Richard takes his significantly younger girlfriend Holly to meet his three teenage children at their large house in the English countryside. It's the birthday of his youngest, Anna. Meanwhile Richard's ex-wife is nowhere to be seen (odd!). The first words spoken are of Rich telling Holly "They're going to love you" on their drive to the house, any self respecting horror fan should interpret that as "They're going to hate you". When they arrive Holly is very quiet, it's a bit hard to take to her character. It's not until she has had a few drinks that she starts to slowly come out of her shell. Richard drives an old VW, maybe he has fallen on hard times, yet his ex and kids live in a very big house, complete with swimming pool. The old house and its antique contents are a joy to see, for me it was the most interesting aspect of the film. The movie - made in conjunction with BBC Film and the BFI - came with a warning of strong language and violence, plus some upsetting scenes. I will add a warning that it also comes with some extreme shaky cam, something that I am not a fan of. Thankfully these scenes are quite limited otherwise I would have ended up getting a headache! The acting is OK though none of the characters are terribly engaging. The film clocks in at around 76 minutes, bit of a slow burn but for a dull Winter's afternoon I found it to be reasonably entertaining. The ending is bleak but sadly it is also abrupt and lacks clarity. There are many bad reviews on here but perhaps they were expecting a by-the-numbers horror whereas this is more of an eerie drama/psychological shocker.
Review of Homebound
