Film Review: HOMEBOUND (2021): A Horror Film That is Certainly Terrifying Despite its Flaws

Homebound Review

Homebound (2021) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Sebastian Godwin and starring Tom Goodman-Hill, Aisling Loftus, Raffiella Chapman, Hattie Gotobed and Lukas Rolfe.

Sebastian Godwin’s new horror picture, Homebound, saves a lot of its energy for the last scenes of the film. This picture spends a lot of time on creepy build-up sequences which establish its characters and, ultimately, this method of movie-making pays off because the ending is a truly shocking series of events. It’s not that the film is even close to being perfect. There are a few concerns that the characters don’t seem to have that they should definitely have but who’s going to argue about logic in a movie like this? This is the type of film that you put on at midnight if you like to be frightened and don’t want to think too hard about anything other than getting scared.

Homebound is led by a fine lead performance by Aisling Loftus who plays the only character in the movie who is at all relatable. Loftus plays Holly who is engaged to a man named Richard (Tom Goodman-Hill). They arrive at a home in the English countryside for one of Richard’s three children’s birthday party celebration. Yep, Richard has three kids (two girls and a boy) from a previous marriage and the mother of these children is nowhere to be found. It seems OK when a text message arrives from the kids’ mom stating she’s not going to be there. You could think how legally (or at least morally) insane this abandonment is but you’ll probably be so intrigued as a viewer, you will go with the movie to see what comes next.

For a few minutes, Richard seemed like a normal guy until it’s lunch time and he leads his kids and his fiancee Holly around chasing geese to kill and cook. Holly is understandably upset by this act but things get even more frightening when the kids are in the swimming pool and two of them seem to intentionally be trying to drown Holly as they dunk her in and out of the water. Is it just kids being kids and having fun? Probably not.

One of the young girls is busy burying a doll at one point, and we can eventually see this is one wicked dysfunctional family. It initially seems just the kids are creepy but the father dunks his son’s head in a sink at one point, waiting for the mother to arrive. He’s just as twisted as they are. This film has an ending which has a major plot point up its sleeve and waiting for it to come will keep you antsy as all the horrific events of the movie unfold.

The three children in the movie are played very well by Raffiella Chapman, Hattie Gotobed and Lukas Rolfe. It’s hard to say which one is the creepiest but the boy is pretty demented and Gotobed’s Lucia could be frightening enough to give one nightmares. Chapman holds her own in this trio of young actors who properly portray the evil children.

Goodman-Hill’s character can be as frightening as the kids are at times. Especially in a scene where the kids put a veil on Holly and try to get her to say “I do” to marrying their dad in a fake wedding. Given the scary events that happen in the film, Holly isn’t so quick to say it though the audience wishes she was more able to see that it’s wise to give these kids what they want and ask questions later. Loftus is really good in her role and makes the audience terrified of her predicament hoping she’ll escape this nightmare come to life that she finds herself in.

In the last minutes of Homebound, the audience is treated to the big revelation of the movie’s plot. It’s a sure-to-please horror fans scenario and an ideal climax to top off a frightening picture. Of course, the phone service doesn’t work when it is most needed even though text messages seem to appear when they need to in order to advance the movie’s story line. There are also other cliches which hold it back from being better than it is. In any event despite its occasional lapses in logic and obvious budget restraints (which includes a brief running time), Homebound is a pretty successful exercise in terror.

Rating: 6.5/10

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