Max’s exclusive film The Parenting is a star-studded horror comedy with standout performances by Brian Cox, Parker Posey, and Lisa Kudrow and a tone that’s accessible and humorous. The plot follows the 30-something couple Josh and Rohan (Brandon Flynn and Nik Dodani) who rent a country house in the hopes of bringing their parents together for a bonding session. Unfortunately, it’s less a peaceful house and more a haunted house, and now an ancient evil entity has taken over the soul of one of their fathers (and one of their mother’s dogs). It’s Paranormal Activity, but with a scene where Breaking Bad‘s Dean Norris puts a finger up a possessed pup’s butt.
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The following are movies that make for a nice aperitif to Craig Johnson’s spooky chuckle fest. From fellow haunting comedies to another standout Johnson movie, these are the best movies to watch after The Parenting.
The Skeleton Twins
Craig Johnson’s movies tend to be on the smaller scale, with an attention devoted to character that is only matched by their desire to carry a light tone. In that way, The Parenting is similar, but outside that it’s something of a departure from the remainder of his filmography.
And, while 2009’s True Adolescents, starring Mark Duplass, and Wilson, starring Woody Harrelson, each has their fans, it’s The Skeleton Twins that stands as his best work to date. With career-best performances by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader (up to that point for the latter, as The Skeleton Twins was released before Barry), it’s a heartfelt movie with as many laughs as moving moments.
Stream The Skeleton Twins on Peacock.
Beetlejuice
Need another comedic film about a haunting? Well, there’s really no better choice than Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice. And, while you’re at it, check out the financial smash of a legacy sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice is probably the most similar movie to The Parenting out there, and for several reasons. For one, yes, there are ghosts. Just as importantly, it’s a movie about ghosts and two families living under one roof. It’s just, in this case, the ghosts are the protagonists, and they’re one of the two families under that one roof.
Stream Beetlejuice on Philo and Beetlejuice Beetlejuice on Max.
The Addams Family
The classic TV show The Addams Family has continued to show its influence to this day. Though, just as much if not more so, it was the pair of ’90s films that truly inspired Netflix’s megahit Wednesday.
More beloved than the original comic strip or the ’60s TV adaptation, Barry Sonnenfeld’s The Addams Family and Addams Family Values are true treasures of the ’90s. Like The Parenting, it’s focused on a kooky family, it has more than a few supernatural elements, and it carries a tone that skews funny over genuinely scary far more often than not.
Stream The Addams Family on Hoopla.
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The Campaign
Brian Cox can certainly be funny, but not quite as often as he plays things straightforward. But just as with more serious projects like Succession he never stops short of delivering devoted work in a comedy. This is the case in The Parenting, where he dives into playing a possessed grumpy father.
But The Parenting isn’t the first time Cox has thrown himself into the comedy genre. And, after The Parenting, the viewer would do well to check out The Campaign, a political comedy where he plays another stern, disappointed father. And, while they’re at it, they should check out Cox in both Super Troopers movies.
Scream 3
Parker Posey is a natural in every genre. One of the most perpetually underappreciated performers of her generation, she can take even a middling film and make it something worth watching. This was the case with Scream 3, where the best character wasn’t Ghostface, it was Posey’s Jennifer Jolie. Posey has even pitched a return to the franchise and, considering Scream 7 is bringing back Scott Foley’s Roman Bridger to some degree, a Jennifer Jolie return in a full-length Stab movie sounds like a winner of an idea.
Like Brian Cox, Posey never delivers anything below a game effort, which is as much the case in The Parenting (and her acclaimed role in Season 3 of The White Lotus) as it is in anything. And, once one’s screening of The Parenting is over, they might as well stay on the same streamer and make it a Parker Posey horror-comedy double feature night.
Stream Scream 3 on Max.
