Found (2012) |
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Found (2012) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Horror |
Audio Commentary-Director’s Commentary Audio Commentary-Cast & Crew Commentary Featurette-Making Of-Making of Found (36:35) More…-Gag Reel (5:09) Short Film-Deep Dweller (6:06) Short Film-Deep Dweller with Commentary Trailer-Other Monster Trailers x 7 Theatrical Trailer |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2012 | ||
| Running Time | 95:56 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | Scott Schirmer |
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Studio
Distributor |
Gryphon Entertainment | Starring |
Gavin Brown Phyllis Munro Louie Lawless Ethan Pilbeck Alex Kogin |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | ? | Music |
Aaron Marshall Bing Satellites |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0  (192Kb/s)English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.40:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
"Marty loved horror movies . . .
Until his life turned into one"
Twelve year old Marty (Gavin Brown) is a normal kid: he attends church with his mother (Phyllis Munro), is respectful to his father (Louie Lawless) and gets good grades at school where he is bullied by the larger boys. He likes watching horror movies and with his only friend David (Alex Kogin) he draws a superhero graphic novel. But when he finds a severed head in his older brother Steve’s (Ethan Pilbeck) bowling ball bag, he discovers that Steve is a serial killer. Marty worries that his life is turning into a horror movie and that he may become one of Steve’s victims.
Found is the work of writer Todd Rigney (the film is based upon his novel) and writer / director / editor Scott Schirmer. It has won numerous awards on the horror festival circuit but was twice refused classification in Australia, the Censorship Board commenting that ”the film contains prolonged and detailed depictions of sexualised violence, including sexualised torture, mutilation, sexual activity with body parts and cannibalism, which result in a very high degree of impact”. After cuts were made, totalling approximately 2 minutes, the film was passed with a R classification. See the Censorship section below for more details.
The cuts made were not in the main film Found as such, but in a video nasty called Headless that Marty and David watch. Excluding that “video”, most of the graphic violence in Found occurs off-screen; the film is certainly bloody but we only see the results of that violence with severed heads and one disturbing shot at the end. The graphic scenes of sexual violence and depravity were totally over the top and intended to shock; they succeeded and the film gained notoriety on the basis of these scenes.
With the scenes cut in this country the shock factor is very much negated and Found becomes an off-centre coming of age story, told entirely from the viewpoint of Marty, who provides the telling and wryly amusing narration. His relationship with Steve is often tender, the elder brother providing advice about handling bullies when Marty’s parents ignore or avoid the issue, yet Marty is always conscious that a different Steve is hidden just below the surface. The film is thus about relationships between brothers, growing up and the secrets and horrors that lie within a family; Marty questions whether the monster is Steve, their father or Marty himself. The climax of the film is indeed shocking, but in truth not unexpected.
Stripped of its graphic sections, Found is a film where the inexperience of the actors and director becomes apparent. This is the first feature of Gavin Brown, Phyllis Munro and Ethan Pilbeck, and while some scenes work OK the two males do not have the presence or dialogue skills to make the film truly frightening. This is also only Scott Schirmer’s second feature after Boy in the Making in 2001, another story about growing up, and while some sequences, such as Marty burning his graphic novel are well staged and touching, too often the camera work and editing is obvious and jumpy, and does not create the tension it should.
Found is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.
The print shows evidence of the low budget filmmaking. Close ups are sharp enough and although the colours during the credit sequence are deep and vivid, especially the reds, the rest of the film has a natural, but muted look. Blacks are solid, and shadow detail very good. Brightness, contrast consistent and skin tones do vary, a number of scenes appearing lighter than others.
Other than some minor aliasing against vertical lines, artefacts and marks are absent. The “video” footage did have deliberate scratches and softness.
There are no subtitles.
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Audio is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 track at 192 Kbps, surround encoded. There are also two audio commentaries, both Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps.
Dialogue is sometimes mumbled or delivered softly making it difficult to hear, so subtitles would have been useful. The effects are OK, with some music, weather and voices in the rears, and the subwoofer did add some depth to the thunder.
The music score was very effective. It consisted of some very atmospheric music by Aaron Marshall and Bing Satellites plus an original score by Magician Johnson, Greg Wright and Lito Velasco.
The ADR is out on some occasions creating lip synchronisation errors.
The layer chance was not noticeable.
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Writer Todd Rigney and writer / director / editor Scott Schirmer sit together and chat in a light-hearted manner about a number of things, including the film! Topics include influences, differences between the book and the film, locations and the difficulties of working with the young actors. There are silences and a bit of “I love that shot / scene / sequence / etc.” but the commentary is a reasonable listen.
This is a commentary with a large group of people sitting together: Todd Rigney, Scott Schirmer, DP Leya Taylor, producer Damien Wesner, sound recordist Kirk Chastain plus cast Louie Lawless, Gavin Brown, Phyllis Munro, Alex Kogin, Ethan Pilbeck, Shane Beasley and special effects / cast member Arthur Cullipher. The problem is that no-one really moderates the discussion, so while there are some questions asked of various people, the commentary is unstructured with lots of jokes, laughing and talking over each other. They are obviously having a great time together although information about the shoot and the film itself is pretty scanty.
A genuine and interesting making of with film stills, raw film footage and interviews with writer Todd Rigney, writer / director / editor Scott Schirmer, DP Leya Taylor, producer Damien Wesner, cast Gavin Brown, Phyllis Munro, Alex Kogin and Ethan Pilbeck, plus the cast of the video nasties Angela Denton, Shane Beasley, Arthur Cullipher and Brigid Macaulay. Topics discussed include inspirations, auditing and casting, shooting challenges, the movies within the movie, best and worst days and releasing the film. Well worth watching.
Goofs, stuff-ups, fun on set and alternative takes.
A creature arises from the swamp to murder a courting couple. Extended version, with scratches and artefacts, of one of the videos Marty and David hired and watched.
The above with light-hearted commentary by Leya Taylor (cinematographer) and Arthur Cullipher (special effects artist and the creature).
The following trailers play on start-up and must be skipped: Wrath of the Crows (0:35), Devil’s Tower (1:46) and Across the River (1:13). They can also be selected from the menu, plus trailers for Beckoning the Butcher (1:44),Apocalyptic (1:41), Antisocial (1:34) and Raven’s Cabin (1:55).
There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
See the Censorship section for the different cuts of the film. As far as I can see, the extras are similar, but the US release is uncut.
Found was refused classification twice in Australia. This R rated version, with cuts approximating 2 minutes, is an off-centre story told from the perspective of a 12 year old boy about coming of age and the secrets and horrors that lie within a family.
The video and audio are acceptable. The extras are extensive and worthwhile.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | NAD T737 |
| Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |