Genesis 22:2
“And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”
All it took to make this movie was one line from the Bible. The Binding takes the quote above and runs with it, but is it running at full steam? Read on to find out…
PRODUCT INFORMATION
DISCS: 1
RUN-TIME: 87 min
ASPECT RATIO: 2.35:1
RESOLUTION: 1080p
AUDIO: DTS-HD MA 5.1, 2.1
LANGUAGE: English
SUBTITLES: English
REGION: A/1
RATING: NR
PRODUCTION DATE: 2015
RELEASE DATE: August 2, 2016
PLOT SUMMARY
Once upon a time, God Almighty appeared before one of the chosen, and commanded that he slay his own flesh and blood. Perhaps that time has come again…
Sarah Iman (Amy Gumenick, Arrow, TURN: Washington’s Spies) is a young mother and faithful minister’s wife. Her religious devotion and idyllic home life, however, are put to the ultimate test when she is forced to uncover the truth behind her husband’s horrific visions. As tensions rise and secrets come to light, Sarah soon finds herself spiraling toward a terrifying choice between faith and blood.
MOVIE REVIEW
After three miscarriages and an alcohol problem, the Iman family have found God and through him, they were able to reconcile their differences and give birth to a beautiful baby girl. Sarah feels blessed, but something is off. She has been suffering strange nightmares that involve her child and her husband Bram. Meanwhile, Bram believes God came to him and spoke of a great darkness that will cover the Earth and destroy humanity. The only fix? He must sacrifice his only child.
Obliviously, Sarah wants none of that, but Bram is confident it was God who came to him. To save her child, they seek out help in the form of doctors, priests and psychiatrists. However, nothing seems to be working and the visits from “God” are happening every night, and Bram is getting worse. Could it be God speaking to Bram or something much more sinister?
The Binding has a great premise but squanders a lot of it through some painfully slow plot development. The movie also doesn’t bother to explain hardly anything about the nightly visitor speaking to Bram. All an all, nothing much happens in The Binding, save for a few somewhat scary moments with actor Josh Heisler and actress Amy Gumenick screaming or looking super pissed.
Speaking of Amy Gumenick, she does manage to carry the movie with some solid acting. Plus, she is damn gorgeous to boot, so she has that beautiful quality going for her.
The best thing I can throw at The Binding is my enjoyment of the ending. I figured out what was going to happen, but I still got a kick out of those last few frames. It leaves the viewer wondering what is real or not. Even if everything else was slow as molasses, at least the ending was exciting.
BLU-RAY OPINION
The Binding comes out on Blu-ray from Scream Factory and with it being a newer movie, there isn’t much in the way of problems with the video or audio. I did notice one part in the film where the blacks were not exactly black and caused a brightness issue with a scene transition. As for the audio, the dialogue is a bit weak as everyone seems to be whispering in this movie. Besides that, there weren’t any notable problems.
Special features are more than your typical release of newer horror films. You have roughly 20 minutes of cast interviews, 30 minutes of deleted scenes with director commentary for each scene. Finally, there is a trailer and audio commentary with Writer and Director Gus Krieger. Overall, a decent supply of features for anyone that is a fan of the movie.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Over 20 Minutes Of Deleted Scenes
- Cast Interviews With Amy Gumenick (Sarah Iman), Josh Heisler (Bram Iman) And Leon Russom (Minister Uriel)
- Commentary Track With Writer And Director Gus Krieger
- Teaser Trailer
VERDICT
The Binding is a slow film with not a lot happening. Some may get a kick out of the spooky religious tones, but it just felt like something was missing from the movie-like a scare a two. However, the ending did satisfy. Overall, if you are interested in checking out the movie and owning it, the Scream Factory Blu-ray is the perfect way of doing just that.