Housebound Review (Toronto After Dark) (1 Viewer)

The story revolves around Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O'Reilly), an angst-ridden young woman whose relationship with her mother, Miriam (Rima Te Wiata), is dysfunctional, to say the least. So when a judge sentences Kylie to eight months house arrest at Miriam's home, for her role in a botched ATM robbery, it's a bitter pill to swallow. Better make that "haunted house arrest" though, because Miriam is convinced there's something supernatural lurking within the walls of her residence. It's an opinion Kylie is quick to dismiss — that is, until she herself has an eerie encounter one night.

It's almost impossible to talk more about the plot without spoiling the fun, as much of Housebound's charm derives not only from the bickering mother-daughter duo of O'Reilly and Te Wiata (plus Glen-Paul Waru as Amos, a security guard who also dabbles in paranormal research), but from how it upends some of the genre conventions. Johnstone takes pleasure in deconstructing viewers' expectations about what a haunted house pic should be. And the result is an atmospheric and imaginative roller coaster ride — one that twists and turns its way to a hilariously crowd-pleasing grand finale.

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