Homebound Movie Ending Explained – What happened to Richard’s ex-wife and Holly?

Closed-set household chillers are always reliable. There is something unsettling about the fact that your home and your family, which should be the safest things, become the most dangerous. The panic, confusion, and sadness you would feel if a loved one turns on you would be debilitating. Combined with the atmospheric gloom of a darkened British estate, you’ve got what it takes for something unsettling, if not downright 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 suspenseful psychological thriller, wastes no time building suspense. Clocking in at just over an hour, Homebound feels like an extended brief. While it doesn’t all work, there’s enough in the angst-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 go to his mansion so that 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 children are strange, if not downright threatening. Stranger still, no one seems very concerned about Richard’s ex-wife going missing. Instead, everyone carries on as if it’s perfectly normal to leave three kids alone in the remote countryside with no information or resources.

Still, Holly feels in her bones that something terrible is going on. There is much cause for concern between the children’s blank stares and Richard bullying his child into slaughtering a duck. An evening of drinks with the kids doesn’t ease her inhibitions any less, if only for a moment.

The longer Holly spends in the house, the more concerned she becomes, and rightly so. The kids are downright menacing, and Richard has started taking liberties and showing aggression with Holly, which should be big 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 rather than what she sees. Oddly enough, it reminds me of Banquet and Netflix’s latest The Wonder, in that this is something Holly really wants and therefore actively avoids tackling anything that conflicts with 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 Homebound’s end, what happened to the kids’ mom, Richard and Holly.

The end of Homebound explained

It is clear very early on that the children are not happy to see their father. Much of this could be explained by children being unhappy that their father has left. However, Richard’s behavior towards his children is alarming. He bullies and belittles them and then treats them like adults when he feels like it. He is also a master manipulator who uses the same tactics to keep Holly tense and in control. For example, Richard without a second thought leaves her with last night’s dinner to clean up, because for him his new wife is a resource.

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 minute he can’t praise her enough, and the next he’s yelling at her for fear of his obviously unstable children. He demands his son apologize for being too rough with Holly in the pool, but ignores her concerns when the kids tie them up, yell at them and hurt Holly, singing about their secret wedding. He also shows signs of physical abuse towards Holly when he mistreats 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 into an aggressive and violent marriage game. Holly lashes out in fear. She punches Lucia in the face and everything starts to get out of hand. Richard makes ridiculous excuses for the disappearance of the children and his wife. He actively wants to believe that everything is fine. But unfortunately, Richard seems unable to see what’s going on.

When Holly forces Richard to confront the children, they refuse to say where their mother is, but it becomes increasingly clear that something bad has happened to her. Instead of calling the authorities or talking calmly to the kids, he nearly drowns Ralph and demands answers. He yells at Anna to stop crying, and all the kids refuse to talk. It’s then that Holly finally realizes she’s made a big mistake. There were signs everywhere, if only she heeded them. She witnessed a lot of bizarre behavior, including Anna burying her doll and telling that she was now with her family. Combined with their mother’s absence, she should have demanded answers or run for her life.

Too late she tries to leave, and Richard tries to drag her back. While trying to break away from him, Lucia grabs a shovel and kills him. She then hugs Holly, and they return to the house, where all the kids finally show Holly what’s in the basement. Before Richard and Holly arrived, his ex-wife died at some point, and the kids have kept it a secret ever since. The children have not spoken out because of the typical divorce grudge. Instead, they are traumatized by an abusive father and a deceased mother. Anna has not been able to come to terms with her mother’s death and her older sister tried to spare her the pain. She told Anna that their mother was getting some peace and quiet.

When Holly leaves the basement shocked by what she saw, the camera zooms in on her face and Lucia says, “It’s time.” The implication is that the kids will now kill her too. Our last look at Holly is grim. She looks scared and says no before the movie ends.

Why did the kids kill everyone?

Richard refuses to see that he created the monsters his children have become. He probably abused their mother and them and is unable or unwilling to acknowledge his role in their pain. Their mother probably committed suicide because she was devastated that he remarried or because she was so broken by his abuse over the years. It’s also possible that the children started abusing her or killed her, though it seems more likely that they found her dead and have been trying to protect themselves ever since. They say that even when they tell Richard they’re not going to a nursing home. They knew their father wouldn’t want them to live with them, and they wouldn’t.

The children were probably abused by one or more of the parents from birth. A bizarre cycle of emotional torture and physical abuse followed by dangerous indulgent behavior has damaged them. Ralph, Lucia and Anna were beaten and broken down until they broke. Their mother may also have been abused or just tried to discipline them, and they killed her, starting the chain of events we saw in Homebound. Probably Richard was a tyrant who made their lives hell, and they were not only angry but also afraid. As it turns out, they had good reasons for doing so. His terrible parenting style included indifference, aggression, disapproval and violence. It’s an ugly cocktail that ruined three kids and cost Holly her life.

The kids had to kill Richard and Holly for various reasons. Lucia killed Richard because he hurt Holly. After showing Holly the corpse in their basement, they had to kill her to protect themselves. They didn’t necessarily have a reason to kill Holly, except that they couldn’t risk her divulging their secret. The kids did warn Holly. They told her from the beginning to go. If only she had listened, she would still be alive. You can never go home. Too bad Richard learned that lesson too late.

Homebound now streams on Amazon Prime Video. Read our full Homebound review here.