The Tie That Binds

**The Tie That Binds** is a 1995 American live-action film directed by Wesley Strick.

It focuses on a struggling couple who have just adopted a 6-year-old girl, only to discover that her biological parents, a murderous couple, are trying to reclaim her.

The film was released on September 1, 1995.

## Plot

In California, John Netherwood and his wife Leann Netherwood are fugitives who are wanted for murder. They have a 6-year-old daughter named Janie.

John and Leann are robbing a house when the elderly residents of the house show up. After killing the two residents, John and Leann go outside, where there are cops waiting. John and Leann escape after John gets shot by Officer David Carrey. Janie is found in the car that John and Leann left behind, and Janie is placed up for adoption.

Helped by adoption agency case worker Maggie Hass, Los Angeles architect Russell Clifton and his photographer wife Dana adopt Janie, welcoming a traumatized Janie into their home. Though intelligent and charming, Janie's behaviour is very disturbing: She hides in closets, cuts herself, steals food, and draws monstrous pictures of the "Tooth Fairy," of whom she's terrified. Russell and Dana believe that with love, Janie will be alright.

The Netherwood's begin planning to reclaim Janie. Leann picks up Officer Carrey, and John tortures the name of the adoption agency out of Carrey before John slits Carrey's throat, killing Carrey. The Netherwood's then force Maggie to tell them who adopted Janie, then they kill Maggie. At the same time, Russell and Dana have found out who Janie's biological parents are. Leann tries to kidnap Janie from school, forcing the Clifton's to go into hiding with Janie.

The Netherwood's track down the Clifton's' friends, Lisa Marie Chandler and her husband Gil Chandler, and Leann threatens to hurt the Chandlers' new-born baby, forcing Lisa Marie to tell Leann where the Cliftons are hiding, a half-built house that Russell designed for himself, Dana, and Janie.

The Netherwood's head to the half-built house and take Janie and the Clifton's hostage. John sets the house on fire. Russell and John struggle with each other, then John starts running through the burning house looking for Janie, who has now run off into the nearby woods. Along the way, John runs into Leann in the blinding smoke. Leann has found Dana and Janie, and has had a change of heart. Because of that, John kills Leann by snapping her neck.

Dana runs into the woods to find Janie, and John is following Dana. John is the first to find Janie, and Janie pulls out a knife, stabs John in the stomach, and then says "I learned that from you, daddy." Dana finds Janie just as an enraged John, realizing that Janie will never love him, attempts to kill them both, until Russell shows up, carrying a log the size of a baseball bat, and knocks John to the ground. As a weakened John attempts to get back up, Russell uses the log to smash his head, killing John. Janie finally feels comfortable about being with the Clifton's and accepts them as her family.

## Cast and Characters

* Daryl Hannah as Leann Netherwood
* Keith Carradine as John Netherwood
* Vincent Spano as Russell Clifton
* Moira Kelly as Dana Clifton
* Julia Devin as Janie
* Bruce A. Young as Gil Chandler
* Cynda Williams as Lisa Marie Chandler
* Ray Reinhardt as Sam Bennett
* Barbara Tarbuck as Jean Bennett
* Carmen Argenziano as Phil Hawkes
* Jenny Gago as Maggie Hass
* Ned Vaughn as Officer David Carrey
* George Marshall Ruge as Detective Frank Mercer

## Reception

The Tie That Binds was heavily panned by critics, particularly Leonard Maltin, who called it "...sleazy, insultingly derivative, and full of dangling plot issues." The film holds a rating of 8% on Rotten Tomatoes based on reviews from 12 critics.