Chained

Plot synopsis:
Eager to marry his devoted secretary, Diane Lovering (Joan Crawford), New York City shipping magnate Richard Field (Otto Kruger) asks his wife Louise (Marjorie Gateson) for a divorce. Louise, however, refuses to give up her social position and denies Richard's request. Although Diane insists that she will continue to love him without the benefit of marriage, Richard asks her to contemplate her choices while cruising to South America on one of his boats. Diane agrees to the cruise, but vows to return to New York unchanged.
Soon after boarding, Diane meets Johnnie Smith (Stuart Erwin) in the ship's bar and rejects his flirtations. Johnny asks his smooth-talking best friend, Mike Bradley (Clark Gable), for help, but is double-crossed when Mike treats him like a drunk who's annoying Diane. Mike charms her and a shipboard romance blossoms. Still true to Richard, Diane makes no commitments to Mike. He persists, inviting her to visit his ranch in Buenos Aires. After a fun-filled day, Diane and Mike confess their mutual love. Diane finally tells him about Richard, but ealizing that Mike is the man she truly loves, Diane promises that when she returns to New York, she will end her affair with Richard.
Richard, however, presents her with a wedding ring and explains that his wife finally agreed to divorce him on condition that he not be allowed to see his sons. Overwhelmed by his sacrifice for her, Diane says nothing about her new romance. After writing Mike a "Dear John" letter dumping him, she marries the millionaire.
A year later, Diane runs into Mike in a New York gun shop and suggests they dine together. In spite of his bitterness, Mike still loves Diane and senses that she still loves him. Diane explains why she is loyal to Richard. Mike drops by their country house and, in spite of Diane's protests, vows to confront his rival. When Mike sees how kind and caring Richard is with Diane, however, he backs down and leaves. Richard reveals he had long sensed that she was in love with another man and nobly offers to divorce her. Unchained at last, Diane and Mike begin their married life on his Argentine ranch.

Tags: brainwashing, violence, murder

Review:
The story is very good too, I was watching wanting to know what happens with Tim. And then there's the huge plot twist at the end, you do not see it coming!
Bob, a cab-driving serial killer who stalks his prey on the city streets alongside his reluctant protégé Tim, who must make a life or death choice between following in Bob's footsteps or breaking free from his captor.Be prepared, this film is not for the faint of heart or the more sensitive viewers.
In the vein of Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, this film takes you inside the mind of a ruthless killer, the character study is a very disturbing, heart shattering and shocking.
Vincent D'Onofrio, who you may know from Law & Order, plays Bob, a serial killer cab driver and gives one hell of a chilling performance.
Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio), a cab-driving serial killer who stalks his prey on the city streets alongside his reluctant protégé Tim, who must make a life or death choice between following in Bob's footsteps or breaking free from his captor.In the short time that Jennifer Lynch has been making her mark on cinema, I have grown to enjoy her style of film.
Sure, this film was presented as more real than, say, "Nightmare on Elm Street", but I saw little need to pick out the plot holes -- some being so obvious that pointing them out is hardly a mental challenge (such as why Rabbit never escapes).You may agree or disagree on the greatness of this film, or even have no strong reaction at all.
The nine year-old Tim (Evan Bird) goes to the movie theater with his mother Sarah (Julia Ormond) and his father Brad Fittler (Jake Weber) tells Sarah to take a cab to go home.
Along the years, the psychopath serial-killer Bob keeps killing women and Tim cleans the house and the blood, buries the women and eats Bob's leftover.
What will Tim do with Angie?"Chained" is a disturbing, twisted and depressing loss of innocence of a boy kidnapped by a sadistic and deranged serial-killer and with a surprising plot point in the end.
CHAINED starts off giving you the impression that this could be just another torture fest where a young boy and his mother get kidnapped by a taxi driver who is really a serial killer and taken to his home.
There the boy's mother is murdered and he is made to live with the killer and do whatever he says.After all that the plot actually becomes more intriguing with superb character development and it is very disturbing and comes up with some very unexpected moments and the final half is what raises this film above many others in the same genre.The performances are excellent, Jennifer Lynch certainly found the ideal actor to play the serial killer in Vincent D'Onofrio and even the actors with the smallest roles manage to shine.Overall, CHAINED is a very impressive film although not for everyone but the final half is sure to impress anyone who sees it..
This time, however, there is an original twist when he brings home a 9 year old boy (Tim) along with his mother, kills and buries the latter (as usual), but he keeps Tim to clean his house and prepare meals.
Of course, Tim tries to escape but he fails and thus gets tied to a long chain, so that he can move through the house and perform his daily chores, among others burying women after Bob slaughters them.This involuntarily form of cohabitation goes on for some 10 years.
Tim remains devoid of any external contacts, unable to leave the house while being retrained by his chain (hence the film title).In the meantime, the usual process of collecting and killing women goes on.
We don't get all the gory details about his past, but in several dreams we get the picture what sort of things happened in his youth, and apparently deformed his character for life.The story becomes interesting when Bob makes serious attempts to interest Tim for the female body, and to arouse his sexual desires.
Though the girl tries to make the best of the situation and wants to help him a bit, this scene ends with blood since handling a knife is what Tim knows best.I refrain from revealing how the story continues from this point, if only to prevent spoiling some surprising turns of events.
All in all a good watch - especially because of Vincent D'Onofrio who has a knack at playing killers (he was excellent in The Cell too)..
This movie is like the Passion of the Christ, because it doesn't make you feel anything except pity for the character.People who praise the film will try to convince you that haters just dislike it because there is no brainless slasher killer and big boobed bimbos.
It gives me the feels!", try watching The Orphanage, which (unlike this picture) is actually intelligent and scary.I'll never understand why films like this are dubbed horror.
As I was watching, I kept noticing similarities to Bereavement and Perkin's 14, and more generally to certain sub-genres like "Torture Porn" (more the concept, less the actual brutal footage, thank God) and even some Slasher films.
The overall result is a sad tale that isn't easy to watch, but is pretty well made.The screenplay managed to be original enough, though the plot twist towards the end felt forced, out of place, and unnecessary.
I always prefer films with a good twist, but this one simply wasn't a good one.The acting I found to be very impressive by both Vincent D'Onofrio as Bob the Cabby and Eamon Farren as Tim/Rabbit.
The sound effects were also good, especially during the end credits where instead of a musical theme we hear footsteps, doors and other ordinary sounds we've gotten used to hearing from that house.All in all, Chained managed to put together some unoriginal ideas and turn them into a compelling, sometimes terrifying and sometimes touching story.
whether you like horror, thrillers or films in general watch this film now.i was impressed with the realism of the script and the acting in general, it is definitely an indie film but deserves a blockbuster audience, anybody who enjoys a good movie would be letting themselves down if they failed to watch this film wow.i was transfixed from the open scene, i would describe this film as a slow burner but rather say this film simmers throughout and provides a dull moment..
Love Jennifer Lynch, but didn't feel too much one way or the other about this film, until very near the end.
One of these friends was actually incensed by the film, partially because he thought it to be little more than misogynistic exploitation, whereas director Jennifer Lynch (quite honestly, I think) believes she has made a serious film addressing child abuse.
Still, even putting aside the reprehensible actions of the serial killer, and the occasionally jaw-dropping inaction of the teen boy, for Lynch to think the inconceivably horrific actions of another character (not revealed until the very end) to be at all realistic, suggests a deeply-seated hatred of men.
Then one day, Tim attempts to escape out of the ranch but Bob is always one step ahead and decides to lock him on a long chain.Ten years later, Rabbit is all grown up as a teenager (now played by Eamon Farren).
Apparently we also learn that Bob has a murky past of his own -- something has to do with a forced incest with his own mom by his sadistic dad when he was a kid.In case you notice the premise sounds familiar, that is because writer-director Jennifer Lynch is revisiting back the same repulsive exercise in physical and psychological sadism in her highly-controversial debut BOXING HELENA back in 1993.
While CHAINED has its fair share of some unsettling experience, with a particularly creepy performance by Vincent D'Onofrio (more on him later), the overall movie is disappointingly redundant.
Yup, just like watching BOXING HELENA all over again.Newcomer Eamon Farren gives a perfectly understated performance as a frail protagonist trying to cope a sadistic life with Bob. Speaking of Bob, Vincent D'Onofrio is a truly unsettling as a remorseless serial killer.
Too bad the female cast, even for a cameo appearance by Julia Ormond, are sadly reduced to thankless roles consisting of struggling, screaming and bleed to death.CHAINED ends up with a surprise twist that I didn't even seen it coming.
Perhaps Jennifer Lynch still needs to learn a thing or two about making a movie that intends to shock viewers.
If you like really scary movies this isn't it...It is just a disturbing bloody edge of your seat look at a killer.
CHAINED is an excellent psychological horror movie, most of which is set in a nondescript rural home of Bob, a cab driver who captures, tortures, kills and rapes his victims, then buries the bodies in his basement.
This is a really excellent film, a real psychological horror, no gore but you get the idea and have to use your imagination, and the performances are superb...the twist is brilliant, totally caught me off guard, jaw to the floor!
For some reason I had some trouble tracking this film down but I was finally able to get my hands on a copy and boy am I glad I did, anything starring Vincent D'Onofrio always peaks my interest (I mean come on, have you seen his work in The Cell?!) and he is one of my most favored actors.
This was the first encounter I have had with Eamon Farren but I was very pleased with his acting, this film has a good story line that will hold your attention until the end and as gruesome as it was at points I just couldn't look away...that is how you know you have found a good film.
I don't want to spoil any of the movie because I did not know what was going to happen nor what it was even about which made it a surprisingly good film.
A perfect Lifetime movie plot of bad men that abuse their loved ones.The cabbie killer(Bob)had a life boring beyond belief and was so one dimensional he could exist on a petri dish.
A nine year old boy goes to the movies with his mother, and when they leave and get into a cab driven by D'Onofrio, they soon realise that he is not playing with a full deck.
Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio) is a cab driver who picks women up, takes them back to his house in the middle of nowhere and kills them.
Although Bob's actions are unclear at the start through flashbacks and conversations with Rabbit it becomes more and more clear what Bob is all about; there are psychological issues relating to his abusive childhood - it's possible that he may have felt that his mother let him down by not protecting him OR because most of the time he saw his father being abusive to his mother that he may have thought that this was the norm and that this is what women are there for - these were my interpretations but I understand that others may see this differently.Other than excellent character development and an insightful narrative the other thing that really elevates this film is the strong performances from D'Onforio and Farren; As Bob, D'Onforio brings to life a very interesting character, a man who'll you'll want to learn more about and find out what he'll do next.
I found the first part even harder to watch as the young lad of plays the victim is a hell of a good actor (hopefully, as I'm guessing they didn't really upset him so, just for the sake of filming) and portrays a little boy in real danger.
Much of the real violence happens off screen and the real 'horror' of the film is about the fact that a young boy has spent over half his life chained up in a serial killer's house with no means of contact with the outside world, or hope of escape.Some have criticised the way the film eventually plays out.
Chained (2012) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Bizarre (what else?) film from Jennifer Lynch about Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio), a serial killer cab driver who kidnaps a woman and her young son.
CHAINED has some very effective moments and overall it's certainly worth seeing but there's still no doubt that there are some flaws to be found and I also think the film starts to run out of gas towards the end.
The movie takes place in a rather dark, old and creepy house and I thought Lynch did a great job at giving the viewer an atmosphere to where you can actually smell the death in this house.
Jennifer Lynch's Chained sorta reminded me of a Lifetime movie and a good straight to DVD film.
"Chained" is a thoroughly depressing and deeply unpleasant psycho killer movie that is almost redeemed, though not quite, by a brilliant performance from Vincent D'Onofrio as the serial killer who kidnaps the young son of one of his victims and keeps him prisoner until adulthood, making him an unwilling accessory in his crimes.
Rabbit is chained to a wall (hence the title) but Bob educates him with books so he becomes clever.Flashbacks throughout the movie show Bobs shocking past, being abused by his dad and brother whilst graphically being forced to have sex with his mother The final half hour is where things start to pick up.
From the IMDb trivia section on this film I see that in the original story a few detectives were hunting the killer down and I thought this would have been a really good plot line as I felt too much time was taken up with quiet scenes of the captor and captive.
The film stays with you.Coming home from a routine trip to the movies, eight-year-old Tim (Bird) and his mother, Sarah (Ormond) are picked up by a psychopathic cab driver named Bob (D'Onofrio).
Jennifer Lynch's "Chained" is one of those films I walked away from completely disturbed but also captivated by.
There's nothing fun about "Chained." All I kept thinking the entire time I watched it is, "This really could and does happen." It's a gripping psychological thriller that throws in a few twists here and there to keep the viewer on their toes.
Basically, it's exactly what you would expect from the daughter of director David Lynch.Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio) is a cab driving serial killer who picks his victims up and takes them to his rural house.
One afternoon, Bob picks up a little boy named Tim (Evan Bird) and his mother (Julia Ormond) from the movies.
Great acting, plot twists, and the film knows how to keep you interested.
I also like films that leave things for you to work out or come to your own conclusion about and not have tidy endings, and this one certainly does that.I think it is a good film for those people who aren't offended by the subject matter but don't need boobs and blood to make their horror real, and are more chilled by implied suggestion and like a more psychological based thriller.Random Irritations:1.
I walked away from this movie with mixed feelings.Vincent D'Onofrio's acting is (as always) strong, newcomer Eamon Farren looks like he lost quite a few pounds for this role and the director, whom i've never hear of before, did a excellent job.The reason why i was, in the end, disappointed is one i cannot reveal in my always spoiler free reviews.
To say more would truly ruin things, but to me the ending shifted the movie from "okay" status to "pretty bad" status; all of the competence of 90 minutes or so was trumped tenfold by those final scenes, as details were introduced that attempted to explain prior behavior of characters - but the explanation held little water, a leaky plot bucket.On the plus side, at least Chained is a marked improvement over Lynch's last big-release film - Boxing Helena, in 1993!
And although it will be in your 'serial killer' film collection, this particular movie has a different quality and lasting psychological effect that will haunt you the next time you decide to take a cab.'Chained' starts off with Tim, a 9 year old boy and his mother (Julia Ormond), who are dropped off at the local cinema by dad (Jake Weber).
They hail a taxi driven by Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio), who seems like your typical cab driver.Soon after they get in the car, and a couple of missed turns, Tim and his mother realize that Bob is not really a cab driver, but a serial killer and that bad things are about to happen.
From here, we see Bob try and teach Tim how to be a serial killer in a sick and twisted father-son type fashion.
This film was originally titled 'Rabbit', due to what Bob calls Tim, but was later changed to 'Chained'.
I am really into serial killer movies, and this film was so good.
I love the way Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio) thinks, and acts throughout the film.
The film makes you hate Bob from his actions, what he does to the women, and to Rabbit (Eamon Farren) but you also cant help but feel sorry for him from his upbringing and abusive farther.Although, I did predict the ending, the movie was full of surprises and kept me quite entertained.
The film sees D'Onofrio's killer taking on a disturbed young apprentice but there are some highly predictable twists in store which you'll see coming a mile off.
The movie doesn't have a plot; it's simply Bob talking random things to Rabbit.
And he claims he didn't understand or like that task.While the movie's competently shot and well-acted by the females and lead psycho, Vincent D'Onofrio, the suspension of disbelief is far too great and the ending twists are laughable at best.