Pacto Maligno

The film was way under lit, I presume so they could cover for lack of good screenplay. Not good.

An elderly woman named Mercy (Shirley Knight) is slipping away at her advanced age. She was a single mother of three as her husband killed himself while her children were young. Now, in her old age, she's become more violent and like a person in need of an exorcism. While everyone wants to get clear away from her, George (Chandler Riggs), her favorite grandchild, wants to help her.

This movie was O.K. They didn't do anything real inventive or creative. It seemed low budget from the special effects which doesn't necessarily kill a movie but it can hinder it severely if not done correctly. The movie hinged upon Chandler Riggs as he was the main protagonist but I don't think he delivered that well. He wasn't awful, he just wasn't good. I think he's better suited for helping his father kill zombies (for you Walking Dead fans out there). In the end the movie was just an average or even slightly below average horror film.

Mercy is a horror story that plays on typical human fears with a twist, In quintessential Stephen King fashion.

Matt Greenberg adapts King's short story Gramma into the screenplay for the horror film Mercy.

George is the undeniable favorite grandson to his grandmother Mercy. His mother along with his brother must act as caretaker when Mercy unexpectedly is stricken ill and requires constant care. Inexplicably odd and mysterious occurrences seem to revolve around his grandmother and George rushes to save her.

As a horror fanatic, Stephen King represents the worst aspect of horror. I find his writings and stories to be horridly cliché exasperated by the fact that King so desperately tries to twist and surprise his readers when the ending can be seen a mile away.

Interestingly, Mercy is a well paced suspenseful horror in which few stereotypical scares are used until the final reveal. The horror lies in the unveiling of truth through ominous and foreboding layers and well utilized complementary music. Shirley Knight is incredibly creepy as Mercy, the potentially possessed grandmother. The children and characters themselves are smarter than most adults in horror movies.

Chandler Riggs is the main character George, and significantly younger in this film than he is on the Walking Dead. This leads me to assume that the film sat shelves for some time before being made available. Mercy doesn't really add anything new to the genre which is probably the explanation but all in all, it is not a terrible horror movie.

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I went into this with a great deal of trepidation, as I do every Stephen King adaptation, only to find it wasn't one of the better ones. I was actually quite excited when I found out the short story "Gramma" was being made into a film as it is one of my favourites and genuinely creepy. I now think it should have been left well alone. The acting was okay in the main but I think it fell down when it was stretched into movie length. It definitely, for me, lacked the suspense and atmosphere of the original story. Even watching as someone who had never read the story, I wouldn't have found it scary or tense at all. As I said, the acting was okay, but the kid from The Walking Dead (sorry, his name escapes me) seemed a bit flat considering all that was happening and I was very disappointed in Dylan McDermott, who seemed to be there to get through filming and pick up his paycheck. There is a certain character who appears at the end who is quite honestly laughable (I think you'll know who I mean if you get there). Now for the positives..ehm...there was a cute dog and...the basic concept was a bit different. I hate leaving this review as I am a huge fan of King's books and there have been some great adaptations like Christine, Carrie, Shawshank, Cujo, The Green Mile and The Mist etc. Unfortunately, this is more along the lines of The Tommyknockers or Needful Things. I really think King should just hand his work over to Frank Darabont and step back so we can enjoy watching his wonderful characters come truly to life on the big screen.

Despite its slow pace there is a solid film here with some decent performances. There are some confused plot points and it feels at time like a very complex and rich script is trying to force its way through a simplified movie, but it is certainly not without its charm.

The film reads like a classic ghost story that was shackled by attempts to make it a contemporary horror film that doesn't know who its audience actually is. There are elements of comedy mixed in which don't gel well with the general tone and jump scares that don't really fit either.

Overall it is worth watching due to its potential, but don't expect to be overwhelmed as somewhere along the lines most of this was squandered by the film overall throwing things against a wall and seeing what sticks.