Homebound Movie Ending Explained- What Happened To Richard’s Ex-Wife And Holly?
Closed-set domestic chillers are always reliable. There is something unsettling about having your home and your family, who should be the safest things, turn into the most dangerous. The panic, confusion, and grief one would feel when a loved one turn on you would be debilitating. Coupled with the atmospheric gloominess of a darkened British estate, you have all the pieces for something disturbing, if not outright scary. Taking a page from other domestic creepers like Dogtooth, The Turning, The Lodge, and the guilty pleasure The Stepfather, Homebound hits all the right chords, even if it doesn’t create an entirely new song.
Sebastian Godwin, who wrote and directed this tense psychological thriller, doesn’t waste time building tension. With a clock time of just over an hour, Homebound feels like an expanded short fleshed out. Although it doesn’t all work, there is enough in the dread-laden bits and excellent set pieces to make this a good watch. A trio of creepy kids, an erratic husband, and a trusting young wife round out the perfect situation for disaster.
Holly(Aisley Loftus) and Richard(Tom Goodman-Hill) are a newly married couple. Richard has been married before, and they are going to his country home so Holly can meet his three children for the first time. The moment they arrive, things are weird. The children’s mother is missing, and the kids are odd, if not outright threatening. Even stranger, no one seems very concerned that Richard’s ex-wife is missing. Instead, everyone carries on as if it’s perfectly normal to leave three kids alone in the isolated countryside with no information or resources.
The longer Holly spends in the house, the more concerned she becomes, and rightfully so. The kids are downright menacing, and Richard has begun taking liberties and aggressive tones with Holly, which should be major red flags. But like many vulnerable and naive women before her, she ignores her instincts and keeps a stiff upper lip. Like Rebecca and Mia Farrow’s Rosemary, she believes what she wants instead of what she sees. Weirdly it reminds me of Banquet and Netflix’s latest The Wonder in that this is something Holly desperately wants and, therefore, actively avoids addressing anything contrary to her dream. However, things quickly spiral out of control when Holly finds something that can’t be ignored. Here’s everything you need to know about the ending of Homebound, what happened to the kids’ mother, Richard, and Holly.
The ending of Homebound explained
It has been evident from very early that the kids aren’t happy to see their father. Much of that could be explained away by children unhappy that their father has moved on. Richard’s behavior towards his children is alarming, though. He bullies and belittles them and then treats them as adults when the mood strikes him. He also is a master manipulator who uses those same tactics to keep Holly on edge and under control. For example, Richard leaves her with last night’s dinner to clean up without a thought because, to him, his new wife is a tool.
She is an extension of him who is there to make his life easier. Unfortunately, his inconsistent behavior is enough to make anyone’s head spin. One moment he can’t praise her enough, and the next, he yells at her for being scared of his clearly unstable children. He demands his son apologize for being too rough with Holly in the pool but then dismisses her concerns when the children tie them up, yell at them and hurt Holly, all while chanting about their secret wedding. He also shows signs of being physically abusive with Holly when he manhandles her despite her repeating “no.”
The abrupt end to a harrowing weekend trip is terrifying. After Holly finds Richard’s ex-wife’s phone in Lucia’s room, the children force Richard and Holly to play an aggressive and violent wedding game. Holly lashes out in fear. She hits Lucia in the face, and everything starts to spiral out of control. Richard makes ridiculous excuses for the children and his wife’s disappearance. He actively wants to believe that everything is fine. But, unfortunately, Richard seems incapable of seeing what is going on.
When Holly forces Richard to confront the children, they refuse to say where their mother is, but it becomes increasingly clear something bad happened to her. Instead of calling the authorities or talking calmly with the children, he nearly drowns Ralph, demanding answers. He yells at Anna to stop crying, and all the children refuse to speak. At that moment, Holly finally realizes she has made a huge mistake. There were signs everywhere if only she heeded them. She witnessed a lot of bizarre behavior, including Anna burying her doll and talking about her being with her family now. Coupled with their mother’s absence, she should have demanded answers sooner or run for her life.
Too late, she tries to leave, and Richard tries to drag her back. While she tries to break free from him, Lucia grabs a shovel and kills him. She next hugs Holly, and they return to the house, where all of the children finally show Holly what is in the cellar. Before Richard and Holly arrived, his ex-wife died at some point, and the children have been keeping the secret ever since. The children haven’t been acting out because of typical divorce resentment. Instead, they are traumatized by an abusive father and a dead mother. Anna has been unable to process her mother’s death, and her older sister tried to spare her the pain. She told Anna their mother was getting some peace and quiet.
When Holly leaves the cellar horrified by what she saw, the camera zooms in on her face, and Lucia says, “It’s time.”. The implication is the children will now kill her too. Our last look at Holly is grim. She looks scared and says no before the film ends.
Why did the children kill everyone?
Richard refuses to see that he created the monsters his children have become. He likely abused their mother and them and can’t or won’t acknowledge his role in their pain. Probably their mother committed suicide either because she was devastated he remarried or because she was so broken by his abuse over the years. It is also possible the children began abusing her or killed her, although it seems more plausible that they found her dead and have been trying to protect themselves ever since. They even say as much when they tell Richard they won’t go into a care home. They knew their father wouldn’t want them to live with them, and they wouldn’t want to anyway.
The children have been abused by one or more of the parents, probably since birth. A bizarre cycle of emotional torture, and physical abuse, followed by dangerously permissive behavior, left them damaged. Ralph, Lucia, and Anna were beaten and broken down until they snapped. Their mother may have also been abusive or simply tried to discipline them, and they killed her, starting the chain of events that we saw in Homebound. Likely Richard was a tyrant who made their lives hell, and not only were they angry but afraid. As it turns out, they had good reason to be. His terrible parenting style included indifference, aggression, disapproval, and violence. It’s an ugly cocktail that ruined three children and cost Holly her life.
The children had to kill Richard and Holly for different reasons. Lucia killed Richard because he was hurting Holly. After showing Holly the dead body in their cellar, they had to kill her to protect themselves. They didn’t necessarily have a reason to kill Holly other than they couldn’t risk her exposing their secret. The children did warn Holly. They told her from the beginning she should go. If only she had listened, she would still be alive. You can never go home again. Too bad Richard learned that lesson too late.
Homebound is streaming on Amazon Prime Video right now. Read our full Homebound review here.
As the Managing Editor for Signal Horizon, I love watching and writing about genre entertainment. I grew up with old-school slashers, but my real passion is television and all things weird and ambiguous. My work can be found here and Travel Weird, where I am the Editor in Chief.