For Sale by Owner

I watched this movie late last night (alone) and it really freaked me out. Although, in my opinion, the movie needs to be reclassified as a horror rather than a thriller. The storyline is very unique and extremely realistic. I am not a horror buff but this one grabbed my attention. Although the story develops slowly, the movie never lost my attention. The actors and the cinematographer deed a very good job. The black and white flashback sequences were very disturbing. But as some other viewers already commented, there were some plot holes/things I didn't get. But I am guessing that those questions were done on purpose and the writer wanted to keep a certain degree of ambiguity. Upon reviewing the movie the second time, a lot of questions seem to have been answered very subtly.

Bottom line was, I really enjoyed it, it was creepy and would highly recommend this one to my friends.

In Emeryville, the dwellers are scared with the serial killer that craves the number thirteen on his victims. During a stormy afternoon, the school counselor Sarah (Amanda Brown) allows the insistent real-state agent Andrew Byrd (John Lansch) to stay inside her house while waiting for his ride. Andrew is disputing the custody of his daughter Samara and shows an unbalanced man while having a conversation with Sarah. When the security system agent John Denton (Marc Hustvedt) arrives in the house for maintenance of the alarm system, Sarah feels secure. However, when a mark with 13 is found in one room, Sarah realizes that she is in danger.

"For Sale by Owner" is a theatrical and tense thriller and shows characters in the edge in the thin line between sanity and insanity. The story is developed in a slow-pace and probably that is the reason of the low IMDb User Rating. However the acting is good and despite the last confused twist, I liked this little movie. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Casa do Pânico" ("The House of the Panic")

On a dark and stormy night, with a serial killer on the loose, Sera (Amanda Brown) invites two strangers in, either of whom could be a serial killer.

Amanda Brown makes an unlikely protagonist. She is not particularly likable in this role, but does a fine job of being vulnerable. And maybe that is the important part: knowing that if the man in her house is a serial killer, she probably stands no chance against him.

This film strikes me as being like Larry Cohen's "Pick Me Up", but with a mysterious twist. In "Pick Me Up", we have a woman surrounded by two serial killers. Here, we have a woman with two strangers in her house -- but we have no idea if they are both killers, one of them is a killer, or maybe neither of them are. Both are creepy, but what does that mean?

The film is slow, and very little happens... but it is somewhat interesting and I am tempted to bump up my rating of it a little bit. But, sadly, it is just not quite worthy.

Don't know why people voted 6 or higher. Very thin story and regular acting. The end of the movie is like many others and a little bit childish:" Oh John, where are you?". I've never heard that before.

The story is also like "swiss-cheese" (a lot of holes). You can't really figure out what's it about. Of course you can guess what's it about, but the plot is very poor and doesn't give the answers. Not even a thought for consideration, but a complete gap.

And I didn't like the way it was shot. One big close-up. I don't like it, but that's just subjective. Very little music. And the 'freak-out' moments were funny. I didn't even shake my glass of Coke. A little bit different then for instance The Ring (I didn't sleep at all, that night.)

My advise, do not rent or buy this one. There are many many many better movies with similar (and better) scenarios.

Premise seemed familiar - serial killer on the loose in a quiet town, woman home alone to find a strange man in her house. But as the story developed, which starts a bit slow, the characters reveal deep inner demons that haunt them. Nice use of flashback and digital effects to show the world in their heads. I was expecting a bit more blood and gore, but found it to be smartly used when needed.

Just when I thought I had figured it out and knew how it would end, it seems to throw that upside down. This is a nice lower-budget indie film from the US that had some surprisingly good acting despite a relatively modest production value. Worth a look.