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Housebound

Play trailer Housebound R 2000 1h 29m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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A paranoid agoraphobic (Katharina Wressnig) suspects one of her boarders (Peter Sarsgaard) is the serial killer who has been leaving mutilated bodies on freeways.

Critics Reviews

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Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall An eerily effective little thriller that cleverly uses agoraphobia as its lynchpin. Rated: 4/5 Oct 21, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member aka <i>Kitchen Privileges</i>. This is a lethargic, deathly slow-paced take on the Roman Polanski classic <i>Repulsion</i>, only bereft of imagination. Marie's agoraphobia is played in a bizarre, totally unrealistic fashion, and Katharina Wressnig's performance alternates between sleepwalking and shrillness. Very little works here except an occasional inspired visual moment (most of which are taken from <i>Repulsion</i>), and I can't even recommend this for die-hard fans of Peter Sarsgaard, as this is easily his weakest performance - though given the quality of the material he's given that's hardly a shocker. Definitely safe to skip this. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Housebound, made nearly a decade ago and just now receiving distribution in the US under the vague title "Kitchen Privileges", is about a rape victim who is so traumatized that she has turned agoraphobic and refuses to leave her house. Soon, she gets a tenant who may or may not be a serial killer, but his charm and wittiness causes her to love again and slowly regain her ability to step outside of her house. Things get complicated as the evidence piles up more and more towards her roommate and his potential serial killing hobby. The film tries to be unique and is actually well written, but it also tries to go for the whole Quentin Tarantino theme of over-abundance of talking and no action, which can work or fail miserably, in which case is does here. The American packaging has you believe that this film is about ghosts and shit, which is very far off from what we are given, which is a pretty boring film that makes a great attempt at being unique, but it could never keep my interest, sorry to say. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member The main character's agoraphobia counters the tension they are trying to build up for a supposed killer. That or it might be that they do nothing to build empathy for the characters. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/14/23 Full Review Audience Member As much as I adore Peter Sarsgaard, this was just one silly movie with bad acting. It looked like a late tv-movie from the 90's and the plot was confusing and rather stupid. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 01/28/23 Full Review Audience Member Não é que o filme seja ruim... mas faltou (MUITA) grana. Ou talvez seja ruim sim mas eu só tô dizendo que não porque acho o Peter Sarsgaard bonitinho... Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Could have been a lot better. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Housebound

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis A paranoid agoraphobic (Katharina Wressnig) suspects one of her boarders (Peter Sarsgaard) is the serial killer who has been leaving mutilated bodies on freeways.
Director
Mari Kornhauser
Producer
Louis Nader
Screenwriter
Mari Kornhauser
Rating
R
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 1, 2012
Runtime
1h 29m