[HorrorScience] Housebound (2014)

Reading time: 9 minutes

Year

2014

Director

Gerard Johnstone

Script

Gerard Johnstone

Distribution

Morgana O'Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru, Cameron Rhodes, Ross Harper, Ryan Lampp, Mick Innes, Bruce Hopkins, Millen Baird, Wallace Chapman, Nikki Si'ulepa, Ian Mune

Duration

106 minutes

The movies ofhaunted housesThey are a classic of horror cinema and, although it is true that it is not my favorite subgenre, I usually look for one from time to time to see what new ideas they come up with and how to try to innovate in something so hackneyed.

There are few films on this theme that I have commented on in this section, although it is true that there is quite a variety, since we have everything from classics likeThe Evil Dead(1981) and its sequelEvil Dead 2(1987) to comedies likeHouse of the Long Shadows(1983), simple but intriguing films likeBesokarna – The Visitors(1988) and films with interesting premises that end up disappointing, such asThe Deep House(2023).

The one chosen for this occasion isHousebound (2014) a low-budget New Zealand film that was recommended to me a long time ago and that apparently had a pretty good reception from critics.

The premise ofHouseboundIt's very simple, wellThe protagonist is under house arrest and cannot leave the house,which apparently is haunted. I love seeing how something so necessary in this subgenre (preventing the protagonist from leaving the house) has been solved in a tremendously simple way and I think that's what made me decide to watch it.

The film begins with two second-rate thieves trying to break into an ATM without much luck. After being caught, the protagonist is placed under house arrest in her mother's house, the home she left when she was young due to the bad relationship between the two.

The house itself is isolated in the middle of a forest, with beautiful views and few neighbors, but obviously this is not how Kylie (the protagonist) perceives it, because if she goes just a few steps outside the house, her trap will notify the police who will send an agent as soon as possible, so that more than her mother's house, it is her prison.

After a terrible coexistence with her mother and stepfather, Kylie discovers by chance thathis mother thinks the house is haunted, something he only uses to make fun of her. Against all odds, the police officer in charge of keeping Kylie from running away from home believes her mother and seems to be an expert on the subject and tries to communicate with the spirit.

The strange eventsthey start happening at night, when Kylie starts hearing noises from the basement of the house and experiences some “strange” situations that would justify running out of the house.

However, after a talk with his stepfather,Kylie discovers the secret of the house, and that is where the plot revolves around a possible murderer who may be lurking around, which motivates Kylie to call the police officer who is watching her to investigate on her own. Are there ghosts in the house? Is there a murderer? Both? If you want to know a little more about the plot ofHousebound, you will have to watch the movie or continue reading, although I already warn you thatthere are spoilers below.

once seenHousebound, I have again the feeling I had withThe Deep House: The premise was good and original, but it has not been exploited in its favor and has preferred to fall into all possible clichés.

We have the protagonist locked up in a house where supernatural things happen, but shortly after she discovers that the events that happened in the house respond to a hidden murder there. Here the idea of the supernatural is abandoned and we are led to the idea that there is a real murderer, who could be the neighbor (a typical neighbor who lives in isolation and looks intimidating). During the course of this investigation, the protagonist leaves home on several occasions, sogoodbye to the idea of being locked up at home and goodbye to the idea of ghosts.

We have a police officer who takes the girl home, and is in charge of ensuring that she doesn't leave home, who (obviously) turns out to be an expert in ghosts and knows how to act to detect them, but at the same time he is incapable of being a good police officer (he makes noise, he trips, he is not able to overcome anyone in hand-to-hand combat...) and, of course, not onlydoes not fulfill its main mission,If not, he helps the girl leave the house. The rest of the police are (as it could not be otherwise) absolutely idiots and hate each other easily.

When looking for a murderer, they tell us that there was a strange boy who was a genius with machines but had problems (he couldn't go outside and lived in a hole). But then the idea of the dangerous boy (now man) is abandoned, to add another murderer, who will be a classic Michael Myers at the same time.being defeated several times and appearing as if nothing happened.

the moviedoes not advance 20 minutes without discarding the previous idea,which wouldn't be so bad if it kept you interested, but in my case it has become extremely tedious, I have even stopped it on a couple of occasions, even though it was at the end, out of pure tedium.

At one point, my head started thinking about how I would have liked it to be.Housebound, (something that is not usually a good sign) and I have remembered that in the first scenes, the protagonist gets her mother mad and she makes an empty threat like “you are going to learn by hook or by crook”, and that is when supernatural things start to happen. This leads me to think, what if the ending of the movie had been different? What if it had been an extremely elaborate prank by the mother, the police and the neighbors to torment the protagonist and get her to stop behaving like an idiot? Honestly, I would think it would be a better ending (and it would justify the behavior of the police officers and the constant changes of direction of the plot).

No quiero decir que todo me haya desagradado. Es una película de bajo presupuesto (menos de medio millón de dólares) y está bastante bien a nivel visual. La casa tiene un aspecto viejo e intimidante, los efectos especiales prácticos, aunque escasos, son suficientemente interesantes y el humor (a veces involuntario) tiene algún que otro momento que te puede sacar una sonrisa (aunquesi pretendían hacer una comedia, se quedaron muy cortos). También destaco que tiene algunas escenas de suspense bien llevadas (cuando Kylie escucha ruidos de noche y va a ver qué pasa).

Esta fue la primera película del director, queseguramente hizo todo lo que pudo con el presupuesto que teníay, al parecer, tampoco se la tomó muy en serio (la descripción de la misma en su página web era “una película con un gran concepto pero con un presupuesto muy pequeño”)

En cuanto a actores, destaco a Rima Te Wiata (la madre de la protagonista) no solo por hacerlo mejor que el resto, sino porque creo que algunos de sus diálogos son divertidos yes el personaje más creíble. Otra cosa que me gusta mucho de la película es el cartel (o carátula), tan sencillo como intimidante.

Me decidí a verHouseboundporque escuché que valía la pena, que era original y con cierto humor negro y, como podéis ver, para mí no ha funcionado en absoluto. Sin embargo, eso no significa que el hecho de que yo no haya conectado con ella, no significa que a vosotros os vaya a pasar lo mismo, así que si os ha llamado la atención lo leído aquí, recomiendo que le echéis un vistazo.

Curiosidades deHousebound:

En Febrero de 2015 se planteó la idea de hacer un remake norteamericano de esta película
A George Johnstone, (director y guionista), se le ocurrió la idea de hacer la película tras ver un episodio del programa de televisiónGhosthunters.
Tras esta película Johnstone dirigióM3GAN (2022) yM3GAN 2.0(2025)
Rita Te Wiata llevaba 15 años sin hacer ninguna película de cine cuando la llamaron para este largometraje.
Al parecer la dirección de la ubicación de la casa según la película no es exacta, pues te dicen que está en el norte de Auckland, pero el código postal que hay en los libros es de una zona al sur.
Houseboundha recibido mayormente críticas positivas y ha ganado unos cuantos premios entre los que se encuentran “Mejor película” (por parte de Dead by Dawn y el Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival), “Mejor actriz secundaria” a Rita Te Wiata (por parte de Fright Meter Awards), “mejor diseño de poster” (New Zealand Film & Television Awards), “premio de la audiencia” (Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival) y tres premios por parte de Toronto After Dark Film Festival (mejor película de horror, mejor comedia y mejor casting).