Director: Sebastian Godwin
Writer: Sebastian Godwin (Screenplay)
Starring: Aisling Loftus, Tom Goodman-Hill, Hattie Gotobed, Raffiella Chapman, Lukas Rolfe
Plot: A trip to the countryside turns out to be far from idyllic for a father and his new fiancée when his kids decide the house is a little too crowded.
Runtime: 1 Hour 11 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Homebound starts and Richard (Goodman-Hill) takes his new fiancée Holly (Loftus) to meet children Lucia (Gotobed), Anna (Chapman) and Ralph (Rolfe) in a countryside mansion.
When the children decide the family is big enough, they look to get even with the adults, to stop the family getting any bigger.
Thoughts on Homebound
Characters & Performances – Holly is the new fiancée about to met her partner’s children for the first time, filled with the nerves about the meeting, as she isn’t sure how the kids will accept her, she tries her best to make them feel welcomed into her life. She does start to see the early signs she isn’t as welcomed as she could be, but she is aware this might happen. Richard is the father returning to see his children, he believes the children are ready to meet his new fiancée and is used to their games when it comes to upsetting people close to him. When it comes to the three children Lucia, Anna and Ralph, they don’t take too kindly to Holly, looking to make her struggle to be accepted into this home. The performances in the film are solid enough, the lack of development does hold back the best performances we could have seen though.
Story – The story here follows a woman who has just become the fiancée to a man with three children that is going to meet them for the first time, only to learn they have a darker side to what they want in their family to go on top of the uncomfortable meeting situation. This does give us a good concept of pushing the limits of how accepting children could be to a new potential stepparent, by pushing things towards the darker side, while hiding back the side of the story that becomes clearer as everything unfolds. We could easily have seen more added to this film, giving it a chance to develop the characters that little bit more to give the final sequence a bigger impact.
Themes – Homebound is a horror thriller that will use the mansion like home for the meeting of the new family, where the newest member is unsure of everything around the home, while the children are comfortable with anything they see. The horror is on the edge of the film, as we wait to see what the big reveal will end up being, as we know it is ready for a big surprise about that.
Blue Finch Film Releasing presents Homebound in cinemas 1 April and on digital 4 April
Final Thoughts – Homebound is a horror thriller that struggles to build up enough tension along the way.
