The Tie That Binds Movie Review

It's always a treat when an underhyped thriller that slips into theatres without the benefit of a press screening turns out to be better than expected. The Tie that Binds, dumped on unsuspecting audiences with the threadbare tagline that it's from the producers of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, is actually pretty good. It boasts terrific performances by Keith Carradine as a psycho, Vincent Spano and Moira Kelly as the well-rounded heroes, and remarkable acting by a little girl named Julia Devin. Wesley Strick's direction pushes all the right suspense buttons and only Daryl Hannah is a wash-out as Carradine's zombie-like partner in psychosis. Carradine and Hannah are irredeemable bad guys, dragging their small daughter along as they engage in sadistic crimes. When they're nearly busted, they manage to slip away from the cops who take their troubled child into custody. She winds up being adopted by Spano and Kelly, a nice, interesting couple who are hep enough to recognize her underlying sadness. Devlin captures all the nuances of a deeply frightened child so well that it's tough to believe she's only acting. She's a little young yet to compare to Lillian Gish, but her terror of violence does evoke memories of Broken Blossoms, not that the film as a whole is anywhere near that league. The script slides in and out of focus (as does Hannah's character), which doubtless explains the skittishness of its eventual distributor. But The Tie that Binds earns most of its chills fairly and is worth a look on the small screen.

1995 (R) 98m/C Daryl Hannah, Keith Carradine, Moira Kelly, Vincent Spano, Julia Devin, Ray Reinhardt, Cynda Williams; D: Wesley Strick; W: Michael Auerbach; C: Bobby Bukowski; M: Graeme Revell. VHS, LV, Closed Caption