Housebound

2014

Action / Comedy / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

48
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 73% · 43 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.7/10 10 39680 39.7K

superstition haunted house father-in-law basement house arrest mystery

Plot summary

When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to home detention, she's forced to come to terms with her unsociable behaviour, her blabbering mother and a hostile spirit who seems less than happy about the new living arrangement.

Director

Gerard Johnstone Photo
Gerard Johnstone

Top cast

Ian Mune Photo
Ian Mune as Judge
Rima Te Wiata Photo
Rima Te Wiata as Miriam Bucknell
Lila Sharp Photo
Lila Sharp as Young Kylie's Voice
Andrew Dickens Photo
Andrew Dickens as Radio Host
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
814.53 MB
1280*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds 4
1.65 GB
1920*1080
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds 30

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by brockleyavenue 8 / 10

Well done New Zealand!

This movie, has given me a new appreciation of the New Zealand movie industry. What a surprise!... and a worthy one at that. This was hilarious! The director/writers/actors/editors were brilliant. Some of the scenes left you laughing out loud and were so cleverly thought out. It not your usually 'horror' theme, with the usual gore, so if you expect that, then move on. The main character and her mother really make the movie, and as I wrote earlier, this movie opened my eyes up to the New Zealand movie trade. I'm not going to spoil you with what it about, so the best way to watch this movie is to not know much at all, and you will be pleasantly surprised. This movie, has been one I recommend for others to see, as its entertaining, funny, and you won't just get a smirk on your face but a good laugh out loud experience. Well done New Zealand.
Reviewed by Boris_Day 8 / 10

A horror film which also happens to be funny

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.
Read more IMDb reviews

4 Comments

Be the first to leave a comment