The Owners: The British Knock Off Don’t Breath

The Owners is a thriller film directed by Julius Berg. The plot follows a group of thieves who break into an old rich couple’s house hoping to rob them of their fortune, however the tables are soon turned.

This is very familiar to Don’t Breath, in more ways than one, I don’t want to openly say it is a rip off, but it does seem more than a little influenced by it; down to the keeping a young women secretly chained up part. Regardless, I am really starting to get sick of these sort of films, there have been a lot of them recently, the thieves break into someone’s house and then things flip on them sort of films and I for one am getting bored.

This is a thoroughly unpleasant watch, unlike Don’t Breath this film doesn’t see any of the characters you are supposed to be rooting for live to tell the tale; the ending is a real bummer.

The praise I will give this film is that parts of it are quite creepy, mainly from about half an hour in we can see evidence of this. The first 30 minutes have structural problems and feels needlessly drawn out. However, once the flip occurs there is a good amount of tension and atmosphere, enough to make you forget about some of the films other glaring issues.

Maisie Williams is strong here; she makes for a likeable lead but also a believable survivor. When we see her characters’ final stand against the evil old couple she is carries the physicality well, clearly as a result of her GOT action training.

Overall, watchable, and maybe even enjoyable for some. Personally I found it a bit too bleak and was off put by the pacing issues and the weak secondary characters that populated and overly busy script. Williams was good though.

Pros.

Maisie Williams

The tension once it gets going

Cons.

The first act drags

There is too much going on and far too much back story

The secondary characters feel needless

It is a bit too bleak

2/5

Reviewed by Luke