Film review: Housebound

Housebound, written and directed by Gerard Johnstone, is a Kiwi comedy horror film about would-be thief Kylie (Morgana O'Reilly) who is sentenced to nine months of house arrest at her mother's house (Rima Te Wiata).

Kylie's mother claims the house is haunted, claims Kylie doesn't think much of. But when strange things start to happen around the house, Kylie tells Amos (Glen-Paul Waru), the guard in charge of her house arrest, and the two of them start discovering the secrets of the house.

Kylie is an angry young lady and finds her kooky mother annoying and ridiculous, and the permanent scowl across her face is brilliant. O'Reilly is spunky and you can't take your eyes off her. Te Wiata and Waru bring in plenty of laughs as well.

There were definitely a couple of moments where I jumped in my seat, and I watched the film eagerly, wanting to know what was going to happen. Probably more laughs than frights though.

A tad long perhaps, but it was well cast with excellent actors. O'Reilly was definitely a stand out. The "big reveal" (which I won't give away) was a bit overdone in my opinion and there were some costuming issues that reminded me of a high school play, giving the impression the film was a bit budget.

For his feature film directorial debut, Johnstone did a great job and I see Housebound becoming a cult classic. I really enjoyed it.

Our rating 3.5/5