Housebound ***½ (2014, Morgana O’Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru) – Movie Review

Morgana O’Reilly stars as the dysfunctional young New Zealand woman Kylie Bucknell, who is ordered by a judge to return to her mother’s house on home detention, in writer-director Gerard Johnstone‘s black comedy horror thriller.

Her punishment is made all the worse because she is forced to live there with her nutty mother Miriam (Rima Te Wiata), who is convinced that the house is haunted.

Johnstone very nearly pulls off the difficult trick of making this both hilarious and scary, doing well if not perfectly in both departments. The film keeps up its comic and gore momentum, with much dynamism and gleeful enthusiasm. And it helps enormously that Bucknell, Te Wiata and Glen-Paul Waru as the bumbling security guard Amos give spot-on comedy turns that never get old.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Movie Review

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