Rent Housebound (2014)

Old Dark House Party - Housebound review by Count Otto Black

This film is further evidence that, probably thanks to a certain Hobbit with a very precious ring, New Zealand is waking up to the fact that it has a movie industry the products of which might be of interest to people in other countries too. Which is good news for anybody who would like to see more English-language movies that are basically mainstream, yet are not straitjacketed by the Hollywood sausage-machine and are thus capable of being intelligent and original. We've already seen some fantastically imaginative films coming out of New Zealand recently, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if the long-overdue replacements for Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam are Kiwis.

That being said, "Housebound" isn't the best of them by a long shot. It isn't anywhere near as scary, suspenseful, or innovative as "The Babadook", or even remotely as funny as "What We Do In The Shadows". By the way, although the summary on this site doesn't make this clear, it's a comedy. Well, it is some of the time. Its biggest problem is that it's trying to be too many things at once, and they don't quite mesh. For starters, it's got an exceptionally bad case of Birdman Syndrome, by which I mean the promotional artwork prominently features an extraordinary-looking person who turns out to be barely in the movie. And in this case we're literally talking about "blink and you'll miss it". Which is a pity, because the excellent idea that the most clichéd "ghost" imaginable, somebody with a sheet draped over them, is absolutely terrifying in a situation where there are lots of things covered in sheets and suddenly one of them moves, is criminally underused, and not as frightening as it should have been, and would have been if this first-time director hadn't attempted to make several movies at once.

There are a couple of brief bits of gore, but this film wouldn't have come within a chainsaw's length of an 18 certificate if the maladjusted heroine hadn't used the f-word so much. Mostly it's trying to be a black comedy that keeps changing gear in order to be a horror film again for a while, or a whodunnit we don't really engage with or care about because the murder in the backstory is genuinely appalling, therefore it can't be shown to us since that would make the film truly horrific after all. And there are way too many nods to other well-known horror movies, including a hugely important plot twist involving the truth about who and what the sheeted phantom really is that owes so much to a lesser-known film by a very famous horror director that I can't even name the director in case it's a spoiler.

On the other hand, it's lively, inventive, and never boring for a moment, so you'll definitely get your money's worth. It's just not as funny or as scary as it thinks it is because it's trying to be both at the same time. For a master-class in how to do something vaguely like this if you're a first-time director with no money who really is a genius, see Guillermo del Toro's extraordinary debut feature "Kronos". For a truly bonkers no-budget horror comedy which I think may have been a major influence on "Housebound", see the uniquely deranged "Spider Baby".

Horror with a sense of humour - Housebound review by TJ

If Nick Park (Wallace and Gromitt fame) ever made a horror film it'd be a lot like this. It's on the cusp of being scary but can't resist a bit of comedy.

If you liked Tucker and Earl vs Evil you'll enjoy this.

Sophisticated house of horrors - Housebound review by AS

Very funny and extremely hair-raising from start to finish. Clever plot. Brilliant climax. A New Zealand film that far outdoes some of the Hollywood spooky house efforts. Infinitely better, much less juvenile than the 'Scary Movie' series.