Review by Nia Edwards-Behi
Kylie Bucknall (Morgana O’Reilly) is not having a good time. Arrested following a botched smash-and-grab, the surly young woman is sentenced to a lengthy period of house arrest, forcing her to return to her family home with her over-bearing but well-meaning mother, Miriam (Rima Te Wiata) and quiet step-dad Graeme (Ross Harper). Kylie butts heads with her family from the get-go, and her bad temper is exacerbated by her mother’s insistence that the house is haunted. When inexplicable events in the house start getting weirder, Kylie is forced to consider a supernatural explanation, and with the help of one of her arrest enforcement officers, Amos (Glen-Paul Waru), a paranormal enthusiast, she seeks out the truth about her family home.
Housebound is an incredible hybrid of genres, which somehow balances all its disparate elements, resulting in a hugely enjoyable film. While at its broadest, Housebound is a horror-comedy of the finest calibre, it also neatly navigates elements of a conspiracy thriller and a family drama, without ever seeming over-ambitious. Housebound manages that rare feat of being both genuinely creepy and genuinely funny. It’s one of the biggest clichés in the book to compare any horror-comedy from New Zealand to the early output of one Sir Peter Jackson, but there are moments in Housebound where the comparison is entirely appropriate. So, scares, gore, belly-laughs, dark chuckles and a genuinely affecting central story are all wrapped up in a very well-put together package.
What really made Housebound work for me, though, was Kylie Bucknall. She is an immensely surly and frustrating character, but thanks to a wonderful script and a superb performance, you really grow to care about her. An early ‘save the cat’ moment, coupled with the impressive subtlety of O’Reilly’s performance, ensures that Kylie is never so bad-tempered that we are completely distant from her. Instead, she is a sympathetic and troubled young woman, and it’s a joy to see such a character handled with nuance and lightness. This sense of character is effectively sustained throughout the film, particularly as Kylie finds herself getting closer and closer to unravelling just what the bloody hell is going on in her house. The deftness with which such character dynamics are handled is evident when, quite late in the film, there’s one of only a few out-right explicitly emotional moments, and it really smacks you quite hard. That moment really stood out to me as evidence of the skill with which Housebound has been made.
But it’s not really the family drama that makes up the bulk of Housebound, though it might be what makes the film stand out. The eerie goings on in the house are portrayed very effectively, both in terms of a heavy atmosphere and indeed a few excellent jump-out-of-your seat moments. So many of these moments are coupled with or followed by great humour, providing scenes of well-placed post-scare decompression. Much of the film’s humour is derived from Kylie being petulant, but there’s also a lot of fun to be had with Amos, the would-be paranormal investigator, and Miriam, the motor-mouthed mum who is never quite as annoying as Kylie seems to perceive her.
The film’s relatively lengthy run-time and its profusion of twists and turns might result in it out-staying its welcome for some, particularly if you’ve not managed to get on side with Kylie. However, for me it was well-paced and engaging throughout. I’m not normally a fan of horror-comedy at all, but Housebound certainly surpassed all my expectations of the genre. Housebound is perhaps best approached with little knowledge of the plot’s details, and even having been broadly aware of the plot, it consistently surprised me and took the story in unexpected directions.
I truly hope Housebound gets a big release after its current festival run, as it’s an impressively accessible film that has potential to entertain a broad audience, given the chance to reach it. However, it doesn’t skimp on being a bloody good film neither conforming to nor completely eschewing genre conventions.