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.

Feisty daughter returns to her dead mother's house and experiences unexplained supernatural phenomena.

Quite effective mid-budget chiller, which, at least, is largely explained at the end (although the fate of the two missing persons is rather ambiguous).

Most scares are signposted (apart from two effective jump scares), which takes away the impact somewhat, but overall it is quite effective. Similar to 'Stir of Echoes' in plot.

My main criticism is that everyone seems to do everything alone. Whereas this is understandable for the loner heroine, a cop is unlikely to go into a house alone and knock a house about to get evidence (you would hope).

I suspect the writers were subconsciously influenced by 'Salem's Lot', as some of the characters' names are similar - ie. Glick/Barlow.

At one point the heroine gets a probate cheque for thousands of dollars. In the UK this process would take at least 18 months, but here seems to be completed with the stroke of a pen.

Overall, I'm being hypercritical, as it is well worth watching and is eminently watchable, if the plot devices are somewhat familiar in films of this type.

Worth checking out.

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!

"The Pact" is a treat for fans of this type of horror/thriller film. The basic plot seems simple enough -- a young woman's sister convinces her to come back for their mother's funeral, despite the fact that the two sisters were estranged from their mother for a while. When she comes back, her sister is gone, and strange, supernatural things begin to happen...

"The Pact" has a lot going for it. First of all, there is no forced romance to make us roll our eyes. Secondly, the lead character behaves like you'd expect a person to behave! When weird things start happening, she books out of the house. When she has to go back, she brings a policeman. When she gets in danger, she screams and flails and kicks. There are still some "Why is she doing that?" sequences, but a LOT less than usual in this type of film. And finally, NO IDIOTIC TWIST ENDING THAT MAKES NO SENSE BASED ON THE REST OF THE MOVIE!

But the best thing this film has going for it is Caity Lotz. The best part, by far, of MTV's cool but sadly departed "Death Valley," Caity is very easy on the eyes and she really shines in this role -- it's a virtuoso performance. And it needed to be -- a good portion of the film is her alone, so the entire film is on her shoulders and she carries it off. Very impressive, and I hope we get to see more of her in the future.

The film is not perfect -- a major plot is given away in a serious "deus ex machina" moment, there are some plot holes that the movie ignores, and I'm still not totally sure what the very last shot of the film is supposed to mean (maybe it will be explained when the DVD is released). But there is WAAAAY more good than bad, and it's worth seeing and supporting.

A woman's mother dies. She calls the rebellious younger sister to see if she will attend the funeral. She then chats with her daughter who lives with her cousin. During the chat the daughter asks her who's behind her. She sees no one but looks around the house. Then she vanishes.

During the funeral the little sister, Annie, does show up. The daughter and the cousin are there and spend the night at the house. Next morning the cousin has vanished.

Annie goes to the police. One night some force grabs her and yanks her throughout the house. Annie does some digging. There's a picture of her mom and a woman in a park. She also has visions of this woman.

When the cop visits her house they discover a secret room with holes in the walls to observe everyone else in the house. When the cop returns to the house by himself he's stabbed to death.

Annie meanwhile has a medium come over who experiences things. As she leaves she utters the name Judas. Annie discovers there was a serial killer in the area years ago who was known as Judas. He killed the woman she sees in the visions. Annie goes to the park and is led to a church/school where her mean mom worked. She finds out a man worked also there who has their same last name. He was a brother of the mother no one knew about. The medium tells her to do a Ouija session. It provides her with more answers and Annie will confront the evil in the house.

The Pact is a well-done lower budget horror thriller. Why it's called "The Pact" is entirely unclear. It's a slower movie but it's effective. Music and effects are very good and you do want to find out just what is going on. The story combines human evil with the supernatural in a convincing way. It could easily have chosen either of those but together they make things more interesting. Direction is excellent and the cast does a solid job as well. My main complaint is the casting of Caity Lotz as the main character. They already hired better choices in the lovely Kathleen Rose Perkins and Agnes Bruckner. The story is a bit short as we learn next to nothing of our main character or the family.