3 out of 5

Directed by: Gerard Johnstone

If there happens to be a resurgence of movies like ‘Housebound’ – which follows the grand, genre-mashing wonderment of classics ‘Goonies’ and ‘Gremlins’ – I will be an incredibly happy flick-watcher.  But this is also where the failure of a rating system becomes apparent: I can watch the recent ‘Mockingbird’ and acknowledge that, although it’s ridiculously limited and derivative, within its scope, I felt it accomplished what it intended… and thus give it a three star rating.  ‘Housebound,’ which is, for all intents and purposes, an all-around smarter and better movie, in having a winder canvas on which to paint, has more opportunity to stumble.  So it does misfire here and there.  It starts slow and only scrapes away at its great ideas instead of feeling like a more engaging series of reveals.  Thankfully, these pacing / setup stall are incredibly forgivable due to the spot-on acting, the humorous and intelligent writing, and the general burble of zeal that the film presents, writer / director Johnstone definitely eager to give us a good ol’ haunted house scare.  And that’s what the movie boils down to: Kylie (Morgana O’Reilly) has messed up one too many times and lands herself under house arrest, back home with her chatty, overbearing mum Miriam (Rima Te Wiata).  While we all recognize the tell-tale fussy mom shorthand, part of the nuance of Johnstone’s script (and his actors’ representations of it) is to keep things fairly on the level: Kylie is a pill and Miriam takes any opportunity to chatter but we see the humanity in both.  Within moments, we understand how things may have gotten to here, but we don’t explicitly blame either character for it.  Mom lets slip the house is haunted; Kylie rolls her eyes but then feels the same vibe.  When her parole officer, Amos (Glen-Paul Waru) comes out to investigate, he immediately jumps into the ghost hunt with one of the flick’s several fun twist-turns of expectations.  But we spend about an hour to get to this point, as well as setting up several potential explanations that are necessary and pay off, but there’s a lacking tension that makes it feel a bit like leg work.  Part of this is the production design / cinematography.  The ebert review made note of the film’s particular look and labyrinthine design of the house, but I felt the opposite.  Because this is an NZ flick, and because we have an old house and a notable mother character, I couldn’t help but think of Dead Alive (right away, even, with an opening overhead driving sequence… which may or may not have been a reference?), and how particular and alive Jackson’s early movies looked.  In comparison, there are several sets that have the opportunity to feel alive in Housebound, and while care was taken to make them looked lived in, the standard green color palette and chosen approach just gave everything a too-familiar look.

But as mentioned, a lot of these concerns slink to the background thanks, at first, to the characters, and then once the plot is in motion, that Goonies-esque sense of adventure.  So put my criticisms on the backburner; ‘Housebound’ is a super-fun debut from our writer/director, and thanks to its positive reception, here’s hoping we’ll see more movies that are willing to shake things up a bit – tossing in some impressive practical effects! – without sacrificing character and story.