yard variety. With bodily functions playing a central role and a whole bunch of offensive jokes that you probably wouldn’t get away with in a movie if it didn’t feature a homosexual lead couple. A lead couple who are so Disneyfied to the point where they are not recognisable as a believable representation of two people in love. Naturally, that is done, predominantly, to shine a spotlight on their conflicts later in the movie. But that doesn’t change how annoying they can be. At least the actors are actually gay in real life, for a change, though.

The jokes, for the most part, don’t land. My partner laughs easier than, literally, anyone I have ever met in my entire life and she chuckled twice during the entire thing. If you are a fan of current SNL stuff, you might find the movie amusing. Otherwise, it is sketch humour stretched out over an extended period and gets old very fast.

Why, Brian Cox?

I really don’t understand how they managed to get Brian Cox to sign on to this movie. He is a legitimately fantastic actor who, all of a sudden, is taking a De Niro-esque path into crappy comedy. Cox is, to be honest, the highlight of the movie and gets most of the laughs. He hams it up spectacularly and does a hell of a lot of heavy lifting. I really dislike Lisa Kudrow. I can live without her playing Phoebe, from Friends, in every single thing she stars in. Guess what? She is Phoebe from Friends here. Just older and with a bit more of a foul mouth. Fucking Yay! Parker Posey gnaws the scenery relentlessly.

Nik Dodani is fine. He seems to be the only actor who plays the movie fairly seriously. Brandon Flynn can take a long walk on a short pier for all I care. He gurns continuously and feels every part the Temu Jim Carrey. As far as direction goes, pacing is a mess. So much time is spent on the Meet the Parents crap that I felt massively checked out when the horror started. Cinematography is okay. Special effects are pretty terrible. The script is lousy. One of the unfunniest I have encountered in a comedy horror. The film is too long and the ending is incredibly fluffy for a movie like this, if you get what I mean.

Should You Watch The Parenting?

As much as it pains me to say it, some people are going to enjoy The Parenting. It simply does absolutely nothing to appeal to me but, in the year of our Lord 2025, some sadomasochists still enjoy SNL so some people will like this film. It is juvenile, lacking in ideas, derivative, dull, repetitive and unfunny. But that is the formula for your average SNL sketch so if you enjoy that type of thing, you will love The Parenting. If, however, you enjoy good comedy horror, just skip it.