And John is in debt to a knuckle-dragging local thug who is clearly too intimidating to be drugged and chained to a bed. Evelyn is a divorcee, and is happy to be with John because he saved her from another dysfunctional relationship. While this is happening, John stares at Vicki. The meaning of this gesture is clear: I have you where I want you, and I enjoy dominating you.īut soon after this scene, Young asks viewers to start seeing the Whites as conflicted screw-ups. Young then goes for broke and has Evelyn lustily fellate John right after they chain Vicki down. This is Horror Movie 101: the friendly couple you meet in the middle of the night is only as proportionately nasty as they are initially nice-seeming. But Vicki never makes it to her appointment because she's predictably drugged, and then chained to a bed. It's almost as if Young were working off of a check list of slasher film cliches: Evelyn seduces/disarms Vicki by offering her everything from a lift to booze before Vicki toddles off to a party.

This is during the part of the film where we hold our breaths and wait for our generic expectations to be confirmed and John and Evelyn reveal themselves to be unfathomably cruel. At first, Evelyn and John seem normal enough.

Hounds of love movie review