Found (2012)

Too much of everything

Crappy film

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is the premise of the film. What follows, step by step, will keep the viewer engrossed till the very end. The film is about a shy bullied boy Marty(Gavin Brown), whose hobby is watching horror themed movies and comic books. He also creates horror sketches for his own comic book in his spare time. At school he is bullied by an overweight boy Marcus(Edward Jackson) who mocks him that he has a small penis and that he is gay.One day he is punched in the stomach by Marcus, but the teacher catches the bully in the act and gives him detention on Saturdays as a punishment. While all this is going on, Marty accidentally discovers a severed head in his older brother's(Steve) bowling-ball bag. Meanwhile Steve does not know Marty has figured out that he is a serial killer.The day Marcus is at detention, Marty's parents decide that he better not go to school and he stays home. To pass the time, his mother takes him to a video rental shop where Marty picks up a videocassette entitled "Headless". Upon opening the cover, he finds the videocassette missing. He informs this, but the shop employee tells him that it was probably stolen by another customer.Later, after watching the rented films, Marty asks Steve if he could watch the tapes in his collection. Steve tells him he can do so, as he is going out for some time. While Steve is out, Marty surprisingly finds the videocassette Headless....A superb film, I recommend this wholeheartedly, as a unique film in its genre.Fictional Serial killer films: The Stepfather(1987), Stepfather II (1989), Stepfather III (1992 TV Movie), Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986), Henry II: Portrait of a Serial Killer(1996), Copycat (1995), The Bone Collector(1999), Bone Daddy(1998), Psycho(1960).Non-fictional Serial Killer Movies: serial killer movies: The Gray Man(2007), Albert Fish: In Sin He Found Salvation(2007), Citizen X(1995), Evilenko(2004), The Deliberate Stranger(1986), Ted Bundy(2002), The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer (1993), Dahmer (2002), To Catch A Killer (1992), Dear Mr. Gacy (2010) The Boston Strangler (1968), Deranged(1974), Cannibal (2006). These films are based upon the lives of real-life serial killers.Thanks for reading.

After reading some of the reviews I though great a decent horror/Thriller! But after 15 minutes realised that the acting in many cases was very bad and very wooden. The school stuff from the detention scenes and after that the acting was pretty bad. The main actors were OK, but outside of that was very bad in many cases. How so many positive reviews is very weird. I will continues to give the rest of this film a try but, so far. If you can get forget about some very bad acting from many it otherwise looks promising. I hope the rest is better and the lesser actors are minimised. The main actors seem OK, so I think if you can get past that it may turn out better. I will see if I can get through this and update.

This is really a teen angst drama with gore thrown in. Plenty of issues raised, and in the end it does pack a punch.Two big problems.First, the pace dragged. A lot of the writing was flat, with not enough information given in each scene, and some of the actors struggled with uninspired dialogue. I'd have preferred 15 mins shaved off the running time.Second, the conceit isn't really relevant to the plot. And we're given a motive based on a throw away comment from earlier in the story.On the violence and gore - pretty tame. The screening of Headless confused me, because it was a good opportunity to address violence, but they didn't make any intelligent points. And if they'd used the hero's graphic novel to fantasise the killer's story, instead of taking it so literally, it might have added some sophistication. They even had excellent illustrations in the opening credits. Or what if the hero was an unreliable narrator? Nothing like that - they just played it straight.I liked the drum music, but the eerie stuff hardly ever turned off and gave a depressing feel.Overall it's a good job on a small budget, but it's not really a horror - more a story of violence begetting violence.

This is a movie that will impress some and offend others much like some of the ground breaking horror classics of the past. Will this be the next classic? I think not, although it could be a springboard for the director as it does pack a wallop. It is very effective and well done with some very good acting, at least from the two leads. I haven't decided if the adult actors are incredibly bad or if they are deliberately staged that way to emphasize the viewpoint of the younger boy who narrates through some of the scenes. I will give the director the benefit of the doubt as it otherwise would be inconsistent with his other great choices. If you can handle the sick material, it is probably a good movie to watch again as you may underrate it. I can only give it a 6 for entertainment value but then maybe I have underrated it.