Sarah’s Husband Bram begins to suffer severe mental illness. However, because he is a minister and she is devout, instead of getting him professional treatment, she indulges his belief that he spoke directly with god, who told him to kill their infant child. Worse still, his psychosis is humored and validated by another minister who they consult rather than a trained psychiatrist. Eventually, he becomes scary enough that token gestures and promises are made, but Bram continues to pose a greater danger to himself and others in his downward spiral of madness.
The box art is pretty misleading; this is not a horror film in the traditional sense by any means, but it is, in a way, utterly terrifying. To know that this absurd world of faith, in defiance of all logic or reasonable sense of self-preservation, is very real for many people boggles the mind. Sarah is in danger only because she is bound by innumerable religious edicts; that is far scarier than any hack-and-slash horror show I can imagine. I found myself completely captivated by this movie; I had to know if she would realize the deathtrap she was in was completely invisible and of her own making or if she would toe the line to the point of costing her baby her life. The Binding is a love letter to atheism, though I’m not sure that was the filmmaker’s intent. Bear that in mind of your own views when selecting the film. Disc also includes cast interviews, audio commentary, deleted scenes and a teaser trailer.
Casey, while on a trip to Costa Rica for her bachelorette party with friends, is bitten by something unseen while she swims in what appears to be an open sewer the women mistook for a secluded swimming hole. Returning home, she intends to break off her engagement (with good reason, her fiancé is so pushy about having kids he surprises her with a highchair that doubles as a family heirloom) however, before she can dump him, her bite begins to infect her. Pretty soon she’s oozing puss from sores, spitting up digestive fluid, and generally going through all kinds of Cronenberg-level body horrors.
And I do mean all kinds; there is so much borrowing from Cronenberg here that it’s basically one giant homage. With Bite, the focus is much more about gooey grossness than subtle levels of the horror of rot. Chad Archibald succeeds in building a watchable film with shades of ‘The Fly’ in it, but ultimately it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. Much of that watchability must be credited to Elma Begovic who gives a great performance as the transforming Casey. She starts as a vapid, bride-to-be party girl and becomes a lurching, twitching insect. Disc also includes commentary and five different ‘making of’ documentaries.
Adam Ruhl is a writer and life long Cinephile. He is the Executive
Cinema Editor of Pop Culture Beast’s Austin branch; covering festivals,
conventions, and new releases. When not filing reports, Adam can be
found stalking Alamo Drafthouse Programmers for leads on upcoming
DrafthouseFilms titles. Adam once blocked Harry Knowles entrance to a
theater until he was given extra tickets to a Roman Polanski movie.