Housebound (2014)

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.

Fmovies: 'Housebound' is a very well crafted movie, mostly because it perfectly balances suspense/horror with comedic tones that laugh in the face of classic horror moments. But even with all those great comedy bits, there are quite a few creepy moments in the movie that gets your heart pounding. The story on the other hand is quite original, I won't give too much away, but it plays out like a ghost story with the main character trapped inside the house, because of a house arrest warrant. The movie is full of surprises and comical elements that keeps the somewhat darker story light at heart. Having the main character on house arrest is a nice touch that forces her to stay inside the house even though there is something sinister going on inside those walls. 'Housebound' plays out with some typical horror elements, but the main character refuses to follow suit and every time something 'unusual' happens, she tackles those situations more level headed than most horror movie characters, which creates some great humor. As I said above, I loved how the movie easily transitioned between being quite comical to some very solid scares, it also has a very strong creep factor as well! I was not expecting a whole lot going into this movie so it turned out to be quite a surprise, even though the movie certainly would have been better had it trimmed it's runtime down! And as for a warning, if you for some odd reason you struggle through the first 1/2 of the movie, just know that the 3rd act is where all the excitement and mayhem lives! This movie is along the likes of Tucker & Dale vs Evil, and although it is definitely a darker movie, it features a lot more (and welcomed) surprises!

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I went into this movie with high expectations. This movie has some of the best reviews I have seen.

I was surprised when the movie outshone my expectations. It was great, it was funny, incredibly funny. It had a few scares, a few jumps here and there. It had a plot that twisted a turned a little.

The acting and character development is what really made it an impressive piece of work. The mother really is great.

This really is a great movie. One of the best New Zealand movies I've seen. One of the best horror movies from the last ten years I've seen.

Highly recommended

Housebound fmovies. After the endless, mind numbing, clichéd, regurgitated rubbish one has to sift through these days, just hoping to find something truly enjoyable and a bit original; stumbling across this great little gem returns my faith a bit. It's great to be reminded that fresh and inspired ways of telling a story ARE still out there! It may be harder to find them now, but when you do, it's like a breath of fresh air to a movie lover like myself.

There are only two movies to have done this for me very recently, "NO ONE LIVES" and now, HOUSEBOUND. Although two very different movies, it's the fresh and entertaining take on the genre that really stands out. It proves once more that you don't need famous actors, big directors or massive budgets;just talented vision and good story telling.

For what it was trying to achieve within the genre, HOUSEBOUND was a perfect film for me. I laughed, I cringed, I was intrigued,I cared about what happened to all the relevant characters and the production quality was good. The Kiwi's don't do it often,but when when they do, they do it well. I won't say anything more about it, just watch it and see for yourself.

I hope to see more from this film maker in the future!

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.

At first I was really skeptical about this movie due to the "comedy" genre. Usually I'm not much of a horror/comedy fan (being a big fan of "pure" horror movies). I gave this movie a try due to the positive ratings and I was not disappointed. And for anyone that is wondering... it definitely has horror elements.

The mysterious story was really great and the acting was on point. None of the characters were annoying (I find a lot of character in horror/comedy movies rather annoying). I was pleasantly surprised that the comedy was more of a dark comedy rather than toilet comedy, but I really didn't know what to expect.