I came across this one, purely by chance, while doing my usual perusing of the horror section at FYE, where you can actually find choice shit on disc, from U.K. champions of the genre, Arrow, Criterion, Scream Factory, or even Something Weird, if you look closely enough and the planets are properly aligned. Anyway, a blind purchase it was, since I really haven't read any reviews (of any films, really) online in quite awhile, in keeping my focus mainly on this site, the upcoming podcast I've been working on (you might not hate listening to it, I hope), and future video channels on YouTube. I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile, we've got the business of this particular independent slasher, which plays out like this...
I am gonna kill you...but first, you're getting a 'Cleveland Steamer'!
Marty (Gavin Brown) is pesky younger, horror-loving brother to the elder, Steve (Ethan Philbeck), a creepy horror-loving, metal fan/loner who every so often brings severed human heads home in a bowling bag, usually women, and usually black. Not only is he a serial killer, he's a bigoted one, to boot! Meanwhile, Marty, having a knack for discovering all of the family's deepest secrets like his father's hidden stack of porn or his mother's old love letters, stumbles across his brother's decaying keepsake while snooping in his room, yet naturally admires his older bro ( regardless of any deep-seated homicidal urges he may entertain on certain nights) as he often lets him cruise his collection of obscure splatter titles on VHS, while hanging out with an equally unpopular pal; a chunky snotbag of a kid named Trevor (Adrian Cox-Thurmond), who co-authors a gruesome comic book they often work on, together, when they aren't trespassing on dilapidated circus grounds.
"Oh Hedy Lamarr, I loved you in Boom Town... " Yeah, sorry.
While dealing with bullies himself, his buddy Trevor also takes heat for association, and when Marty winces during a brutal murder scene in a slasher movie they're watching, he defriends him altogether, until Marty offers him a look at something he's never seen before. That disembodied head in the bowling bag bears a striking resemblance to the black kid who's been bullying Marty at school, his murderous older brother drawing inspiration from a slasher he'd stolen from the local video store called "Headless", which showcases a misogynistic sadist in a skull mask doing awful things to women, and ultimately, relieving them of their respective domepieces in a gleeful orgy of sex violence. Trevor'd probably like to go home now. The family's relationship is further strained when Marty disfigures a passing bully's face in an act of defiance, leading to a dysfunctional battle royale between Steve and his father that ends in a hellacious flurry of life fluids and a finale twist that genre fans are bound to appreciate. Check it out!
Nothing diffuses a bullying situation like a good homeopathic remedy such as "a tablespoon full of your own medicine", in this case.
I recognized Kitsie Duncan from my Facebook friends list. Nice one, KD. Shane Beasley who portrayed the killer in the "Headless" film inside this one, also provided the seriously goopy special gore effects. Crazy, man, crazy. I dug the vibe this film has, with a twisted vein of gallows humor out of an E.C. comic book from the fifties, while giving a respectful nod to its eighties slasher predecessors. Though it somehow flew under my radar and the unceremonious discovery that followed, Found stands as a pleasant surprise, and a nifty tweak to a slasher sub-genre that has otherwise mostly gone the route of self-parody these days. As such, it earns an admirable three Wops on the scale, and comes highly recommended.
Which one of you bastards let Gary Busey get into the strawberry preserves!
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