Popular reviews

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  Review by Nakul ★★★½

  Gerard Johnstone's debut Housebound is a confident debut feature, and a fun horror-comedy that actually works on both counts. Not a full on parody of the genre, it's maliciously dark & tense when it needs to be. It takes time to settle in, but once it does, it’s reliably ridiculous and entertaining with some striking production design and solid performances.

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  Review by Naughty aka Juli Norwood ★★★★

  2014 has been a disappointing year for horror films! Then I came across this underrated little gem! Boy oh boy did my eyes light up when I realized I had struck pay dirt!

  I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this is Gerard Johnstone's directorial debut! With a great first time outing like this it tickles me to think "We haven't seen nothing yet" from this promising young director!

  It pulls off a fantastic balancing act insuring the horror won't be undermined by its deadpan humor! Throw in some nail biting tension for luck and you have one hell of a viewing experience!

  I love the fierce little minx Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O'Reilly)! She's tough as nails…

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  Review by DirkH ★★★★ 5

  It shouldn't be surprising anymore that some of the best horror films come from Down Under these days. Housebound is no exception.

  Crafted with a brilliantly off beat sense of humour, Housebound is a horror film that is not set out to scare you, but to entertain. It does so by unashamedly relishing in horror conventions, perfectly balancing scares with laughter and gore.

  All this works so well because Housebound understands two things really well. You need a good story and you need great characters. And boy does it ever. The mother and daughter are characters that slowly grow on you. Not very relatable at first, but as the story progressed so did my appreciation of them. It even manages…

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  Review by Vishwas Verma ★★★★ 1

  Glen-Paul Waru was so hilarious... Morgana O'Reilly superb.
  Surprisingly brilliant horror-comedy.

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  Review by Mister Cap ★★★½ 17

  ENGLISH below
  
  Was hat der Regisseur von M3gan, Gerard Johnstone, eigentlich vor seinem Puppenhit gemacht? Richtig! Gute Filme. 

  Kylie wird unter Hausarrest gestellt, weil sie versucht hat, in einen Geldautomaten einzubrechen. Sie muss ihre Strafe im Haus ihrer Mutter absitzen, was ihr überhaupt nicht gefällt. Eines Tages hört Kylie, wie ihre Mutter in einer Talkshow im Radio sagt, dass sie glaubt, dass es im Haus spukt. Sie tut dies als eine weitere Spinnerei ihrer Mutter ab, bis sie selbst zu der festen Überzeugung gelangt, dass sie nicht allein mit ihrer Mutter im Haus ist. Nur gibt es kein Entkommen, denn sie ist wegen ihrer Strafe an das Haus gebunden. (Ganz schlaue Leute werden jetzt erkennen, woher der Film seinen Namen…

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  Review by Tony the Terror 666 ★★★★½ 2

  I’ve been meaning to rewatch this one since seeing M3GAN and I’m slapping an extra half star on it just for being exactly what I needed last night.

  I used to have sleep paralysis all the time, but it’s pretty rare for me these days. For whatever reason, I suddenly had multiple episodes all weekend that left just feeling really creeped out and a little bit tweaked out and this was exactly the sort of lighthearted but definitely still horror movie to help my state of mind.

  The whole cast is good, but Rima Te Wiata is a total trip as the oblivious mom. The scene where she keeps the suspected villain in the room by regaling him with one of her many long winded stories is great!

  The gore is also really fun in that special way that horror from down under tends to do so well. There’s even a skull stabbing and a head explosion that could rival any Scanners movie!

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  Review by Graham ★★★★ 9

  This edition of Kiwi Ghostbusters reminded me of a time staying with family in Christchurch and thinking that all New Zealand folks are born comedians, and slightly psychotic.

  Kylie is running wild, and to punish her the judge decides to put her under house arrest with her Mum, who Kylie does not care for so much. While there, the haunted walls of the house begin to come alive, but fortunately Kylie's parole officer just happens to be a budding paranormal investigator. What could possibly go wrong...?

  This is properly funny or as the locals might say, "Sweet as, bro!"

  ---
  HorrorX52 2022 - 46. Made in New Zealand

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  Review by Esteban Gonzalez ★★★★ 4

  “Are you familiar with the term dissociative identity disorder?”

  After having watched the hilarious New Zealand mockumentry, What We Do in the Shadows, I decided to follow it up with another Kiwi film written and directed by first time director Gerard Johnstone. Housebound is yet another brilliantly crafted film that manages to blend the horror and comedy genres together in such a way that the film excels at both things. Usually when you have a film like this, it is either more concerned in delivering on the comedy or on the horror, but very few times does it actually manage to do so on both ends. Housebound is a parody of horror films while at the same time maintaining a…

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  Review by Lynn Betts ★★★★½ 11

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  A HUNDRED UNSEEN HORRORS #46

  Boy I wish I had seen this on the big screen with surround sound. All of the little noises, creaks and cracks at every corner would have been so much creepier amplified. The film uses its sounds and scores so effectively.

  The unhinged and offbeat daughter and mother relationship is perfect. I also like that there's a proper mystery and crime thriller alongside the ghost story, and not one that is solely solved by Googling it. The human terror elements on top of the supernatural really elevate it.

  Top-notch haunted house flick. Every jump scare works. As many twists and turns as this year's BARBARIAN, and maybe some plot points in common, but in many ways I liked this more.

  And that's one hell of an ending.

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  Review by Helen ★★★★ 1

  A clever and unique twist on the haunted house trope. I really enjoy this one - the comedy feels natural and the atmosphere and tone are spot on. 

  Morgana O'Reilly is fantastic, I wish we had more films with her as the lead.

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  Review by Joe Lynch ★★★

  Thought it was a pretty effective, low-key thriller with some great bursts of style, humor and horror when I first saw it at FantasticFest almost 10 years ago and feel the same way now. 

  
  Screened as part of JoeBob Briggs’ The Last Drive-In on Shudder.

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  Review by Slig001 ★★★½

  Very entertaining horror comedy from New Zealand! Not perfect by any means, but it uses its central plot ideas well and keeps you guessing for the duration. The plot basically focuses on a young tearaway who, as punishment for trying to break into an ATM, has to go and live with her mother under house arrest; but begins to suspect some strange things may be going on in the house! The lead character (nicely brought to life by Morgana O'Reilly) makes for an interesting lead. The merging between horror and comedy is not seemless, however, and honestly the goofy slapstick moments do get in the way of what is a well constructed and interesting mystery story. Nearly all of the…