So much average

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Once seen, FOUND will not soon be forgotten, for it is a horror movie that pulls no punches, and takes its premise all the way. Made for only eight thousand dollars, it delivers the kind of kick to the gut those high concept, CGI laden reboots, and remakes, populating the multiplexes wish they could give an audience. In every way, this movie is the antidote to the mediocrity of PG-13; in truth, if this film, which is unrated, were to be given a rating by the MPAA, it would surely be NC- 17. There is extreme gore of the very explicit 21st Century variety, but for me, the scenes of emotional horror and trauma were far worse; this movie goes to the heart of darkness, and then keeps on going.We know what we are in for in the first scene, where Marty, a shy and bullied 5th Grader, finds a severed human head in a bag inside of his older brother Steve's bedroom closet. Turns out his big bro is a serial killer, a fact to which Marty's typically suburban parents are totally oblivious. Marty decides to keep this awful secret, for he loves his brother, the only member of the family with whom he can relate, but this proves to be a fateful mistake, as Marty, a kid who finds escape in horror movies, finds that his life is rapidly becoming one. Marty is no wisecracking tween from a Spielberg picture, but an emotionally immature and painfully withdrawn kid, very much like the ones you would find in any classroom in the real world. That is one of the reasons why this movie is so tough to take.Serial killers have become a pop culture trope in the past few decades, and in many TV shows and movies they have morphed into a variant of the super villain, like the character of James Patrick March in American HORROR STORY: HOTEL. But Steve is no Dexter, he is a nuclear bomb, and when he finally detonates, and his true nature is revealed, he will vaporize all those close to him and leave a wasteland of collateral damage for the survivors. There is torture, sadism, cannibalism, necrophilia, and full frontal, but the scenes of Marty being bullied have a special power to make the viewer squirm, as FOUND conveys the ugly truth that bullies, even when they are called out, never receive proper punishment; are never adequately paid back in equal measure for the pain they have dealt out. I found myself totally on Marty's side when he turns on one of his tormentors and puts a brutal beat down on him, then stands his ground when chastised by adults. Reportedly, FOUND was made for only $8,000 in Indiana, if so, then it is amazing how they did so much with so little. All credit to director Scott Schirmer and screenwriter, Todd Rigney, for putting big time Hollywood to shame. Some of the acting is not up to standard, but Gavin Brown as Marty, and Ethan Philbeck as Steve are spot on. And special thanks to S.A. Bradley at the Hell Bent for Horror podcast for steering me to this exceptional film. After watching it on Blu Ray, what I was feeling must have been akin to what the first audiences to see NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD felt when they walked out of the theater back in 1968.

Marty, 12 years old is a young Horror obsessed pre-teen. He also knows about his older brother Steve's darkest secret: That Steve is a serial killer. Bullied at school and by his own father, perhaps Marty has found even more than a protector in his brother? The only problem is what might happen to him if Steve discovers what his younger bro knows.FOUND isn't too far from perfection in the horror genre in my opinion. And it achieves this without even abusing the massacre and gore scenes. Don't panic gore hounds. This film will eventually deliver the goods. But what i liked the most about it is that i was glued to the screen from start to finish despite the slow burn style of FOUND. And it managed to scare me and disturb me even with so little. Because the film is a rare realistic portrait of a family, the most ordinary and average family at first sight, entangled in nothing but everyday problems. Some things that we as a society tend to ignore and/or shovel down deep inside and under the rugs.If there are things that i've always found hard to stand both in real life and in movies are things like violence on Women, kids, animals, racism and of course the ever present and growing problem that is bullying. That bullying happens in school or at home in the confort of what should be a safe place, it has become a matter with such amplitude that teachers will ignore the bullied like there was nothing that can possibly be done to end a feud between 2 kids. That until a bullied kid finally replies to a bully, which often results into having a nice kid grounded, and sometimes worst: Beaten in return and/or perceived as a young waste of flesh by our society's great thinkers.Briefly, bullying is such a nightmare and FOUND reflects that reality in such a scary way. This rarety in the Horror genre is to be witnessed at your own risks. This is not a subject matter that you bring to the table at dinner. And there is such a violence involved in this film that even the scenes where it is left to the viewer's imagination might enrage or disgust and disturb someone.

Found to me was a very edgy and viscerally jarring film that was thinking very much outside the box compared to most movies about young psycho killers. Even though most of it plays like a drama it definitely is a horror film, just a more low-key different approach to one, and one that's certainly not for everybody, particularly those of a weak stomach or who are easily offended. I found its overall atmosphere and tone to be very saddening and morbid, there were no jump scares or schlocky humorous horror gags, it's all very subtle and even ordinary, and to me all the more haunting in its everyday blandness than if they'd gone the typical route of trying to be scary in the more conventional way. I enjoyed how it seemed to be set in the late 80s/early 90s, it gave it a certain ambiance without it coming across as like they were purposefully trying to be retro or anything like that. By the end I was glad I watched it, it was a worthwhile viewing experience as I knew it would be from that opening line. It was chilling and poignant and the horrendously sick climax did stick with me for a few days after.. But, I also thought that it felt noticeably lacking somewhere and it ultimately wasn't all that satisfying, I just kept thinking that it all could have easily been done significantly better if it'd only had more money behind it. I couldn't believe that it had been made for only 8000. I mean that is seriously a micro budget, that being that case I'm happy to declare that what they managed get out of that was pretty amazing, but regardless the dark themes and messages of the movie are a little undermined and hampered by it's noticeably basic quality.. I thought Gavin Brown as "Marty" was a likable kid and good as the lead, he wasn't perfect but he was sure better than the other child actors in the movie, who I thought were the most amateur thing about it. But I did find him effective as just this little kid being pulled in many different directions from parent and bullying issues, and perhaps just a little desensitisation from one too many horror movies that he accepts the all too close to home horror of an older brother who has people's heads in a bag in his closet as if it's just another mere fact of his messed-up young life that he can't control. The acting of the big guy playing his only friend wasn't that great, but I found the sequence moving where he very suddenly turns on Marty who then later burns the little thing they shared together, which was a comic book they were making. I thought the relationship with his older psychotic brother "Steve" was well-realised and it felt sincere. Ethan Philbeck was a bit over-intense in his delivery for me, but he was good at showing the love for his little brother - who by the bitter end he seemed to regard as something pure - and he was also effective at being threatening to him at the same time. Steve's motivation wasn't developed enough, that stupid angle they toss into the movie in the middle and never mention again of him killing for racist reasons was unnecessary and meaningless. The film also hits you over the head a lot with the tired old theory that horror flicks have the mystical power to corrupt and influence the young minds of the unwary, which is something that I always felt was total bullshit, as to my point of view even the vilest of horror pictures are basically just entertainment and by themselves aren't capable of bringing out such badness in a human being unless they are already damaged to begin with and are susceptible. There's a sense of inevitability that underscores it as the events slowly build up to the ending, like the disaster of the sick maniac brother who's clearly about to explode is like an oncoming collision that little Marty is helpless to do anything about. It actually meant a lot to me when Marty finally realised that the monster before him was not the brother he once knew. My god, that ending truly takes you down into hell. It's strange, to look at it's not necessarily all that gruesome or intense, but when you think about it and let it sink in a little it's just incredibly horrifying, it made me feel grim and sick to my core. This is one movie that seriously messes with you... I didn't like the way they closed the movie with the sentence "This is the kind of thing that can warp a person", I thought it ended things on a bit of an inappropriately comedic note. So in closing despite its limitations, this flick does stand out from many other independent horrors due to its realistic nature, shattering atmosphere, and eerily well done gore effects. Bye, go easy on ya family!

I'm going to dive straight into a simple fact about this movie. It will mess with you. At the deep emotional level, this movie will be extremely disturbing to anyone that gives it a chance. This is the type of movie that will stick with you for days, if not weeks. You will be driving to work days after watching it, see a Family walking down the street and wonder what secrets and personal issues they have solely because of this movie. I watched this movie almost 3 weeks ago, and I still find myself disturbed by it. It's not due to gore however.Although I am confident in saying that even self-proclaimed horror/slasher film buffs will find a few scenes within "Found" extremely hard to watch. The gore isn't overdone or even a focus of the movie at all. When it is done, it is done very very well and is very very disturbing. I never personally get grossed out by film gore. Ever. However in one scene in particular, I seriously paused the film and sat there by myself wondering if I even wanted to continue watching the movie at all. The scenes in which gore isn't involved at all are just as, if not more disturbing than the gory scenes. Watching a 12 year old boy having to face such horrific realizations, all the while dealing with being bullied and having absent parents is disturbing in and of itself. The acting would be the only reason this film didn't receive a perfect score of 10 from me. As much as I loved this movie and wish this wasn't the case, the acting by the Father is horrible. Luckily for us he doesn't spend more than 2 minutes on screen at a time, and only has a few lines of dialogue throughout the movie. To sum this up, I'm going to talk about the final 8 or so minutes of this movie(Without spoilers of course). The final 8 minutes of this movie is by far the single most disturbing piece of film I have ever seen, and hope to never see again. Don't get me wrong, I love this movie. The final scene is just... It's indescribably horrific and dark. I genuinely hope I don't watch a movie with a scene that dark in it again for as long as I live.Go watch it, it's an amazing accomplishment in the World of film. However, consider this review a warning.