Good concept, poorly executed.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

This is a great little movie, but you have to accept it for what it is: it's quirky, it's British comedy, and it's also a murder mystery with a smattering of paranormal worked in.If you go into it expecting either a traditional horror film or a traditional comedy, you won't like it. Just sit back, open your mind, and let it pleasantly surprise you. (Yes, it's a little campy here and there, but that's part of the fun)

It's inconceivable to me how anyone could give this movie higher than a 1 star rating. It's terrible. An awful muddled mess of juvenile gross out humor and stupid plotting. I bought this movie based on all the glowing 4 and 5 star reviews it got here and on netflix, boy was i ever ripped off. I should have known better. When the reviews on the box cover state, "You have a new favorite haunted house movie!" that's a pretty colossal claim, such a movie would have to outbest classics like Poltergeist and The Haunting by huge, unfathomable amounts. So I should have known better. NOt only was it NOT a good haunted house movie, it isn't even really about a haunted house. What a goofy plot. Some stupid stoner doofus living inside a secret room for 20 -30 years, yeah right, and nobody notices? That's so lame and ridiculous. And on top of that, there's some silly thing about a talking Teddy Ruxpin doll that makes no sense, because you cannot hear one thing or make out what it is saying at all, it's too distorted and in some other language or something. And then the detective listens to the Teddy Ruxpin tape, and something supposedly is revealed by it, but who knows what since you can't hear the tape and it's all muddled and impossible to understand. And the main character is a nasty despicable piece of white trash dung. A real scumbag. It was just plain horrible, awful, a piece of cinematic garbage.

We watched this with two of our teenage kids on a Saturday afternoon. It was WAY better and way different than I thought it would be. So much so that I actually made an account with IMDb just so I could write a review for this film. We watch a lot of 'scary' movies because it's the one genre we can all agree on, so we've gotten pretty used to the typical plot lines, twists, jumps, etc. This movie is such an interesting combination of scary and funny---but not slapstick or 'dumb' stuff to get a laugh, just genuinely funny moments that are central to the plot and endearing. We laughed out loud multiple times. And the scares are...not typical. This is the first movie I can ever remember ALL of us screaming. I thought the acting was good, I felt really fond of the main characters by the time it ended. Advice: we found the accents (New Zealand) hard to understand at times. Turning on the subtitles helped. I think this is an overlooked little gem that deserves a lot more recognition. Great movie.

If you don't know or can't decide what genre of film to watch, Housebound is the one, great storyline involving horror, comedy, action, drama, mystery, crime and probably some others too. You think a film mixing that many genres up which be a terribly made film, but this film is other wise. The movie was a great surprise, I was expecting another same old horror, but it turned out to be more than horror, it was just brilliant. Cinematography wasn't anything amazing but it great for this type of film and worked well. In the tone of the film actually kept me on edge but it didn't frustrate me though. It actually made the film very enjoyable and surprising. Moving on to the music and sound, well truly, I don't think even took much notice of it, maybe that just means it wasn't as outstanding soundtrack but it also wasn't terrible enough me to notice it. The acting was absolutely great. So in the end, this film was a surprising thrill to watch. I recommend to anyone who can't decide what to watch or what genre to choose. But also to those who want a surprise and a mystery without without it hurting your head.