Problem Parents Keith Carradine And Daryl Hannah Portray Sociopathic Couple Bent On Getting Daughter Back
Imagine Keith Carradine as Will Rogers gone berserk with vengeance and Daryl Hannah as a mermaid hypnotized by Charles Manson, and you’ll begin to get a picture of how the normally appealing images of these two attractive actors are turned inside out in “The Tie That Binds.”
In this efficient little horror film, Carradine and Hannah play John and Leann Netherwood, homicidal white-trash loonies who will stop at nothing to reclaim their 6-year-old daughter, Janie (Julia Devin). The little girl, whom the police took from them at the scene of a robbery, has been placed in the home of Russell Clifton (Vincent Spano), a building contractor, and his wife, Dana (Moira Kelly), a professional food photographer. Even though Janie does disturbing things like slicing the palms of her hands with a bread knife and blaming the tooth fairy, the Cliftons are still determined to adopt the child.
“The Tie That Binds” is the first film directed by Wesley Strick, whose screenwriting credits include “Cape Fear,” a movie with which the new film has a lot in common. As a maniacal sadist who takes snapshots of his victims just before killing them, Carradine is almost as scary as Robert DeNiro in the earlier film. Cackling and waving a whisky bottle as he does a jig of murderous anticipation around a bonfire, he conveys a sociopathic rage that goes all the way to the bone.
In her much quieter way Hannah is just as creepy. Her empty gaze, vague, whispery voice and baby-doll pout are exploited in a way that suggests a demented disconnectedness instead of the usual sweetness.
The director deploys all the familiar cinematic tricks to create suspense as the Netherwoods relentlessly track down the Cliftons, killing all who stand in their way. Curtains billow and windows suddenly fly open in the middle of the night. Children’s toys are photographed to appear threatening, and the child has supernatural intimations of what’s to come.
If “The Tie That Binds” is effectively atmospheric, its screenplay has too many loose ends and not enough good lines.
The movie’s final action sequence finds the Cliftons and Janie preposterously spending the night on the construction site of their future dream house. This setting inspires the film’s clunkiest line as Carradine prepares to torch the place and hang the owners: “I hate dream houses,” he sneers before lighting a match.
MEMO: “The Tie That Binds” Location: East Sprague, Newport and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by Wesley Strick, starring Daryl Hannah, Keith Carradine, Moira Kelly, Vincent Spano and Julia Devin Running time: 1:38 Rating: R