Housebound (2014) – movie review

Housebound (2014)

Written & Directed by Gerard Johnstone

Starring
Morgana O’Reilly
Rima Te Wiata
Glen-Paul Waru

 

A tough young couple get caught robbing an ATM machine. The woman, Kylie, gets sentenced to house arrest. It is clear that she has a strained relationship with her mother, thinking she’s kinda’ loopy because she claims their home is haunted. The first ten minutes of the film are ultimately serious so I was surprised to discover that the film evolves into a black comedy. It’s dry humor, like British humor, (the film is actually from New Zealand), but it is damn funny stuff. Kylie finally realizes her mum is telling the truth about the strange occurrences in the home. The film gets absolutely zany when her probation/security officer gets involved as a ghost hunter and they unravel a mystery that entails several events in the neighborhood. You warm up to Kylie, her personality and her mum, and cheer when they start working together against the dark secret of their home.

If you like Shawn of the Dead, Black Sheep, and Reanimator, you’ll probably like this. It’s less paranormal, not as gory, and more like a horror thriller, but it’s enjoyable and I found myself laughing out loud several times during the film. If you like horror and comedy together, give it a watch. See it before they remake the American version. It’s currently on Netflix Streaming.

Don’t pay any attention to the low ‘star’ rating on Netflix, this is a zany, hilarious, comedy-horror; just give it a little time to get rolling.

I give it 4.0 gnarly twisted thrillers out of 5 on the fall on my bum laugh scale!

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parlor of horror – horror movie reviews