Apparently I prefer my horror movies to come from Australia. First, there was The Babadook. And now there’s today’s feature. Okay, technically, this movie was made in New Zealand, but as a New Englander who has only left the time zone by one hour, one time in his life, I’m not sure of the difference (though I did look it up and see it’s an island nation off of Australia – but they sound the same, so give a guy a break.)
Today’s feature is the 2014 horror movie, Housebound.
Housebound is the story of a young woman who gets busted trying to rob an ATM. As a punishment, she is sentenced to house arrest for eight months and has to go back and live with her mother and stepfather. In the house she lived in as a child.
A house that might be….Haunted.
I am not a good enough blogger to go into much detail without mentioning things that I think are better off not being known before you watch the movie. Once again I didn’t even watch the trailer before watching this today. I knew the basic premise from the Netflix description.
I will tell you this – I really enjoyed the movie. Thanks again to my brother (@spc73) for the recommendation. Last week I watched a horror movie that was freaky and creepy. This time around I watched a horror movie that had some definitely spooky moments, and I did jump out at least once. But this movie definitely was more light-hearted. It sounds weird when you see what the entire plot is, but there were times when I was smiling and time when I was laughing. And there were definite “no don’t do that!” or “get out of there!” moments of suspense.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
A few things to note:
- This is another movie where I am seeing a first time writer/director. Gerard Johnstone, who was inspired to create this story from an episode of Ghosthunters, did a really nice job of scaring me, tricking me, and giving me characters I genuinely routed for. I look forward to seeing what he does in the future.
- I am definitely not alone in my enjoyment of this movie as it’s scored a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and has been nominated for a bunch of film awards (and won a few too).
One thing that is definite about this movie is that things aren’t always as they seem, and if you go into this not knowing anything about the movie, I think you’ll really be surprised. It definitely takes turns that I wasn’t expecting, which makes this quirky movie all the more enjoyable. If you have the time, have Netflix, and enjoy fun horror – I say go check it out.
I’m glad I did.
14 DOWN. 16 TO GO.
