"Bound by Blackmail" had a strong central character in Nicole, who is adjusting to life without her daughter Ari, who has just left home for college. But when Nicole signs on for a seminar at a self-help organization named Initiative, she soon discovers that it is a dangerous cult.
A problem with the film was the clumsy plotting that saw Nicole returning time and again to the Initiative headquarters. She was placing her life and that of others in danger by her reckless "initiative" to discover evidence to bring down the group and its two weird leaders, the brothers Ken and Justin.
The brothers were especially creepy, and much of the action hinges on which one of the two has turned Initiative into a kind of prison for the participants, who are being recorded and blackmailed into remaining in the group and scrubbing floors. Nicole's friend Diana, who introduced her to Initiative in the first place, is yet another strange figure, who is appears utterly naive about the workings of the organization. Or, is she?
There was an over-the-top approach to various scenes that produced an unintended comical effect. The struggle in the bathroom fogged up by the hot water from the shower was nearly farcical. And the fight of the two brothers took on epic proportions of the struggle of Cain and Abel.
While there was good entertainment value in this film, the credibility was stretched beyond the pale in (a) the crooked cop who was a true believer and (b) in the strong-willed women clients who were cowed into submission by a couple of oily con-artists.
A problem with the film was the clumsy plotting that saw Nicole returning time and again to the Initiative headquarters. She was placing her life and that of others in danger by her reckless "initiative" to discover evidence to bring down the group and its two weird leaders, the brothers Ken and Justin.
The brothers were especially creepy, and much of the action hinges on which one of the two has turned Initiative into a kind of prison for the participants, who are being recorded and blackmailed into remaining in the group and scrubbing floors. Nicole's friend Diana, who introduced her to Initiative in the first place, is yet another strange figure, who is appears utterly naive about the workings of the organization. Or, is she?
There was an over-the-top approach to various scenes that produced an unintended comical effect. The struggle in the bathroom fogged up by the hot water from the shower was nearly farcical. And the fight of the two brothers took on epic proportions of the struggle of Cain and Abel.
While there was good entertainment value in this film, the credibility was stretched beyond the pale in (a) the crooked cop who was a true believer and (b) in the strong-willed women clients who were cowed into submission by a couple of oily con-artists.