Fantastic Fest ’14 Review: HOUSEBOUND

I truly love when a horror feature from a new voice comes along and drops my jaw.  It happened years ago with Murder Party, then more recently with Father’s Day, and now there’s Housebound.  Gerard Johnstone’s feature writing and directing debut looks from the trailer to be a descendant of Peter Jackson.  Yes, primarily because both are kiwis from New Zealand.  On the surface it seems to be a supernatural spook-comedy like The Frighteners.  I like Frighteners, and I adore Jackson, but I was so pleased to discover that it wasn’t like anything I pictured.

Starting off with a great, botched ATM heist, we see how our heroine Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly) ends up with an ankle bracelet on house arrest.  She’s now living with her estranged, kooky mother Miriam (Rima Te Wiata) and stepdad.  Kylie’s rather unhappy in her new living situation, and becomes stir crazy.  Not helping matters is that Miriam is convinced that their house has long been haunted.  Kylie thinks she’s crazy until she too begins to suspect that there’s something in the house, and with the help of a paranormal obsessed security guard Amos (Glen-Paul Waru)  they delve deep into the history of the house and the secrets it holds.

So many great surprises!  Housebound does have some spooky, jump-inducing moments, but the movie is more of a mystery than a straight horror flick.  Housebound is also genuinely, consistently funny.  Johnstone being able to direct his script the way he’s heard it in his head, and with a cast so strong, nearly every joke hits it’s mark.  The real hero of the film is the tone that is so perfectly balanced between horror, comedy, and drama without feeling to heavy on one specific thing.  He’s got the look and feel of a horror film down solid, taking cues from Peter Jackson’s work and so many others without feeling like he’s copying directly or painting-by-numbers.  There are enough twists and turns in the story that caught me off guard and had me reflecting on how clever of a bend the movie has.  It’s never quite what you expect it to be, and it kept me on my toes for the entire run time.

This cast is so perfect.  Morgana O’Reilly gives Kylie just the right amount of bitchy angst that she becomes appealing.  Not only is she gorgeous and mesmerizing, but she’s sassy and sarcastic in all the right ways.  For contrast to exasperate her Rima Te Wiata plays Miriam like the overbearing mother we’ve all met before, so strange and able to have a conversation where she does all the actual talking.  Glen-Paul Waru’s Amos is the unexpected turn of a character who could be an annoying pest who in actuality is helpful and lovable.  In addition, all the supporting characters like Kylie’s therapist, stepdad, and next door neighbor are wonderfully cast.

It’s tough to get into why so much of the film works without giving away a number of the secrets that make it truly special, but I hope I’ve sold you on the strength of the picture.  It’s very, VERY rare to walk away from a picture and not having a single problem with it, but I seriously didn’t.  It’s a tonal masterpiece.  There’s a tag at the end that I think could have been easily left off, but it didn’t tarnish anything.  I can’t wait for Gerard Johnstone to get cracking on something new, and in the meantime I’ve got a new classic to add to my yearly rotation.  Housebound, indeed.