Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

The Owners Blu-ray Movie Review

♪ Breaking in is hard to do ♪

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 23, 2020

Directed by first-timer Julius Berg, The Owners is a vicious horror-thriller staged in the most peaceful of locations: a beautiful Victorian mansion nestled in the English countryside and owned by Dr. Richard Huggins (Sylvester McCoy), who's just about to take his ailing wife Ellen (Rita Tushingham) out for Friday night dinner. Chaos descends in the form of young thugs Gaz (Jake Curran) and Nathan (Ian Kenny); they're casing the house with reluctant Terry (Andrew Ellis) and Nathan's girlfriend Mary (Maisie Williams), who really just wants her car back. Terry has a better reason for being along: his mom works for the Huggins family and told him about their basement safe holding a presumably large sum of money. That's good enough for Nathan an especially Gaz -- both are just sick and tired of being poor.

Lumbering through the house with grace and stealth only rivaled by The Wet Bandits, Gaz and company finally locate the safe but are disappointed to discover that it's a non-electronic lock. So instead of just breaking and entering, they change their plan: once Richard and Ellen return, they'll do whatever it takes to get that combination -- and since the house is already torn apart, we believe them. That's exactly what happens... at least until the tables are turned and our elderly victims get the upper hand. It's now a completely different nightmare: Gaz and Nathan are in rough shape, Terry is cowering in the corner, and Mary seems like the only genuine victim in the house.

Although based on the 2011 French graphic novel Une nuit de pleine lune by the father-son team of Hermann and Yves Huppen, The Owners feels late to the party because it shares major plot elements with 2016's Don't Breathe. There are key differences, including The Owners' touch of absurdly dark humor and the somewhat more sympathetic treatment of lone "straight woman" Mary, not to mention its much more ornate surroundings. Unfortunately, the end result doesn't feel quite as tonally effective since most of this film's narrative hooks largely depend on graphic violence, that unlikely cat-and-mouse switch, and all those pesky base-level emotions stemming from its extremely vile first act. And while The Owners is effective on that front and musters up some intrigue with some of its intertwining relationships, its final stretch and twist ending don't feel well-earned. Luckily, the solid performances and claustrophobic atmosphere at least make The Owners worth a run-through, but it doesn't feel like it'll hold up any better to repeat viewings.

RLJ Entertainment presents The Owners as a near-barebones Blu-ray that at least supports the film with a solid 1080p transfer and lossless audio. It's not the most recommended blind buy in recent memory but is worth watching for fans of the cast, who have collectively appeared in Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, and even Doctor Zhivago.

The Owners Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Since most of The Owners takes place indoors and at night, it's good that RLJ's 1080p transfer makes the most of its low-lit location footage with relatively deep black levels, very good shadow detail, and a generally impressive picture overall. Colors are nicely saturated, from the bright yellow of Terry's windbreaker to the ornate Victorian décor and a few unusual lighting schemes. Even the fluorescent-lit basement scene manages to impress in the right conditions. Fine detail is great in close-ups while flattening out in mid-range shots and much darker locales, while the solid compositions and good staging ensure that everything remains easy to follow. Slight noise and a few clumpy artifacts were present along the way but overall this is a great-looking disc that runs at a consistently high bit rate.

NOTE: The climactic 15-minute stretch, a viscerally rough sequence involving poison gas and a kitchen knife, switches aspect ratios from 2.39:1 to roughly 1.37:1 (pillarboxed within the 2.39:1 frame), as shown in the final screenshot. This was clearly done to create claustrophobic tension and there is no other change in overall quality.

The Owners Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix dials it back with a front-loaded presentation that infrequently dips into the rear channels during intense moments and music cues, with cleanly-recoded dialogue doing most of the work. Channel separation is limited and dependent on room size; most of The Owners is, after all, shot in close quarters. Perhaps the most lengthy exception is that climactic 15-minute stretch mentioned above, during which time The Owners' soundtrack relies mostly on disorienting, atonal effects that push much more forcefully towards the rear channels. Overall, it's a solid mix that gets the job done. Optional subtitles (English SDH, Spanish, and French) are included during the main feature only, which you'll likely use to decipher a few regional accents and/or unfamiliar British terms.

The Owners Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray edition arrives in a standard keepcase with not-at-all-accurate cover artwork, a matching embossed slipcover, and no inserts of any kind. On-disc bonus features are disappointingly minimal.

• Making-Of Featurette (7:13) - Director and co-writer Julius Berg briefly talks about the film's production and shooting in this promotional piece, which also includes interviews with actors Maisie Williams, Ian Kenny, Jake Curran, Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, and others, as well as a few moments recorded on set.

The Owners Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Julius Berg's The Owners has a taut atmosphere and good performances, but its story unravels during the final stretch and, unfortunately, fizzles out with a weak twist ending. Ultimately it feels like a missed opportunity for the cast, a mix of capable newcomers and seasoned vets. Although it's worth a watch for thriller fans and gore hounds alike, RLJ's Blu-ray offers little more than solid A/V specs and a fairly low price. Recommended to established fans only.