Housebound [2014]

November 25, 2016

Here we go again with another horror-comedy, coming to us from New Zealand, a country with a long history of great movies in this genre. Starting with cult classics like Bad Taste and Braindead, continuing with modern flicks like Black Sheep and Diagnosis: Death, all the way to the latest releases like delightfully funny death metal extravaganza called Deathgasm. An interesting thing about Housebound is that it’s equal parts of horror and comedy. This means that you will be scared shitless until you start laughing. This creates a very engaging atmosphere and gives Housebound a rather serious note, despite its humor. The main story resembles 100 Feet [2008], which is not a fetish porn flick starring Famke Janssen (although I would love to watch something like that), up to a point where supernatural elements start to appear. The acting was phenomenal and with such a good script all of the characters came to life. Funny exchanges and with brutal one-liners kept the atmosphere perky while still leaving enough room for a healthy dose of seriousness.

Kylie is a troubled young girl. Addicted to drugs and alcohol, she was just caught trying to rob an ATM. The judge decides to help her and sentences her to eight months of house arrest. This means that her primary guardian will be her mother and this also means that she will have to go back to the house where she grew up. This wouldn’t be a problem if she didn’t see strange things there as a kid, and her mother kept seeing them…

Housebound is not just a movie about a haunted house and a troubled girl, but it also explores other subjects like maturity and relationships with aging parents. That infamous return home always reminds us of how life is just too fucking short and how things relatively quickly change. Two different generations with two completely different systems of values and basically realities they live in. I always wondered what is it with old people and their tendency to let the time fly by them, not bothering to fix up the house, change or update their way of life. I mean, I know it all boils down somehow to the system of values they have accepted, where you just don’t bother with that because if you start changing one thing then you will feel the responsibility to start changing other things and questioning things and this is something unacceptable in that old school tribal system of values.

Plus the family itself is just a pure classic with overbearing mother, silent father, and problematic daughter. This is just a part of the colorful characters that you will meet if you decide to check out this awesome movie. With an authentic atmosphere and original story, Housebound will quickly become one of those hidden gems that you will be proudly recommending other people to watch.