This film opens to the sound of screaming and the sight of a young woman undergoing a ritual. We then cut to a family from the north of Italy driving south; they are Francesco, his fiancée Emma and her daughter from a previous relationship, Sofia. They are heading to visit his mother who lives in a large house in the countryside. It soon becomes clear that things are more traditional there; unmarried couples don't sleep together; prayers are said before meals and old folklore is still believed. It isn't long before Emma starts thinking something odd is going on; at first she is told it is just an old slightly creaky house but then unpleasant things start happening to Sofia... is there a natural explanation or is Francesco's mother right when she says Sofia is the victim of an evil curse?

I thought this was a decent enough horror film. The central premise may not have been the most original but it was effective. The early part of the film nicely set up the creepy atmosphere and the scares increased once Sofia started acting strangely. While there were one or two jump scares they weren't overused. The makers created an impressive atmosphere although some shots were a little too dark for my liking as it was hard to see what was going on. The small cast did a solid job. I liked the use of folklore; it makes things feel more real even if it isn't part of one's own culture of beliefs. Overall this may not be a must see but it passes ninety minutes fairly well if you are a horror fan who prizes atmosphere over gore.

These comments are based on watching the film in Italian with English subtitles.

I'm a bit of a sucker for low budget horror movies ... if they are done and played well. I might have given this a point or two more than some may feel this deserves. Yes we have cliches and yes this is quite predictable. Still it is a horror movie that works (all the bad character choices included) ... very well made and acted.

Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride. Effects are decent and story is ok too. It will not reinvent the wheel, it will also probably not make your top 10 list, but that does not make this a bad movie. Of course it may not be your taste ... there is no accounting for that.

I must admit that I was definitely expecting a lot more from "Il Legame" (aka "The Binding") when I sat down to watch it. Especially because the movie's synopsis sold the movie rather well.

First of all, the movie is slow paced, very slow paced. And I must admit that I actually drifted off two or three times along the monotonous paced movie. The storyline was just way too generic to make it an interesting movie. There was nothing here that haven't been seen or done better in previous older movies. Which is kind of astonishing, taking into consideration that the movie had no less than 3 writers working on it.

Visually, "Il Legame" was good, but its atmosphere and special effects could only do so much to lift up the lack of a proper storyline and plot.

The acting in the movie was actually good from just about everyone included on the cast list. And this being an Italian movie, then there wasn't a single familiar face on the cast list for me.

For a horror movie then "Il Legame" just didn't cut it. It was way too bland and monotonous, which made for a less than mediocre movie for sure. My rating of "Il Legame" lands on a mere three out of ten stars.