Housebound review: A mixed bag, it attempts several different themes which comes off as a little confusing. That being said, Housebound is one of the most original horror films that you will have seen in a long time.
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Cast: Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru
Certificate: 18.
Running Time: 107 minutes.
Synopsis: Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she’s inherited her mother’s over-active imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who’s less than happy about the new living arrangement.
Housebound went down well at last year’s Frightfest, and now almost a year later the film is getting a cinema release, albeit a limited one. The film stars Morgana O’Reilly as brattish Kylie who finds herself back in her family homestead after being caught robbing an ATM machine. Relations with her mother are non-existent and bitter, and it’s a little difficult to find anything about Kylie to like, but somehow you do end up rooting for her.
O’Reilly is great as Kylie, but anyone who is familiar with her Neighbours alter-ego may struggle to fully immerse themselves in the film; her character is a little too close to Naomi Canning for comfort. Kyle is so close to Naomi in parts that you half expect it to be Doctor Karl Kennedy who turns up to attend to a victim of the strange goings one. Those who don’t watch the Australian soap will find it easier to slip into the world of Housebound and will find it much more fun.
Thematically the house-arrest horror seems to be the new popular plot line to use. Earlier this year Keir Gilchrist and Grace Phipps starred in Dark Summer which also used this plot device. It’s an interesting premise to utilise, what do you do when your house is haunted, but you can’t get away?
Those wondering just what type of horror film Housebound is might be a little perplexed to hear it’s a bit of everything. There’s a strong undercurrent of comedy which gets more and more slapstick as the story progresses, but there is still a heavy dose of horror, at least in the first third. You see, Housebound is a film of three completely different parts. It’s kind of like that game you used to play at school where one of you would write a word/sentence on a piece of paper, cover it and hand it to their neighbour who would do the same and eventually you’d end up with a story. Obviously it’s not quite that scattered but it definitely feels a little schizophrenic.
Housebound is a bit of a mixed bag, it attempts several different themes which comes off as a little confusing. That being said, Housebound is one of the most original horror films that you will have seen in a long time.
Housebound is out in selected cinemas now.
