Housebound (2014)
Directed by Gerard Johnstone
When Kylie Bucknell is sentenced to home detention, she's forced to come to terms with her unsociable behaviour, her blabbering mother and a hostile spirit who seems less than happy about the new living arrangement.
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What critics compared Housebound to
In 1992, Peter Jackson directed the cult classic zombie movie Dead Alive, and while Black Sheep was a noble attempt, it's taken more than 20 years for the world to witness a New Zealand horror-comedy that feels like a worthy follow-up.
Fans of Peter Jackson’s early works of zany, comedy horror will most likely revel in Gerard Johnstone’s debut, Housebound , as this sometimes feels like a distant cousin to 1992’s Dead Alive .
With nimble direction from "Housebound" helmer Gerard Johnstone, "M3gan" does a good job of holistically incorporating its themes without being too heavy-handed.
M3gan is savvier than her human family about dealing with threats and addressing her existential crisis (do droids dream of existential crisis?), and “Housebound” (2014) director Gerard Johnstone and “Malignant” (2021) writers Akela Cooper and James Wan deliver a funny sci fi horror flick about the deleterious effect of technology on human connection and the anti-natalist ethics of AI creation.
Additionally, director Gerard Johnstone (best known for the charming Kiwi horror comedy Housebound) is less assured than Malignant’s James Wan (who produced and co-wrote the story with Cooper), and occasionally soft-pedals material which would be better played straight.
Still, New Zealand director Gerard Johnstone of 2014 horror-comedy Housebound fame deserves credit for structuring the otherwise predictable M3GAN like an ominous psychological thriller about a killer kid/evil child.
Again, working with Wan and Kiwi director Gerard Johnstone, Housebound (2014), her sense of the absurd is in full display in the PG-13 horror/comedy M3GAN .