Based on the novel by Todd Rigney, "FOUND" is a refreshing addition to the horror genre. A familiar yet grim coming of age drama wrapped in a very dark and horrific nightmarish shell. The story is told through the eye's of Marty, a typical twelve year old boy who like most of you reading this can probably relate to, tends to escape the turmoil of his daily life by taking refuge in horror films. From early on in the film we learn that Marty (Gavin Brown) is from an average American family with the usual facade of "normalcy" hiding a plethora of underlying social problems. His fathers overt racism and inability to relate to or get along with his older son. His mothers inability to mediate or intervene in the situation, and his brothers (Ethan Philbeck) worsening antisocial behavior. Marty has discovered personal secrets of his family members. His dad's porn stash, mother's love letters to an old boyfriend and the biggest one yet, a bowling bag containing a severed head in his brothers closet. Marty discovers the brother that he loves and looks up to is a serial killer. "My brother keeps a human head in his closet. Every few days it's a new head", "My life is starting to turn into a horror movie." Let me just say that I found this film intriguing and truly disturbing. Director Scott Schirmer has done a truly amazing job on a shoestring budget of a reported $8000.00 dollars, managing to tell a great story and do what most big budget horror films seem to fail at, making you care about the characters. The only drawback of the film for me was the talent level of some of the supporting cast. While Gavin Brown and Ethan Filbeck gave outstanding performances for their first outing, the mother (Phyllis Munro) and several of the supporting members, most notably the father (Louie Lawless) seemed to lack the ability to convincingly pull off any dramatic moments. But this is a relatively minor complaint and hardly a drawback in the ability to enjoy this film. Other indi film makers and directors should pay attention and take notes. This is how it's done, with an engaging story and a lot of heart. With all that said, I highly recommend this film. In the end I was left almost speechless. This film manages to tell a sympathetic yet engaging horrific story. It is severely brutal and gory at times and not for the faint of heart. Four out of five stars!

Plot: A 12 year old boy obsessed with horror is starting to think that his older brother might be a serial killer. When he finds a tape that was stolen from the local video rental shop in his brother's possessions, and he sees what's on that tape he becomes even more sure about who his brother is.

Our thoughts: Most horror fans remember that specific feeling of being very young and loving horror movies. The time when any horror movie was a good movie, and you couldn't wait till the next time a friend came over so you could show them what you have just seen. There was always the general concern whether or not violent movies would make violent people, but perhaps that's even more present now. Back then it was mostly "he will get nightmares!" (thanks Mommy, for treating me like an adult with my movies instead) that you heard people say. "Found" plays off of these things: the thrill watching horror at a young age and being fascinated by the macabre, but also dealing with the things it COULD lead to (or the questions around it). But does the dark twist to the subject that we find in "Found" work?

"Found" is about a 12 year old boy who just loves horror movies and the macabre overall. He often borrows movies from his brother to watch with his friend, and he and his friend are also working on a violent comic together. But lately something has been a bit off about his brother, and upon further investigation he finds evidence that points to his brother being a serial killer. His brother has been acting really strange, and more often than not with an attitude as of late. Where did this personality of his come from, and what will it lead to? After finding the tape "Headless" in his brother's room, a tape that had disappeared from the local video rental shop, he watches it with his friend and can't stop thinking about his brother doing the awful things that the maniac on this tape is doing.

I'm quite impressed with how well the movie is driven by drama but seamlessly adds some really dark and utterly depraved horror/slasher/exploitation. It's a fact that most of the movie is focusing on the kid and his take on what is going on around him, which makes it a drama, but some scenes are far too screwed up for your normal drama. Hell, this is even one of the few times where I enjoy watching clips from a film-within-a-film (except for in "Evil Ed") because it's really violent and quite entertaining in a trashy sort of way, and works well within the story of the movie. The climax of the movie will not shock the seasoned horror or exploitation fan, but it's still very messed up. If it doesn't make SOME people uncomfortable, either by the end or with the film-within-the-film, then not enough people have watched it.

There are no huge issues with the movie. The only thing I can think of is that the brother doesn't always come off as a convincing serial killer. He does it more towards the end, but it was a hard sell. He does, however, feel like a good choice as the brother of our main character. My other issues are more personal pet peeves than anything: things like referencing movies. It might be needed, but at times it seems forced. I always enjoy seeing posters in the background, but maybe a few of the ones here seemed a bit misplaced. I'm also not sure what year this was set in, but it does have a very recent movie on a poster, yet the only format used or showed in the movie is VHS (unless I missed other ones). While VHS is still very much in use, it seems odd that there is nothing even in the video store besides that. Again, pet peeves, this is not something that dragged the movie down. I just couldn't help but think about it, and I will look like a fool if someone proves me wrong on the last point!

Still, this movie is very interesting. It deals with a lot of important subjects, like video violence, racism and awkward family situations, but still maintains to work as a horror movie when it wants to. For essentially being a drama, it gets really gory in a few scenes. And for once the film-within-the-film worked well too, adding to the horror of it all - mostly because the horror in "Found" itself is much like the things on screen in the fictional "Headless". I was surprised by how messed up it got. If you want to watch an interesting movie that mixes drama and violent horror in equally delicate and brutal ways, then give this a go!

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