As of late it seems filmmakers are tepid on injecting a bit of comedy into their horror features, but this year’s SXSW brought a recommended breath of fresh air. Coming from New Zealand’s Gerard Johnstone, Housebound follows Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O’Reilly), a 20-year-old rebel that manages to fail at the big details during a heist and is sentenced to house arrest at her mother Miriam’s (Rima Te Wiata) house.
We were fans of it, saying in our review, “Sam Raimi and early Peter Jackson have shown that you can get really silly and still make a horror work; the Jackson influence is apparent, especially when you consider the film was shot in New Zealand. In Housebound, there’s rarely a misstep in the goal of mixing horror and comedy, as one always feels confident they are meant to laugh.” Check out the trailer and poster (featuring our own quote) below for the film also starring Glen-Paul Waru and Cameron Rhodes.
Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there with her mother Miriam — a well-intentioned blabbermouth who’s convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam’s superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small-town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she’s inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who’s not particularly thrilled about her return.
Housebound hits VOD and theaters on October 17th.