The Trailer:
Director: Gerard Johnstone
Cast: Morgana O'Reilly, Rima Te Wiata, Glen-Paul Waru, & Ross Harper
Synopsis: When career criminal, Kylie Bucknell (Morgana O'Reilly), is sentenced to house arrest in her childhood, where her mother, Miriam (Rima Te Wiata) and stepfather, Graeme (Ross Harper) still live, strange things begin to happen. Enlisting the help of Amos (Glen-Paul Waru), the man in charge of keeping track of Kylie who is also a beginner paranormal investigator, Kylie is about to solve the mystery of her home.
I wouldn't say I loved this movie, though I did like it quite a bit. This New Zealand movie is funny without being obnoxious, as is the norm in most American horror comedies. It's humor lies in how much it follows the clichés of general ghost story movies where the main character returns to their childhood home and memories of paranormal happenings resurface, and so he/she works to solve the mystery of the hauntings. Along with the cliché story line, this movie is fully equipped with a stereotypical horror film score that is loud, "haunting", and builds to a crescendo just as there is about to be a cat scare (definition: "when there is a buildup of tension followed by a fright of something harmless" as defined by tvtropes.org). And yes there were plenty of cat scares, and even some jump scares which add some to the horror aspect of the movie, but mostly lends a hand to the comedy aspect that pokes fun at typical horror movies. There is also a good amount of humor that lies in the subtle dialogue between characters or said as an aside, that can easily be missed if you're not paying attention. All the actors did a good job as their characters, nothing to rave about but still good enough that they ca pull off the sheer ridiculousness of the movie without it feeling amateur and silly. Because, in the end, this movie is still a ghost story that needs a satisfying conclusion, for the ghost and for the family.
Overall I liked this movie. It's nothing new, but it was still good fun and I would surely watch it again in the future when I want a good laugh.
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