Housebound

Kylie Bucknell is a troubled girl in New Zealand. She gets arrested for trying to break into an ATM. She is sentenced to house arrest and forced to move back in with her mother Miriam. Miriam suspects the house is haunted. Strange things start to happen. Amos sets up her ankle bracelet and is a paranormal enthusiast. Dennis is the psychologist assigned to her case.

There are surprising moments of light humor in this odd little horror. It's not particularly scary. It has a bit of fun like the Cornetto Trilogy. The lead character is not necessarily a nice girl but she still maintains some rooting interest. The story doesn't completely hold together but the last act has plenty of fun.

This modestly produced film hails from New Zealand, and thus evidently there's a quote on the DVD-cover from the most famous Kiwi director in history - Peter Jackson - exclaiming it's a bloody fantastic movie. Cheap marketing trick, but hey, for once it's not a lie! "Housebound" is an unexpected but pleasantly surprising little horror flick that feels fresh and original despite dealing with overly familiar themes.

It's listed as a combo between horror and comedy, and I usually get very skeptical when I read this. "Housebound", however, is effective in both domains because debuting writer/director Gerald Johnstone cleverly keeps both the horror and the comedy in good balance and never goes over the top. Several subtle jokes and situations in Johnstone's script are funny, but he never ridicules the genre or reverts to slapstick. Same goes for the horror, as "Housebound" features a tense atmosphere and various frightening moments - and even some gore - but it never becomes an unnecessarily complex or pretentious supernatural tale.

Troublesome teen Kylie is put under house arrest with an ankle-bracelet for 8 months after an amateurish ATM-heist gone wrong. It certainly is a punishment for her, because she hates the spooky and remote old mansion she grew up in, and she can't get along with her drama-queen of a mother. Mother Myriam testifies on radio shows that her house is haunted, and while imprisoned there, Kylie slows begins to experience she might be right! The cracking ceiling and noises coming from the basement suddenly become very disturbing when Kylie learns more about the house's past.

We've all seen this premise hundreds of times - at least, I have - but somehow "Housebound" remains innovative most of the running time. Whenever it's not innovative, it remains entertaining thanks to the comedy and the gore. It's not entirely flawless, mind you, and a bit too long for my liking, but "Housebound" is unquestionably one of the better horror movies of the 2010s.

What a GREAT film. It's Kiwi to the bone, no Hollywood glitz here just an entertaining film. To make a film like this on shoe string budget is a truly fantastic achievement. Anyone who was involved in putting this together, go ahead and give yourselves a big pat on the back.

With a few exemptions I'm not a huge fan of horror comedies as they are rarely scary nor really that funny. What I like about Housebound is that it is first and foremost a horror film, which also happens to be funny. The humor develops naturally out of the situations and the characters. The gags don't feel shoehorned in and it isn't a parody of the horror genre. And in a genre where characterisation often comes as an afterthought, the characters here feel well rounded and very real.

The performances are fantastic all round. Morgana O'Reilly as Kylie is one tough cookie of a scream queen. After participating in a failed ATM robbery she gets sentenced to eight months house arrest at her mother's rambling country house, which her mother suspects may be haunted. The fact that she is trapped in the house with her ineffectual stepdad and her blabbermouth of a mother, makes Kylie even more cranky than she already was and the fact that something spooky stalks the house at night isn't helping her mood either. In a great cast the stand out is Rima Te Wiata as Kylie's none too bright but well intentioned mother. There will be people complaining about unlikeable characters but who cares when they are as fun and as well drawn as they are here. Nobody strains to give a comedy performance, in best Antipodean tradition the humor is totally deadpan.

The set-up is similar to the forgettable Famke Janssen horror flick 100 Feet but this film does the premise of being under house arrest in a haunted house justice. If the film has one flaw then it's one typical of many a first film: Housebound runs on a little too long and would have made a perfect 90 minute film. It takes a while to get going. But that's a small complaint when the film gets so much right. The film really hits its stride in the last third, when all hell breaks lose and the plot twists and turns. Best horror film of 2014.

And these are only two of the ingredients that will make Housebound at least a cult and hopefully a classic. It's hard enough to make the public laugh, the most difficult thing to achieve in fact. Now imagine that you can never guess if the next minute will crack you up or alarm you. How much fun that is !.

One aspect of Housebound that I particularly enjoy is the fact that the characters are as multi-layered as the story itself. They start with one facet, one role, and naturally reveal more of their humanity all along the way. They can bring as much surprises as the events do. It must have been a pleasure for the actors. Who, by the way, are excellent.

There are no scream queens here. Watch Housebound and you'll find yourself rooting for a brat or the housewife next door, between two guffaws.