The Owners
review by Bobby Blakey
I love movies focusing on bad people that get the tables turned in them like one of my favorites Don’t Breath. The latest looking to bring their own spin to that idea is The Owners starring Massie Williams, Sylvester McCoy, Jake Curran, Ian Kenny, Andrew Ellis, and Rita Tushingham. Could this film offer up the fun this kind of direction can offer or will it not be a house worth breaking into?
The Owners follows a group of friends think they found the perfect easy score - an empty house with a safe full of cash. But when the elderly couple that lives there 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.
I was pretty intrigued going in hoping it was going to really bring the twists and turns, but have to admit getting there was a bit rough at times. The story is pretty much the same as Don’t Breath with some minor changes and overall reasoning. My biggest issue are the group friends outside of Williams. She is great in the role and serves as a great final girl type character and the rest of them are fine acting wise, but so unbalanced as actual characters. There are so many moments that just make no sense in their switch in attitudes and in turn it takes what is a great set up and makes it frustrating.
On the flip side is the older couple played perfectly by Rita Tushingham and Dr. Who alumni Sylvester McCoy. They have a great first act playing up the innocent older couple but still give a vibe that there may be more to them. They both chew up the scenery and take the film to a new level that makes it work despite some of the bad decisions in the other characters.
When things make the big twist it steps things up to some fun, but still keeps the werid decision making intact. There is a strange element of despite being in mortal danger no one is really being held against their will. This makes for an interesting twist, but at the same time makes it frustrating to why they don’t just smack them and leave. If you can get past that it still manages to be a fun crazy flick that has something there, but just never fully captures what could have been.
Grab your copy of The Owners available now on Blu-ray and DVD from RLJE Films.