The Pact

at its first glance this film is about a haunting ghost story. but as the plot unfolds it unravels a more frighting mystery than you would have imagined. if you like horror movies that come along without too much gore and splatter, but excel at delivering a good story then please watch it. the acting may not be perfect at every moment, but it is sufficient without having yourself to facepalm too often.

I liked the setting, because old houses are almost terrifying on their own. the audio and visuals were also very well done. One thing I really appreciated was the modest but reasonable use of modern media through the film, where it is often deliberately left out in horror movies. I think it is because the writers are afraid that it might ruin the atmosphere.

EDIT: actually I meant the full feature movie (based on this short?)

go and watch it.

For those interested, here's a summary from the press release: "In THE PACT, a young woman finds herself alone in the house of her late mother where an unsettling – and sinister – presence emerges.

Premiering as an official selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the short film THE PACT, written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy, stars Jewel Staite (Firefly, Serenity) and Sam Ball (The Event). Playing with Calvin Reeder's The Oregonian in the ʻPark City at Midnightʼ section of Sundance 2011, THE PACT is a dark ghost story told in a taut 11 minutes.

A legion of sci-fi fans know star Jewel Staite as ʻKayleeʼ on Joss Whedon's cult series Firefly, a role she reprises in the feature film version, Serenity. Jewel's tense performance in THE PACT as a besieged young woman is a unique compliment to her long resume in film and television.

Three-time Sundance director Nicholas McCarthy points to his love of the horror films of Dario Argento as an influence, but also to the subtler work of famed horror producer Val Lewton. "I wanted to tell a story about a woman dealing with a private, self-inflicted terror. My favorite aspects of horror films as diverse as Argento's Suspiria or Lewton's The Seventh Victim are their intense atmospheres. My goal was to call on those movies for reference and use them in the service of a character piece. I think the result is really different."