Blu-ray Review: The Binding

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

Having a child changes your life and your spousal relationship. You’re never sure if you’re doing the right thing for the baby in the eyes of your spouse. The dynamics abruptly shift for a variety of reasons including hormonal shifts and a complete lack of sleep. The Binding brings out a bit of the frightening aspects of a newborn while elevating it with a religious fervor.

Sara (Amy Gumenick) deals with her newborn baby Skylar. Her husband Bram (Josh Heisler) is a minister who is getting deeper into his religious community. Things seems fine until Bram has a dream that changes his attitude. He believes God is giving him a message of what must be done to Skylar. Sara is frightened at her husband’s change. He fixates on his mission in life. Sara begs him to get help before he hurts the child, but how can he ignore a direct order from God. He is a minister. What can she do to protect her family and make them normal again

The Binding is a low budget affair. But that constraint pushes a claustrophobic feel as the story gets more tense. Heisler plays his character just right as he dips into the Biblical crisis of doing God’s will even if it makes no sense. Gumenick brings out the tug of war inside her mother who wants to believe in her husband, but also needs to protect her child. Should she accept God’s will if she believes God called her husband to minister. Why would God make her life so nightmarish?

The video is 2.35:1 anamorphic. The transfer is fine since it appears to have been shot in HD Video. The audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1. The levels are fine even though the mix doesn’t quite wrap around you. The movie is subtitled.

Audio Commentary with director Gus Krieger explains how he had to reduce the budget to get his vision on the screen.

Cast Interviews (17:20) has the actors discuss how they got involved in the film.

Theatrical Trailer (1:44) focuses on the religious element.

Deleted Scenes has 8 scenes that were sliced away.

Scream Factory presents The Binding. Directed by: Gus Krieger. Screenplay by: Gus Krieger. Starring: Amy Gumenick, Josh Heisler, Max Adler, Larry Cedar, Kate Fuglei. Running Time: 87 minutes. Rated: Unrated. Released: August 2, 2016.

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.