Summary:
After being arrested and put on house arrest, Kylie must learn how to live with her mother Miriam and her stepfather Graeme in the house she grew up in, which, Miriam is convinced, is haunted.
My Thoughts:
Apparently, New Zealand is a breeding ground for horror comedies (“Dead Alive”, “What We Do in the Shadows”, this film), and I think I’m okay with that. While this movie doesn’t live up to the other two films mentioned, it does have a certain level of charm, and it has a few twists and turns along the way that give the story a little more oomph than your average horror/comedy. I wouldn’t say I thought this film was amazing, but I certainly got a few chuckles out of it, and I jumped a few times, and it left a good enough impression that I’d watch something else from the director if given the chance.
“You cannot punch ectoplasm.”
Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O’Reilly) is arrested and sent home to live with her mother (Rima Te Wiata, “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”) for the duration of her house arrest. While there, she begins to suspect her mother’s belief that the house is haunted might not be as crazy as it seems.
I think the thing I liked most about this film was the writing. There were some genuinely funny laugh-out-loud moments in this film as well as some genuinely spooky moments. Most of the humor comes from the relationships between the characters and some of the absurd characterizations. Kylie is upset that she’s on house arrest and has a tendency to take it out on whoever is close to her. Her altogether abrasive attitude towards anyone who tries to be nice to her results in some absolutely hilarious moments, like when her stepfather Graeme (Ross Harper) tries to have a heart to heart with Kylie and she just shuts him down. One of my other favorite running gags is that the person that checks Kylie’s ankle monitor, Amos (Glen-Paul Waru), slowly starts working himself into Kylie’s life, to the point that they become friends. And then, as soon as Kylie brings up that her mother believes the house might be haunted, Amos suddenly brings up that he’s pretty much an expert in ghosts. The coincidental nature of it all isn’t even addressed, but I found it to be one of the funnier elements of the movie.
As far as acting goes, everyone did a respectable job. I thought Morgana O’Reilly was a pretty solid lead, and I thought Glen-Paul Waru was a pretty decent supporting actor. The people that played Kylie’s parents also did fine.
I think my biggest problem with the film was the overall pacing. There were just a few scenes that tended to drag; scenes where I never really felt tension or the comedy, and as a result I was sort of bored, and left wondering what I was supposed to be feeling. Honestly there were a few scenes where I felt as if story wasn’t being moved along, characters weren’t being developed, and at the same time neither were joke being told or spooky things being set up, and it’s those scenes that I really felt slowed up the pacing of this film. There were probably fifteen minutes of this movie that could’ve been trimmed, and it’s not a particularly long film to begin with.
As far as story goes, this film felt pretty familiar. Without giving away any spoilers, I felt as if, though this film starts off being about supernatural elements, in the end it feels more like Hitchcock’s “Rear Window” (or even “Disturbia”) more than anything else. It has elements of neighbor watching, and it also the protagonist confined to one spot due to something attacked to their leg (in “Rear Window” it’s a cast, in this and “Disturbia” it’s an ankle monitor).
Verdict:
I didn’t feel like I wasted my time watching this film, but at the same time I wasn’t overly impressed. More than anything, I was sort of surprised at how widely acclaimed this film had been (76% on Metascore, 97% on Rotten Tomatoes). I mean sure, this is fine, but it’s nothing spectacular.
There are a few true belly-laugh moments in this movie, and overall that’s what kept my rating at a 3/5. While this film might be a touch too long, and while the plot might feel a little familiar, overall, it’s still an entertaining flick.
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