Housebound (2014)

Housebound is the story of Kylie, a drug user who gets busted while trying to rob an ATM with what I assume is her boyfriend.  She's sentenced to eight months of house arrest in her childhood home with her mother and step-father.  There's a problem... the house might be haunted.

I found this movie to be absolutely brilliant due to a lot of factors.  The acting is
excellent... broad and obvious, or subtle and understated exactly where it needs to be.  The mystery surrounding the house was a proper one that proved to have enough twists and turns to keep it interesting and unpredictable.  It had humorous elements that never detracted from the tension.

If I discuss the plot, I will give away too many of the delightful elements that are fun to discover as the movie progresses.  I will say that the last thirty seconds of film has to be some of the most concise writing I've ever seen.  Six characters you will come to care about may have been killed or injured during the course of the film, and the writer reveals their state in those last thirty seconds in the best way possible.  That cannot have been easy to do.  Kudos to writer/director Gerard Johnstone.

I laughed out loud twelve times during this movie... all intended by the script, I'm sure.  I chose not to craft during the movie, but I know that at least two points of action would have caused me to stop and concentrate on the screen.  Despite the fact that this is a ghost story, and old chestnuts should have been all over the place, there was not a single eyeroll.  All the usual cliches were delightfully turned around and subverted.

If you haven't guessed by now, I give this movie a five out of five stars.  People who aren't used to thick Kiwi accents might have a hard time understanding some of the dialogue, but if you turn on the subtitles you'll be set.  It's on Netflix and available as a rental on Amazon Instant Video, but if you're a fan of ghost stories and like to collect them, then you must add this one to your collection.