by On Friday, I started catching people posting about the movie Found. To many, it was a breath of fresh air on the horror landscape. While not a completely “unique” concept, I have to agree. The film is very good.
FOUND is a coming of age story about a young man (Gavin Brown) that finds out his older brother is a serial killer (Ethan Philbeck). Marty (Brown) is an oft bullied 12 year that emulates his 17 year old brother. While dad is either working or watching television, mom is putting in long hours at the office. This leaves Marty to fend for himself, and one day, while investigating his brother’s room, he discovers a decapitated head in a bowling ball bag. This leads Marty to a constant state of confusion: While he loves his brother, he knows that there is something off with his brother.
Both Brown and Philbeck give wonderful performances in Found. Brown has won several best actor awards the last couple years for this portrayal. While not a lot of on screen violence, the story internalizes in Marty’s head. Many of his thoughts are portrayed with voice overs, and this gives Found a Stephen King feel to it. The supporting cast is weak (and this is the biggest and only downfall of the movie). It relies on a few kids in key roles that you can tell are inexperienced actors, and the adults give about the same performance.
While there is not a lot of gore on screen, what we do get is just….wow. Like many horror fans, Marty finds a love of horror films early. Marty asks his brother if he can borrow his copy of Hellraiser, but instead he ends up watching this film Headless. Headless is essentially a snuff film that his brother has that contains scenes I’ve never seen before in a movie. While his friend (and myself) was both confused and intrigued at this, Marty contemplates if this is the film that turned his brother into a killer. It’s a scene that is wonderfully done, and is easily the high point of the film. (Note: Found‘s production company, Forbidden Films, just fully funded a kickstarter to make a full feature film of Headless. It is going to be nasty.)
Marty is forced to internalize his problems in Found, and this leads to the convergence of all his problems as the movie progresses. When the film begins, I found Marty to be comparable to Oskar from Let the Right One In. He’s bullied, and doesn’t feel like he can talk to anybody about it. As he is pulled more and more into his brother’s world, we see him gain confidence (that is actually hiding his fear). The finale reminds me of a popular creepy pasta, and is just…awful. When this film shows you gore…you get gore.
Scaretissue Interviews Found Actor Gavin Brown
I recently had a chance to catch up with star of Found, Gavin Brown. He had this to say:
SCARETISSUE: Are you a horror fan? Did that attitude change after this film?
GAVIN: I kinda like horror but i like action and comedy more
ST: Your character in Found is bullied throughout the film by various people. How was the tone off camera? Were you handled with “kid gloves”?
GAVIN: It was fun. i had no problems off camera. I was kept happy
ST: There are some very disturbing images in this film. How did you mentally prepare yourself for them? How did your parents feel about making this film?
GAVIN: Those parts didn’t really effect me. so i didn’t really have to prepare for it.
ST: I see that you are a budding filmmaker yourself. What type of movies do you like to make?
GAVIN: I make mountain biking and long boarding videos
ST: In 10 years, where do you see yourself?
GAVIN: Acting hopefully.. but if not i would like to travel the world so i can have a adventurous lifestyle.
