Okay, so it’s my first #NewOnNetflix pick of the week since Pelican Dreams, and I feel like I have to redeem myself somewhat. Luckily enough this week it’s a good one!

Housebound has just arrived on UK Netflix and is the New Zealand black comedy that you probably haven’t heard of. If not, here’s the synopsis:

Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there with her mother Miriam – a well-intentioned blabbermouth who’s convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam’s superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small-town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she’s inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who’s less than happy about the new living arrangement.

I actually started watching this one not knowing it was a black comedy, I thought it was straight up horror and had a really hard time getting into it at first. But after ten minutes or so I found myself both laughing and jumping out of my skin at the same time, so you could say they succeeded.

Similar in tone to Sightseers, the Cornetto Trilogy or even People Under The Stairs, this film is a nice mixture of comedy, horror and surprisingly great production. It’s definitely the kind of film you could watch more than once, and I think that with time, this could be a cult hit for sure.

BONUS CONTENT

This week we’ve got bonus content in the form of blockbuster Thor: The Dark World – this is the sequel to 2011’s Thor (which for some reason isn’t on Netflix…) so if you’ve seen the first one you might as well stick this on and have a look at Chris Hemsworth throwing about that big hammer. Or, for the kids we’ve got Disney’s Planes – a sort of spin-off of Cars, which is actually a really good film, okay?

Laura Caldwell

Author: Laura Caldwell

Hi, I'm Laura. I'm 30 years old and have a degree in Journalism with Photo-Imaging at the University of Ulster. I have an undying love for Belfast and all that it has to offer, an undying love for sleeping, Tegan and Sara, trashy tv shows, foreign snack-foods and being irresponsible with money. I also quite like origami, reading, jazz, hip-hop, dubstep, anything acoustic and Food Network TV. I've written for The Big List, Culture NI, Chatterbox and The Echo, as well as writing for BBC Across the Line.

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