Fred Schaefer 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 Marty is no wisecracking tween from a Spielberg picture, but an emotionally immature and painfully withdrawn kid, very much like the ones you would find in any classroom in the real world.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.

Vivekmaru45 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.

BA_Harrison Having recently watched and thoroughly enjoyed retro-slasher Headless (2015), I immediately sought out Found (2012), where Headless began life as a 'film-within-a-film'. Like Headless, Found revolves around a psychotic killer twisted by his upbringing, but the two films couldn't be more different in style: where Headless is an all out exercise in depravity and splatter, with as much in-your-face deviancy and gore as possible, Found takes a more thoughtful and believable approach to its horror, although it proves no less shocking in the end. If anything, the fact that it all takes place in a very real world makes it even more disturbing than Headless's cartoonish excess.The film starts with young horror movie fan Marty (Gavin Brown) declaring "My brother keeps a human head in his closet": as opening gambits go, it's a corker, immediately setting the tone—one of brooding menace, slow-burn tension, and macabre horror within a seemingly normal suburban setting. We watch as Marty sneaks into his brother Steve's bedroom to look at a series of severed heads; the boy studies them with a mixture of fear and fascination, too young to fully comprehend the gravity of the situation, unsure of what course of action to take. Marty tells no-one of his discovery—that his brother is a serial killer—frightened of what might happen if Steve (Ethan Philbeck) ever found out.Of course, Steve does eventually realise that his brother knows his ghastly secret, and what follows is a gradual descent into hell, culminating in a final bloody image guaranteed to sear itself into the mind and remain there for quite some time. The film also resonated with me both as a parent and a horror fan: Steve's psychosis is the result of failed parenting—his father's bigotry, his mother's apathy, and an over exposure to violent imagery at a young age. It's made me think long and hard about how I speak to my kids, how much attention I pay to what they are doing, and what level of on-screen violence I expose them to. One thing's for sure, they're not watching August Underground's Mordum for at least a few more years.8.5/10, rounded up to 9 for IMDb.

elgabote I got interested with the plot line. It has good potential and it's original not only for a plain slayer, but for something more developed and even deep. But from the beginning of the movie we see how amateurish and poor are some important technical aspects of the movie. From minute one, we see a not very polished photography, saturated with excessive close shots and a lack of creativity on framing them. Also the sound and lighting could have a lot of improvement. The worst part (and for what I've read, it bothered most of the people) was the acting. It's quite cheesy and overacted from most of the characters in the movie. I liked the main character, the kid, and the one I really liked in the role was the old brother, the killer. All the rest of actors felt very fake and a lot of the lines they were saying and lots of scenes were really cheesy (sometimes felt like trying to resemble or honour comics or 80's movies, maybe, but it wasn't clear and I didn't enjoy it). I know it's a low budget movie, but still this are actually the aspects that indie movies should take care the most, as it all depends on the creativity and skills of the director and the actors, and not in post production and expensive special effects. I got over all this because I was interested in the story, and it worth the while. It's not an amazing story, but still original and refreshing, not because it's nice maybe, it's quite gory and disturbing. But maybe all the credit is on the novel in which the movie is based... There's a few boring slow paced scenes, but it all adds up to the feeling on the story. Not a bad movie, but feels like it could be so much better.Good story, poor acting (most of actors except the two brothers, let's be fair with them!), fair/poor photography and sound, directing and writing could be better... Still, even saying it's an amateurish movie and with all it's flaws, it's still interesting and it's not painful to watch.