The Pact

It's a low budget horror movie, but not cheesy in the least. There is no cheesy fake blood and gore, no sex crazed teenagers, and no topples bubble headed blond's running from a psycho killer.

No cheap thrills here, just a very complex and layered plot with plenty of twist and turns. The movie never once lost my attention nor did I ever get lost in the plot. The movie moved slow enough to build likable characters and to build up suspense, but also wasn't so slow that it lost my interest.

I loved watching Annie as she went through the motions of loss and anger and then fear, and then ultimately the courage to discover clues and dig up old family secrets.

Nichole arrives back at her childhood home to take care of business after the death of her mother. She calls her sister, Annie, for help but after getting no joy, she carries on without her. It's during a video call with her daughter (who's being cared for by her cousin, Liz) that something happens to her. After a couple of days, Annie decides to help after all, but she discovers that Nichole has gone missing and not before long Annie starts to hear strange noises and is actually attacked by an unseen entity. Not before long, Liz also goes missing, so Annie decides to seek help to find out what is going on...is it a violent spirit hell bent on creating misery for Annie or is there something much deeper going on? The Pact is actually not too bad of a psychological thriller, but in all honesty it is actually pretty slow. It takes a good while for the movie to really get going, but when it does it picks up quite nicely. It's just unfortunate that it takes a while to do this with a bit too many stop/start moments in between.

The feel and atmosphere of the movie wasn't too bad either, and what made these moments better was that there was no "music getting louder" moments. I find the lack of dramatic music in movies like this much more enjoyable as it adds to a better mood. There are some nice touches throughout the movie as well and with being a low-budget film some of the visuals are done well.

I think Casper Van Dien must have had more practice at acting as well because he was actually pretty decent here unlike the hideous over-acting done in Starship Troopers. There are definitely more pluses than negatives for The Pact, but I just wish that it managed to keep a better pace for the 1st half of the film.

Overall, though, it's not too bad of a movie.

As a woman struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother's death, an unsettling presence emerges in her childhood home.

First, let me praise Casper VanDien, who (to put it bluntly) did not suck. I cannot say he is particularly known for his superb acting, having done a number of cheesy movies, but VanDien shows off his acting chops here. This kind of performance could get you a supporting actor Oscar if it was not in a horror film.

I heard the judges at Sundance were praising Nick McCarthy's direction, and that is absolutely fair. Above all else, the camera is the star here. Maybe we should give that credit to the cinematographer (Bridger Nielson), but it is hard to draw that line -- could one have been great without the other? Alan Bacchus said that the film was "smart, well written and genuinely scary". He is right on all three counts. I rarely find horror films scary (I am immune to their nonsense), but I actually had to peek through my fingers at one point. I am embarrassed to say it, but this is true. Well done!

Okay, sure, it's not a groundbreaking horror film (what is nowadays?), but I found myself enjoying it. I usually don't watch films below a 6.0 IMDb rating (yeah, yeah, I'm a ratings wh***, shut up). But I was really in the mood for a horror movie and decided to give this a try. Yeah, it's a traditional story and somewhat predictable, but the modern "offbeat" characters kept it interesting. I agree with the user that says it starts off a bit weak/slow, but the rest of the story kept me intrigued. I've seen (modern) horror movies that are far worse than this that have higher ratings so give it a try if you enjoy modern horror.

Written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy, "The Pact" stars Caity Lotz as Annie, a young woman who returns to her childhood home following the death of her mother. Her sister and cousin have disappeared and it appears that there is some supernatural entity inhabiting the house. As Annie digs deeper, she learns of a serial killer whose last victim may have had some kind of connection to her mother. Annie begins putting the information together, revealing shocking and terrifying secrets.

Sound clichéd? Well believe me, it's not. What starts out as your typical run-of-the-mill haunted house film becomes one of the most intriguing and horrifying horror movies of the year. Not many movies scare me half as badly as "The Pact" did. I can tell you honestly that this film messed with my head and left me fearing my own house.

Caity Lotz does a great acting job, especially since she has such little dialogue. She really gets her feelings across by body movement and facial expressions. Another actress who really stands out is Haley Hudson, who plays Stevie, Annie's friend who just happens to be able to contact the dead. It is her character that scared me the most.

The movie also has some very good cinematography, especially when Annie walking throughout the house. Rather than constantly cut to new angle every time she turns a corner, the camera follows her with one continuous shot, immensely adding to the suspense.

The best part about the movie is that it doesn't assume that the audience is stupid. One of my least favorite things is when all questions are answered by the characters talking to themselves, or even to other characters. In "The Pact" the audience is given the information, and we are required to put it together ourselves. I have seen the movie twice now and certainly picked up on some small things that I missed in my first viewing.

The final plot surprise terrified me and I definitely won't forget it anytime soon. I didn't care for the very end (as in the closing shot), but it didn't ruin the whole movie for me.

Overall, "The Pact" is one of the scariest movies this year and a very well done horror movie. Not many low-budget horror movies are able to maintain the constant level of suspense that "The Pact" did. I highly recommend this to any horror fan. "The Pact" is currently available on Netflix Instant Streaming.

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