The Owners

Your home is supposed to be the place where you feel safe. Where you can do whatever you want, and just create the home that you love. Most of us feel that we are secure in our homes, but what if someone tries to take that away from you? What if someone wants something that you have, in your home? There are many different kinds of films that includes the idea of a home invasion into the plot, but there is one film that i feel stands out in this genre. And that is the 2002 thriller known as Panic Room, from legendary director David Fincher. A very suspensful thriller, with some really good acting performances. What made Panic Room especially so good, is thanks to the cast. First of all you have legendary actress Jodie Foster as the lead character Meg Altman, who really manage to capture the fear of being home invaded. Jodie is one of those actors who can make any character feel realistic, honest and emotional. I would definetely say that Panic Room is on the list of my favourite Jodie Foster performances. But we also have other really good performances in this film from actors such as Jared Leto, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam ( who gave a fantastic performance in the 90´s cult classic film Sling Blade, as alcoholic abuser Doyle Hargraves, a must see ). Another reason why this film is so good, is because David Fincher is a master at making thrillers, as he manage to make this film more clever than most home invasion films. If you have not seen this one, you should. If you can find the 3 DVD disc ( i actually have this one that i bought many years ago from the UK ), you get some nice special features included to check out. Since i usually check out most of the home invasion films that are released, i have been excited to see especially one film called The Owners. I noticed that this film have a very good cast included. The trailer looked interesting, and i finally got a chance to pick this film up on DVD from the UK. Is this one of the better films in this genre in recent years, or is The Owners a big Disappointment to me?

Young thugs Gaz ( Jake Curran ), Nathan ( Ian Kenny ), Terry ( Andrew Ellis ) plan to break into the mansion owned by Richard Huggins ( Sylvester McCoy ) and Ellen Huggins ( Rita Tushingham ), with the help of Mary ( Maise Williams ), they are going to break into their safe. The Huggins couple come home earlier than they planned, so they are forced to tie them up. What seemed to be a simple job, will soon turn into a nightmare.

The Owners is actually a bit of surprise for me. I expected a very typical home invasion film, but this film does take some chances, by letting the characters go all in. It has been a long time since i have seen an independent horror film with such fantastic acting as in The Owners, and this is the biggest reason why i really enjoy this film. The acting from the whole cast is right on spot, and each character get their chance to shine on the big screen. The plot is pretty similar to many other films in this genre, but the difference with The Owners is that this film is more focused on the powerful acting performances than on the plot, and that actually helps the film become even more interesting. Let us begin with one of the strongest acting performances in this film, and that comes from actor James Curran ( who some of you might recognize from Maze Runner: The Death Cure ) as the evil character Gaz. I have to say that this is the best acting performance i have ever seen him done so far, and he should be nominated for an award in any independent film festival. He is honestly outstanding, and i can´t wait to see what he will do next. Legendary actress Rita Tushingham ( who have been in many classic films such as Doctor Zhivago and The Housekeeper, also known as A Judgement In Stone ). If you have seen Rita in her long movie career, you know that she is really good at creating characters. And she does it again in her own unique way, in this film as Ellen Huggins. I love the way Rita makes her character look really disturbed, by the way she uses her facial expressions and dirty words. A wonderful performance indeed. The other actors do a really good job as well, but i have to mention how good director Julius Berg manage to pull all the strings together, with all of these really strong acting performances into the story. The Owners is a film for you who love psychological horror thrillers, that needs strong characters to make a powerful impact. Maybe not my favourite film in this genre, but definetely one of the best in recent years. I strongly recommend you pick up this film on DVD, or VOD, if you want really good acting. The Owners is a must see, especially if you want a powerful psychological film.

Rating: DDDD