Unlisted Owner

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06/14/2018 Found footage is a genre filled with ups and downs. I would argue that recently most films in this horror subgenre have been the latter. "Unlisted Owner," the premier feature film by director Jed Brian has made attempts to change that trend with a fair share of success. "Unlisted Owner" is the story of a group of young people who forgo their night of drinking and girl chasing to investigate a nearby home where a grisly killer eliminated an entire family inside. The movie itself starts out strong introducing said family to an exciting day in a new home, only to be marred by tragedy. It was a great way to start because where many found footage films fall flat is with a stale or drawn out eventless opening. The move in day itself also provides a legitimate reason for the recordings to have occurred to begin with. From here the story is picked up by the character Jed (played by the director himself). Jed has recently gotten a new camera and is focusing on learning how to use it by recording the events of his night out with friends unfold. Although this may seem like somewhat of a cliché reason to film, there are unique elements to the POV changes which stand out. The movie is displayed as evidence of what happens to this group of friends with placards to demonstrate which recovered footage belonged to who, and ownership of the local police department. A cool touch that I cannot say I have seen in other films of the genre which usually rely on the actors to provide some sort of immediate tell for POV changes. As far as acting is concerned much of the cast were friends prior to shooting. The chemistry is apparent and makes up for the occasional lapses in ability, which are few and far between. An impressive run for a debut film in my eyes. The group includes the more reserved Jed and his girlfriend, her friend, and a handful of more outgoing partiers. The dialogue between friends badgering each other is fun and ultimately drives the narrative to push the characters into investigating the mysterious home. Cinematically speaking, "Unlisted Owner" is done very well. Even in the tenser moments of the film the crew took great steps to reduce the unfortunate dizzying camera shakes which are a staple of the genre. Part of this I'm sure due to the director being in control of most of the shots along with careful planning. The movie is also edited particularly well eliminating harsh transitions for a smoother watching experience. Even the inside of the home was custom made to accommodate for the faster paced moments to reduce harsh motions. There are also a handful of cool camera effects added in to represent the glitchy footage due to camera damage during the encounters in the home. The director even got the use of actual emergency vehicles for the film too which makes for a cool touch of authenticity. The final moments of the film are tense and lead to a satisfying and fun conclusion. I do believe that the movie starts and finishes stronger at times than the middle portion which may have stumbled a bit with pacing, but overall there was purpose for every shot. I am a huge fan of found footage, but I wouldn't consider it my genre of choice. I may not be as picky, but I know others who may have some issues with the presentation of the film. These include things like seeing the on-screen display that would be seen during filming but not during playback. Most people wouldn't give this a second thought. I even enjoyed it. I'd like to discuss the plot further, but I'd fear spoiling the fun for anyone interested in seeing it. As far as horror goes this is a great watch with a few flaws, but ultimately an incredibly promising debut feature from a new director. With the endless rehashes and sequels we are faced with today I'd say this is one of the better attempts at found footage since V/H/S. See more 06/13/2018 First off I wanna say, I've never heard of this film until the Writer, Director and Actor emailed me to do a interview for this film. Knowing what I knew from the more of info email, I agreed to setup with interview. So a couple days BEFORE we were gonna do the interview over the phone for the Everything Horror Podcast (which if you don't like no filter language avoid my podcast). From the time I spent debating to rent this (before purchasing this), I decided to go for it hoping I'd like it and not a waste. I enjoyed the camerawork actually and the way they acted / setup sets to do some of the stuff was not really noticeable. The only thing we noticed was near the end was the blood, it did stick out to be more pinkish to really not believe it. I did however got an answer via the Interview that the special effects guy they had at the time wasn't available when it came down to the blood. If you don't swear teenagers swearing like they would when being around friends and stuff, watch this film. If you can't stand swearing almost every line, just ignore it. And if you would like to check out the interview I did with Unlisted Owners writer, director and actor make sure to check out the Podcast. See more Read all reviews

Unlisted Owner

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