House of Chains (2022 Lifetime)
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Cast: Mena Suvari, Greyston Holt
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Synopsis (via Lifetime)
Tye (Grayson Holt), and Laura (Mera Suvari) and their six children look like a normal, suburban family. Yet, they are a family whose dark secrets remained hidden for years.
Because of their strict religious beliefs, the children are isolated from the rest of the world. However, as the older children begin to grow up, they start to ask questions.
Now, this leads to many forms of child abuse. That includes neglect and imprisonment. Now, the older children feel the need to protect their younger siblings. More so, they find a way to escape and save them.
Recap/Wine Thoughts
The movie starts with kids handcuffed to their beds while their parents sleep soundly in the next room—River and Prairie escape by unscrewing a window hinge.
Flash to ten years earlier, a down-and-out Mena Suvari (Here playing a junkie named Laura.) comes upon a hippie preacher trying to start a cult and is interested. When a drug dealer tries to rape her, the preacher saves Laura and quotes scripture at the drug dealer.
The preacher/wanna-be cult leader’s name is Tye. He brainwashes Laura into thinking that she is destined for greatness… and by that, he means to bear his children. four of them with another on the way.
The kids are outcasts at school because they smell from not bathing and are always quoting the Bible. They make one friend named Andrea, who is allowed to come over to their house.
Andrea finds the TV in the parent’s room and turns it on. River tells her that it is the devil’s window and that the demons get inside. Tye catches them and demands the kids become home-schooled after beating a pregnant Laura into submission. Andrea is not allowed to come over EVER again.
The kids revolt (except for the oldest son Rain, a rule follower.) Prairie throws a tantrum, Meadow screams, and River screams. Tye uses scripture again to manipulate Laura into striking her child. The stress causes her to go into childbirth. The family all assist with the homebirth and pray for a safe delivery for the baby.
Flash forward to the children now grown up to pre-teens and teenagers. Two more kids, Summer, and Forest, are added to the family. They are chained to the bed and beaten for opening a window.
The house has a countdown to Christmas; this movie is like Hallmark turned upside down. The kids inside the house are a messed-up version of the Vontrap family. They are dirty, starved, and play instruments!
The McGrath kids have had enough; they sneak apples in the night to gain strength. Tye discovers the missing fruit and interrogates his children. They use a cell phones to bribe the kids. Forest and River are tied to a banister and starved for seven days. Meadow and Rain are given cellphones for being narcs.
Meadow downloads a knockoff version of TikTok and looks at videos. She shows River and records her singing for a post. The post goes viral, and a man from Jamacia tells her to keep it up. Meadow and River continue a conversation with the man named Tristian. He has a disease that prevents him from going outside too. Laura catches River on the phone but keeps it a secret from Tye.
Laura’s father dies, and Tye shows her the obituary but leaves out the part where it mentions that the father never gave up hope of finding his daughter. Tye convinces Laura that her family never cared for her and even into thinking that her father abused her.
River calls Tristan hysterically, crying after a terrible beating of her brothers. He is horrified when she tells him she has been in captivity for 9 Christmases and explains why she can’t trust anyone besides her parents. Then Tristan makes the mistake of asking for River’s address. She thinks he is the devil and tells him never to call her again. Then Tye finds her on the phone and chains her, Medow, and Prairie in a closet.
Tired of seeing her children suffering, Laura moves the Christmas countdown up to celebrate with her kids. (Well, everyone except Praire, who remains chained in the closet.) Forest has intense abdominal pain on his right side. He has appendicitis, and Tye treats him by starving the child. Meadow and River try to advocate for their brother, but it only causes another violent outburst from Tye.
In the night, the church bells toll, and River decide that she needs to get Forest medical attention. She convinces Rain to swear on God not to rat them out and help distract the parents and get a screwdriver while she sneaks Forest to the church for help. Rain freaking tells on them as soon as they escape.
Now we are back to the beginning of the movie. Forest and River run to the church, but they don’t know the way. A very suspenseful scene of the kids running towards the church.
The church is, of course, closed. The police question the terrified children and suspect the River hurt Forest. While the police are figuring out what to do, Tye and Laura pull up and explain away everything. The police let them go and check Tye’s ID. THAT IS IT!
Tye puts a plan in motion to move his family, but the police and a social worker arrive to check in on the minor children. They are confused about why the children are unbathed and underfed. The social worker is suspicious but has nothing to remove the children.
Forest is in terrible pain. Laura realizes that he has a fever and is suffering from sepsis. She tells Rain to call 911. Tye stops them and demands everyone into a van to drive to the desert.
Prairie has been chained in the closet this whole time. Rain tries to stand up to his father but is beaten badly. Tye holds a knife to Rain’s neck and tells him he isn’t afraid to sacrifice him. The kids overpower their father and dial 911. River runs into the street and screams for help.
The news breaks of the family being held captive. Forest is in a coma, and the kids are confused and fearful of the devil possessing them.
Police interrogate the children because they don’t have enough evidence to hold the parents for more than a few days for neglect. The kids are highly traumatized and can’t properly advocate for themselves.
River is the only one who can speak up for her family. She is very conflicted about what to do because she doesn’t want to speak against her parents. River talks to Tristan and he encourages River to talk to her mother in Jail.
River, Meadow, and Rain ask their mother what they should do. Laura tells them that she is the serpent. The parents are possed by the devil.
The children are put into foster and back to public school. They work on rehabilitating their lives. (Including Forest!)
At the trial, River makes a statement and asks for the judge to offer leniency to her mother.
Side Note
This movie was disturbing, but it was a good depiction of how these situations can happen in real life.
Minority Report: Mr. and Mrs. Chen, Andrea, Tristan, Cop, Social worker,
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*** I’ve updated the rating system moving forward. Knives represent # of kills. Wine is over enjoyment (NOT a value judgment) on a 1-5 scale.
I will use the following tags for those who want to know whether to watch or skip: Pour it Up (Would Recommend) or Put A Cork In It (Would Not Recommend).
Overall rating
Number of Kills:
Not that kind of Lifetime movie (0 Knives)
Enjoyment Level: 🍷🍷🍷🍷 (4 glasses of wine.)
What did you think of the movie? Let me know in the comments or on social media @LifetimeUncorked & @patrickmiguel
*Photo Credit: © 2022 Lifetime® | A+E Networks®
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IT WAS RIVER LITTLE BROTHER FORSET THAT WENT OUT THE WINDOW WITH HER NOT THE OTHER BOY