Chained (2012 film)
Chained | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jennifer Lynch |
Screenplay by | Jennifer Lynch |
Story by | Damian O'Donnell |
Produced by | Rhonda Baker David Buelow Lee Nelson |
Starring | Vincent D'Onofrio Eamon Farren Gina Philips Conor Leslie Evan Bird Jake Weber Julia Ormond |
Cinematography | Shane Daly |
Edited by | Daryl K. Davis Chris A. Peterson |
Music by | Climax Golden Twins |
Production company | |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Budget | $700,000[2] |
Chained is a 2012 Canadian psychological horror film directed by Jennifer Lynch and based on a screenplay by Damian O'Donnell. Starring Vincent D'Onofrio as a serial killer and Eamon Farren as a young prisoner of the killer, it explores their relationship as the killer seeks to turn his captive into his protégé. Gina Philips, Conor Leslie, Jake Weber, and Julia Ormond appear in supporting roles.
The film premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival and was released direct-to-video in the United States by Anchor Bay Entertainment. It received a polarized, although generally positive response, with some contention over its content and ending, while the performances were praised.
Plot
Sarah Fittler and her nine-year-old son take a taxi to return home from a cinema, but the driver Bob abducts and takes them to his house. As a result of the abuse his father inflicted on him and his brother as children, including forcing him to have sexual intercourse with his own mother, Bob has turned into a serial killer who rapes and murders young women. He kills Sarah and imprisons her son, whom he names Rabbit. When Rabbit tries to escape, Bob chains him to a wall.
Nine years later, the teenage Rabbit remains in Bob's home doing housework, burying the bodies of Bob's victims, and scrap booking newspaper clippings of Bob's victims at his request. While still holding Rabbit captive, Bob tries to become more of a father figure and has Rabbit teach himself human anatomy. To convince Rabbit that nobody else cares for him, Bob reveals that Rabbit's father Brad has remarried. He also releases Rabbit from his chains. In bringing Rabbit closer, Bob intends to turn Rabbit into a serial killer like him.
To complete Rabbit's transformation into a serial killer, Bob asks him to pick a victim from a yearbook. Rabbit initially refuses, but when Bob forces him to select, he chooses a girl named Angie and Bob abducts her. Leaving Rabbit and Angie in a room, Bob warns Rabbit that he will kill her if Rabbit doesn't. Rabbit hesitates and starts to bond with Angie, but stabs her in the stomach when Bob barges in. He then drags her body into the room containing the corpses of past victims. Satisfied, Bob agrees to his request to hunt for another girl.
Bob takes Rabbit to the city with his cab and suggests several victims, but Rabbit declines them all. Along the drive, Bob discovers that Rabbit has written the word "help" on the side of the cab. Bob then realizes that Rabbit stabbed Angie in a non-lethal spot using his anatomy knowledge. He knocks Rabbit unconscious and enters the room where Angie is hiding to kill her. Angie manages to cut Bob's Achilles tendon while Rabbit awakens and comes to save her. In the following struggle, Rabbit kills Bob and buries him next to his victims.
With Bob dead, Rabbit tracks down Brad, now living with his new wife Marie and Rabbit's half-brother Colin. Brad feigns delight about his survival until Rabbit, whose real name is Tim, confronts him with the fact that Brad had arranged the abduction of him and his mother. Through a letter he found, Tim discovered that Bob is Brad's brother, as well as his paternal uncle. Brad, who had urged Sarah to take a taxi on the day of the kidnapping, wanted to get rid of his first wife and son. Brad responds to this revelation by physically assaulting Tim, and also assaulting Marie when she tries to intervene. Tim beats him to death. After Tim leaves at Marie's urging, Marie calls the police and says that a burglar killed her husband.
Tim returns to Bob's house, where Angie is now resting on the daybed located in the kitchen, and shuts the garage door. As the closing credits roll, the sounds of him entering the house, opening the fridge, cutting paper, walking back into the garage, entering the cab, and reopening the garage door are heard.
Cast
- Vincent D'Onofrio as Bob
- Daniel Maslany as Young Bob
- Eamon Farren as Rabbit / Tim Fittler
- Evan Bird as Young Rabbit
- Julia Ormond as Sarah Fittler
- Conor Leslie as Angie
- Jake Weber as Brad Fittler
- Michael Maslany as Young Brad
- Gina Philips as Marie
Additionally, Troy Skog and Shannon Jardine portray Bob's parents and Alexander Doerksen plays Colin. Amy Matysio appears as Mary, one of Bob's victims. Director Jennifer Lynch has a cameo as a cooking show host on TV.
Production
The film was shot in
D'Onofrio was drawn to the project by Lynch's involvement, as he had wanted to work with her on
The film is a study of how monsters are made, and Lynch says that she wanted to "promote a dialogue about child abuse."[10] Through Bob's back story, Lynch attempted to show how society had turned him into a monster through child abuse. With Rabbit, she wanted to explore the theme of "nature vs nurture".[6] Farren described Rabbit as a stunted child, a nineteen-year-old man who stopped emotionally maturing at nine.[8] Rabbit did not become what Lynch called "a full blown replica of Bob" because he has a loving childhood. This allowed Lynch to compare and contrast how the two men turned out.[11] Lynch did not want to perpetuate the cycle of violence and make Rabbit into a killer, which she said would have been boring.[9]
Lynch was contractually obligated to keep the film to a certain run time, so she had to abbreviate the plot twist. Although she recognizes that some people find it to be tacked on, she said that a director's cut would expand on it and make it more natural. The ending scene is meant to be hopeful, and Lynch says that she sees it as both realistic and happy.[9]
Release
Chained had its world premiere at the
The film was originally rated
Lynch stated that she would have preferred to release the film under its working title Rabbit, but the studio would not comply.[4]
Reception
The film drew a polarized response from critics. Negatively comparing it to
Conversely, Matt Glasby of Total Film rated it three out of five and called it a "tense serial killer thriller", with the ending being his only main point of contention.[20] Rod Lott of the Oklahoma Gazette praised the first half of the film as "absorbing and tense", and while finding the second half to be less-interesting, noted that "Lynch does not compromise in her direction, nor shy away from depicting depravity" throughout the entire film.[21] Scott A. Gray of Exclaim! wrote that it is a "deeply disturbing, but deeply human look at the causation of cyclical violence".[22] Simon Foster of the Special Broadcasting Service rated it three and a half out of five and called it a "bleak, claustrophobic and brutal serial killer drama".[23] Scott Weinberg of Fearnet described the film as "a stark, unpredictable, and frequently ugly rumination on themes like free will and morality" and "deserves credit for trying to mine some relatively intelligent chills out of something different, topical, and primally disturbing".[24] Lauren Taylor of Bloody Disgusting rated it four out of five and wrote, "Chained takes a typical tale of an abused child growing up to become a serial killer and makes it something that is Oscar worthy", with praise for D'Onofrio's performance.[25] Serena Whitney of Dread Central rated it three and a half out of five and wrote, "Not since American Psycho have audiences experienced a clever dissection of the appalling misogyny displayed in the serial killer subgenre from a female perspective".[26] Bill Gibron of DVD Verdict concluded that Chained "stumbles a bit yet still manages to crawl under your skin and creep you out".[27]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 68% approval rating based on 19 reviews.[28]
References
- ^ Indiewire. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b Siemienowicz, Rochelle (2013-04-09). "Chained: Jennifer Lynch interview". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Bain, Whitney Scott (2012-09-20). "Interview: Jennifer Lynch, Director of CHAINED". Starburst. Archived from the original on 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Shock Till You Drop. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b Wixson, Heather (2012-10-04). "Exclusive: Vincent D'Onofrio Talks Chained, Sinister and More". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 2012-10-08. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b c Wixson, Heather (2012-10-08). "Exclusive: Filmmaker Jennifer Lynch on Human Monsters, Battling the MPAA for Chained and More". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 2012-10-13. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Dickson, Evan (2012-10-02). "[Interview] Director Jennifer Lynch Talks 'Chained', 'A Fall From Grace' And 'The Monster Next Door'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b Wixson, Heather (2012-10-04). "Exclusive: Co-Star Eamon Farren Discusses Jennifer Lynch's Chained and More". Dread Central. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b c Wax, Alyse (2012-10-23). "Exclusive: We Get 'Chained' to Director Jennifer Lynch". Fearnet. Archived from the original on 2012-10-27. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Cripps, Charlotte (2012-07-28). "Observations: Keep it in the family: the dark visions of Jennifer Lynch". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ McConnachie, Garry (2013-02-01). "Director Jennifer Lynch: I decided to shoot Chained just so I could work again". Daily Record. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ a b Miska, Brad (2012-07-23). "Anchor Bay Dates 'Chained' For Home Video With NC-17 Scene Included As An Extra". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (2012-05-03). "MPAA: Director to recut 'Chained,' but asks why she needs to". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Zeitchik, Steven (2012-08-18). "High hopes, low notes for film world's NC-17 rating". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2012-10-16. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (2012-10-04). "Review: 'Chained'". Variety. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Bradshaw, Peter (2013-01-31). "Chained – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Robey, Tim (2013-02-01). "Films in brief: Bullhead, A Place in the Sun, Chained". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Hughes, David. "Chained". Empire. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Rich, Jamie S. (2012-10-22). "Chained (Blu-ray)". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Glasby, Matt (2013-01-18). "Tense serial killer thriller from Jennifer Chambers Lynch". Total Film. Archived from the original on 2013-01-20. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Lott, Rod (2012-10-08). "Chained". Oklahoma Gazette. Archived from the original on 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Gray, Scott A. (2012-11-05). "Chained [Blu-Ray] Directed by Jennifer Lynch". Exclaim!. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Foster, Simon. "Chained". Special Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Weinberg, Scott (2012-08-07). "FEARNET Movie Review: 'Chained'". Fearnet. Archived from the original on 2012-08-09. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Taylor, Lauren (2012-10-01). "[BD Review] D'Onofrio Steals The Show In 'Chained'". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Whitney, Serena (2012-08-31). "Chained (2012)". Dread Central. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ Gibron, Bill (2012-11-16). "Chained (Blu-ray)". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on 2012-11-19. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
- ^ "Chained (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2019-06-28.
External links
- Chained at IMDb
- Chained at Rotten Tomatoes