"“Given the storyline this should be a devastating film but it struggles to really distress you...”"

Based on director Jennifer Lynch's previous titles, and the fact that the opening scene in Chained presents us with a young boy seemingly held captive in an aggressive man's flat – who happens to return home holding a screaming young woman by the scruff of the neck – it's fair to say that the levels on intensity rise as we can't help but fear the worst for what may come, and Lynch does not let us down in that regard.

A young boy (Evan Bird) and his mother (Julia Ormond) innocently jump into a cab to get home, but when the driver – the damaged and assertive Bob (Vincent D'Onofrio) takes them on a detour, they realise that something is not quite right about the situation. Bob takes them back to his flat, where he proceeds to murder the young boy's mother, but he has separate plans for the child, who he affectionately names Rabbit, as he seeks a companion, and someone to help do his dirty work with him.

We then move into the future, and Rabbit (Eamon Farren) is still held captive by Bob, and as years have passed, the boy has had no education and his fragile physique speaks volumes. Chained up to the wall so as not to escape, Rabbit has been helping Bob to bury his innocent victims – that of helpless young women – for years, but the time has now come for Rabbit to make a choice; to stay and follow in Bob's footsteps, or attempt to escape from his horrendous captivity.

Unlike your typical low-budget horror, Lynch doesn't steer towards the more gory, sanguineous side, as she takes far more of a psychological approach, focusing more on the relationship between Bob and Rabbit and what has made the former turn to such a sick lifestyle, rather than simply go for cheap shock value. However, aside from the dynamics to their relationship, little else in the film works, as there are a series of inconsistencies that grate at you throughout. For example, they never once look into whether Bob may get caught or not – he kills a vast amount of women and seems to get away scot-free. Also, so many opportunities for Rabbit to escape or attack Bob infuriatingly pass by.

Chained suffers, like many horror and thriller movies do, of having a disappointing, anticlimactic finale. The first half an hour of this film bears incredible promise, and could even be as good, and as harrowing as the recent Austrian movie Michael, which carries a slightly similar premise. However the final stages simply try too much and Lynch loses all of the effective simplicity that sets this film up so well. The ending is too melodramatic and out of place and undoes much of the good work that came before.

Meanwhile, D'Onofrio is terrific as Bob, with an unsettling performance, as he doesn't fully allow us to get into his head and understand him. Physically he is wonderful too, fully embodying the role of this abusive tyrant. There are no strong roles for any female characters however, and the portrayal of women in this title is somewhat unsavoury too. They are all objects and even sexualised too, which given the circumstances seems wrong somewhat. However, in Lynch's defence, we are seeing this from the perspective of Rabbit, and within his dark and deranged world, there simply are no women who bear any strong character, as Bob doesn't treat them in such a way.

There are lots of layers to Chained and it's certainly an ambitious piece of filmmaking for Lynch and she must be commended for that. However given the storyline this should be a devastating film but it struggles to really distress you. Not that you want to be distressed of course, but given the subject matter it is something of a requirement.