From Deseret News archives:

The Tie That Binds

Tie That Binds, The

Published: Friday, Oct. 27, 1995 12:00 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 

"The Tie That Binds" is an attempt to recapture the spirit of "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle," which was itself simply a more sophisticated variation on the slasher genre.

In this case, however, Strick (working from a script by first-timer Michael Auerbach) overplays his hand and underdevelops his characters.

As the film begins, it appears that Daryl Hannah and Keith Carradine, as a pair of homeless serial killers, along with their young daughter (newcomer Julia Devin) will be the film's focus. (Carradine tries to punch up his character with some sick humor, but he comes off like a low-rent Jack Nicholson.)

Their stock in trade seems to be terrorizing homeowners while stealing food, then taking Polaroid photographs of the victims before (and maybe after) slaughtering them. The girl, meanwhile, cowers in the car and apparently has had little, if any, social interaction with anyone other than her parents.

But early in the film, one of the crime-sprees is interrupted by police, and while Hannah and Carradine escape, their daughter is taken into custody. It is at this point that we meet another young couple, stable but childless Moira Kelly and Vincent Spano, who decide to adopt a child. And, of course, the child they adopt is Devin.

Story continues below

The rest of the film primarily consists of Hannah and Carradine terrorizing the policeman who took their daughter and the social worker who placed her in a foster home, before they finally get around to a showdown with Kelly and Spano.

READER ADVISORY: I am about to give away a key aspect of the film's climax — - so if you plan to see this picture and don't want the ending spoiled, don't finish this review.

In the end, it is the young daughter who is called upon to kill her father, stabbing him with a knife, and it serves to confirm the film's most gratuitous tendencies. Yes, I cringed — but not because I was caught up in the film.

I'm not crazy about child-in-peril subplots in commercial horror or action pictures, much less an entire child-in-peril movie. But I found this moment — and another that occurs earlier in the film, as a newborn infant is placed in peril — to be quite reprehensible.

After all, there is no "Bad Seed" element here, nothing to indicate that this young girl has violent tendencies.

We know nothing about the background of Devin or Hannah or Carradine, but to have the child kill one of her parents, and then to simply fade out with a let's-go-back-and-live-a-happy-life-together ending, is just too much.

"The Tie That Binds" is rated R for violence, sex, nudity and profanity.

Comments

You can be the first to comment on this story.

Movie Info
Rated R for violence, profanity, nudity, sex.

Cast: Daryl Hannah, Keith Carradine, Moira Kelly, Vincent Spano.
FIND LOCAL MOVIE SHOWTIMES
previousnext

Latest comments

Holy Moly! 500K for one report to determine if Michell is competent to stand...

I say we put it on the ballot. In Utah we're used to everyone voting to...

C.J. Miles will play, won't start

Good news! Hopefully the Jazz can keep rolling.

Re: 12:25 p.m It's not rocket science to figure out why Americans are...

Good for Max, your are the mtn and this year BYU, TCU, UTAH, AIRFORCE AND...

E-signatures considered for petitions

" it would destroy him and his campaign." Can you tell me WHAT campaign...

Government destroys. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Franklie Barney perverted...

@to:All Knowing: "We understand each other." But, do you understand...

I think even though Oregon St. lost, they could still play Utah in the...

Is isolationism good or bad? 70 years ago U.S. isolationism allowed the...

Advertisements