Housebound

This movie is a LOT of fun. Just an absolute blast of a movie. This is going to be a shorter review than my normal blather, because I don't want to give anything away. This movie has some twists and and turns that have to be experienced. They're not groundbreaking, but I'd just rather anybody interested go in cold. The movie is about Kylie, a drug addict who gets sentenced to 8 months home incarceration for trying to rob an ATM, with her tedious, blabbering mother, her step-father (with whom she has zero relationship) ... and something else. Morgana O'Reilly is wonderful as the sullen, defiant Kylie, whose obnoxiousness and rebellion plays like typical youthful attitude, until it becomes 1) something that pushes everybody away when she needs help, and 2) a source of strength when she needs it. And lots of credit to the supporting cast of Rima Te Wiata as her mom Miriam, and Glen-Paul Waru as Amos, a security contractor whose job is to monitor Kylie and her ankle monitor, who gets sucked into the strange happenings in the house. Their performances are a damned delight. This is described as a horror-comedy, and it is, but don't go in expecting the onslaught of jokes like in Beetlejuice or Shaun Of The Dead. This is more subtle about its humor; think The Frighteners, but even more low-key. Just enough to break tension at the right times. And the script does a wonderful job building up tension too; I don't often get tense from a movie, but this one did a fantastic job of making me feel it. Could I nitpick and find little ticky-tack flaws? Sure. For being a supposed meth-head who's been in and out of rehab multiple times, Kylie looks as clean as a supermodel. And I'd think blowing up an ATM with explosives would get you more than 8 months at home. But screw it, this movie is too fun to get bogged down in it. See this. See this now. Hooptober 2021 movie #10/24