The Owners isn’t exactly a unique movie (kind of similar to Don’t Breath) but at the very least starts off well enough but even with a few decent scenes in the third act, the rest of the film doesn’t have a whole lot to offer.
The Owners
(2019)
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller, Horror, Crime
RLJ Entertainment | NR – 92 min. – $28.97 | October 20, 2020
Date Published: 10/26/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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RLJ Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2½/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: A group of friends — Gaz (JAKE CURRAN), Terry (ANDREW ELLIS), Nathan (IAN KENNY) and Mary (MAISIE WILLIAMS) — think they found the perfect easy score: an empty house with a safe full of cash. But when the elderly couple (SYLVESTER MCCOY, RITA TUSHINGHAM) that lives their comes home early, the tables are suddenly turned. As a deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, the would-be thieves are left to fight to save themselves from a nightmare they could never have imagined. Quick Hit Review: The Owners is pretty similar to plenty in the home invasion subgenre including I’m sure some where the invaders get a rude awakening when the homeowners are not what they seem. And that’s the case here. The film opens up well enough with some good suspense early on before losing a bit of steam, especially with the death of one character that was a joker card and just an all around bastard. However, director (and co-writer) Julius Berg does some unique things, such as reducing the aspect ratio to a letterboxed format once the house goes under lockdown giving it the intended claustrophobic feeling at times. The selling point of this is Maisie Williams, part of the large ensemble on Game of Thrones and here she does well opposite the devious Sylvester McCoy. Not going to say she’s quite a star but in an indie horror like this, she has her moments to shine. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1¾/5 |
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This release comes with a textured slip cover with an embossed title. The only bonus included is The Making of The Owners (7:13) behind-the-scenes featurette. |
VIDEO – 4/5 |
| RLJ Entertainment releases The Owners onto Blu-ray where it’s presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. The video here looks alright, especially for what I assume was a low budget project, detail is moderately sharp throughout, particularly on the close-ups, and colors are toned down in keeping with the more ominous elements. There were no major or obvious instances of aliasing, artifacting or other flaws so a relatively clean transfer. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The disc includes a standard but efficient DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which outputs clear dialogue through the center channel and some good depth from the front and rear speakers of the terror inflicted on the burglars, in addition to the generic thriller score. |
OVERALL – 2¼/5 |
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The Owners isn’t exactly a unique movie (kind of similar to Don’t Breath) but at the very least starts off well enough but even with a few decent scenes in the third act, the rest of the film doesn’t have a whole lot to offer outside of some okay performances from Maisie Williams and Sylvester McCoy. Still, might be worth a rental. |