Review: UNLISTED OWNER (2013)
The debut of director Jed Brian UNLISTED OWNER seems to have taken the long road to release, its IMDB page carrying a 2013 date. Usually, when a film sits on a shelf for that long it’s not a good sign. Between that and my lack of enthusiasm for found footage films, (give or take THE FEAR FOOTAGE and GRAVE ENCOUNTERS) I approached this with caution. Turns out it’s actually not that bad.
Beginning with the usual bit of text telling us the origin of the footage, we then get footage of a family happily moving into a new house before quickly being slaughtered by an unseen killer. A group of local kids hears about the murders. Later that night, running on beer and bad judgment they sneak back in for a look around. Needless to say, things do not end well.
UNLISTED OWNER is presented as a compilation of footage acquired by the local police from various sources. These including a couple who bought it after the film’s main events and a police interrogation as well as the first family to die and of course the kids themselves. It’s separated by cards giving the origin of the footage so you don’t get confused.
The main problem with the film, however, is that it drags in the middle. After the initial killings, it takes nearly 40 minutes until the kids sneak into the house. And they are annoying as hell to watch up until that point. Considering the film runs just over an hour including credits that means we spend nearly half of it watching these clowns insult each other and make bad jokes.
Once they get inside the house things pick up quickly and the film certainly ends on a solid note, However, I really wish the middle was either tightened up or better written. A few clicks on fast forward may help.
UNLISTED OWNER is available on Amazon where it cracked the top 10 new horror releases. You can get updates on other release information at the film’s website and Facebook page.