Parents

In 1958, the Laemle family moves from Massachusetts to a suburban neighborhood in California. The new environment promises a fresh start, but the move unsettles young Michael. The transition foreshadows the isolation and strain that will shape the rest of the story.

Michael's social awkwardness makes it hard to fit in at his new school. He feels isolated and unsettled as his peers avoid him. The mounting pressure of school life compounds his fragile imagination and fear.

Michael experiences vivid, disturbing dreams, including one where he jumps into bed and it collapses into a pool of blood. The nightmare blurs the line between sleep and reality, deepening his sense of dread. These dreams hint at a darker truth about his new home.

Michael is traumatized after witnessing his parents having sex and misinterpreting it as biting. He also learns that his father is working at Toxico, developing a chemical defoliant, adding another layer of danger. The combination of private terrors and public secrets pushes him toward believing his parents are cannibals.

Michael's fear deepens when he discovers (or dreams) dismembered body parts hanging on a meat hook in the basement. He becomes convinced his parents are cannibals. His paranoia isolates him from family and school even further.

Millie Dew, the school guidance counselor, accompanies Michael to his home to console him and prove he's imagining things. Together they find a corpse in the basement. Millie is killed after being forced into the pantry.

When Nick and Lily return, Michael attacks his father in a fit of fear and defiance. The confrontation marks a turning point as violence erupts inside the house. Michael's belief in his parents' cannibalism intensifies the danger.

Nick tries to feed Michael human meat, insisting he will grow to like it as his mother does. Michael resists and stabs Nick in the shoulder. The eerie dinner scene deepens the nightmarish atmosphere and the sense that danger is all around.

Nick pursues Michael, but Lily sacrifices herself to protect him. In the struggle, Nick ruptures a gas line and triggers a catastrophic gas leak. A shelf of wine collapses, the gas ignites, and the house explodes.

After the explosion, Michael's paternal grandparents assume his care and oversee his recovery. They place him to bed and attempt to restore some normalcy in the grim aftermath. The fragile peace suggests the danger may still follow him.

The grandparents leave Michael a midnight snack of a suspicious-looking meat sandwich. The unsettling gesture hints that the cannibalistic legacy may continue. The scene implies the nightmare is far from over for Michael.

The film closes with the sense that Michael's nightmare may persist beyond the immediate events. The suggestion is that cannibalistic tendencies were learned, and danger remains as Michael's haunting experiences linger. The ending leaves the viewer with a chilling, unresolved doubt.