The Pack

Oh my...and it started so promising...50.000 people die every year by wild dog attacks (I know - crazy number, isn't it?!), so I thought, "yeah, a movie about that might be interesting !".

And I indeed am a fan of animal horror, and I can understand, that it's not easy to make a movie about this. The animals need to be trained well, and a lot of Special FX is necessary.

This having in mind, I could not enjoy "The Pack" - at all.

What did bother me most, were two things: the characters would just have needed to call the cops and wait things out behind a locked door. Pretty easy so far. And IF, I say IF, they wanted to go out - never heard of fire? Build a torch, scare the dogs away, go your way in freedom and safety.

When I watched "The Pack", I seriously was happy, that this family was not part of the app. 10.000 people, that once carried out the DNA legacy of Homo Sapiens, because we would have died out as species.

Also, of course no mobile or even radio / Walkietalkie will work on the farm? Wow, Dudes, this is not "Amityville". When the landlines, radios and mobiles did work in the afternoon, they will work after dark as well.

I know, I know - people do dumb stuff in horror movies, and getting no signal is part of the basics, and sometimes it just has to be that way to tell the story, I get this and usually am okay with it.

But in "The Pack" these points are too important for me personally to not dislike the movie completely ignoring it. Come on, they could have made a "twist" that the dogs origin from house dogs and thus are not afraid of fire or whatever...the way it was solved here is just lazy storytelling.

"Hey, couldn't the family like, use some torches or so to scare the pack away?" "I don't believe in fire...only in the great C'tulhu!" "Uhm, I don't think this will be a proper explanation for..." The Great C'tulhuuuuuuu!"

Also, why should the dogs stop attacking in Daylight, when they think they cornered their prey? It's not werewolves, only dogs...

Also, the characters stay superficial and pale, I was not at all interested in them or if they survive the night. The acting was average, but the problem was the character design, not the actors. As viewer you stay completely uninterested, and nothing is done to wake your interest. Also, with a family of 4, you can imagine who will survive...

The father is downright stupid, by the way. The bank tells him he will lose everything. Next sentence from him to his wive is, they will never lose the farm? Come one - the bank accountant literally told you the exact opposite just minutes ago, and she sat next to you. What's wrong with you, bro?

Also, they are like, cattle owners, and in the beginning of the movie totally nobody was surprised to find dead sheep, obviously torn in pieces by wolves or bears or whatever. So, no one ever expects wolves or bears, despite no one is surprised to find their victims? So, they know the animals are there, but they don't care and protect themselves in any way? Everyone just wanders out in the dark wilderness without being properly armed? Because don't mind that bear, if it comes, they will...what? Hug it out?

Sorry, but I can't give this more than 2 of 10 points, for me it was a huge disappointment. I give one point for the dog training and one point for the nice low key lighting. Oh, I liked the song in the end credits...at least something, eh?

Can't recommend. Watch "Backcountry" for good animal horror and leave this one in the cheap DVD box.

It's not the Low-Budget of this Australian Thriller that Hurts, it's the Lack of Imagination. The Film Crew put a Professional Looking Movie on the Screen but the Limited and Standard Story-Line of People Trapped in the House Assaulted by...Fill in the Blank, has been Done to Death and the Only Thing that can Resurrect the Plot is Creativity. This Movie has Very Little.

It's Competent but Repetitive beyond anything Approaching Tolerable. All of the Attack Scenes and Gore are Exactly the Same and some actually Look Like they are the Same. The Attempt at Atmosphere, like Shadows on the Wall are Exactly the Same, except one is a Knife and the other is a Gun. Sheesh!

Scenes Linger and go On and On, one guesses to Build Suspense but a Jump Scare here and a Dog Attack there just come off as Redundant. Overall, Average or Slightly Below for this Type of Thing. Not One Surprise, Shock, or Anything Remarkable occurs. It's not a Sloppy Film but a Stale One to be sure.

I found this to be mostly alright for the most part. The story is simple with a family attacked by a group of wild dogs while trying to survive. It's pretty predictable throughout and goes through the same tropes like any of those movies. There's is a minor side plot with their house being foreclosed, but that is forgotten after the guy gets killed. Which is fine because that isn't interesting at all. The movie is pretty suspenseful, with the characters trying to survive against the wild dogs and their best to fight back against them. It shows how deadly these dogs can get with them attacking current characters. But it does have a couple of cheap jump scares throughout. And the ending is pretty generic.

The first thing I checked after blindly purchasing "The Pack" was if it's a remake of the tense but sadly forgotten 1977 horror/thriller with the same title and directed by Robert Clouse. It's not, and I guess that makes sense, since "The Pack" is a logical and common title for a movie about a bunch of wild dogs entrenching petrified families. Nevertheless, I couldn't wait to watch it fast, because I have a fondness for Aussie horror and particularly because I'm always in the mood to see a good old-fashioned "animals gone bad/nature against humanity" flick. It's already a personal favorite sub-genre of mine and, quite frankly, I've been so fed up with horror movies about cannibalistic/inbred families lately, that an "animal-attack" film sounds extra fresh and appealing! The best possible thing I can write about "The Pack" is that debuting director Nick Robertson did an exceptionally impressive job when it comes to building up tension and sustaining the uncanny atmosphere. The body count is rather low, I'll reveal that much, but it's a rare example of a recent horror movie where you develop sympathy for the lead characters and move towards the edge of your seat during the chase sequences. The plot introduces the Wilson family, living on an isolated farming estate in the remote Australian countryside. The rebellious teenage daughter wants to move back to the city and the parents are virtually bankrupt, mainly because all their sheep are getting killed by a pack of bewildered dogs. When the dogs move in closer, the mean and nasty debt collector from the bank is the first one to get what he deserves. But savage dogs don't care about mortgages, and pretty soon the family's sole concern becomes the nightly battle for survival. I like my 'nature revolts' movies best when the animals in question are as normal as possible. Like in the awesome 1977 film, these dogs aren't mutated, sick or excessively large. They've just gone savage because they were abandoned and depend on their natural killing instinct to survive. Simple, perhaps, but even more efficient and it's exactly what makes them more menacing. There are a few clichés and fake jump-scares, but also a bit of decent gore and the attack sequences are more than adequately illustrated. I didn't know any of the names in the cast, but they all put down good performances. "The Pack" isn't the most memorable or spectacular horror/thriller you'll ever watch, but it's certainly worth and hour and a half of your life.

"Predators usually hunt in packs"

Films made with incredible big budgets, full of stunning special effects and well-known, famous actors, understandably attract the most attention. Sometimes one forgets that it's not only these qualities that'll entertain a movie lover. A fascinating story and the build up of a certain atmosphere is also needed. Something that's grossly overlooked sometimes. "The Pack" is an Australian low-budget thriller (I wouldn't call it horror) made with a budget you certainly can't compare with some films made in Hollywood and with not so famous actors. And also, there aren't any dazzling special effects. You can also say that the story on his own isn't that big of a deal and it's not impressive when it comes to originality (ever heard of "Cujo" or "Burning bright"?). But damn that vibe, the threatening tension and that survival instinct. You can smell the sweat in your living room. Yes, when it comes to atmosphere, you can say they've crammed it in this short but powerful (90 minutes only) film, filled with animal terror.

The makers of this movie didn't waste much time, because before you know it a poor sheep farmer is killed with his guts scattered around a sheep-stable. The responsible ones are a pack of wild dogs or wolves, moving in a militaristic manner. Guess they were sick of hunting defenseless, stupid sheep. Not much of a challenge for them anymore, so they developed the taste for a new prey, as indicated at the beginning. The end result is a kind of "home invasion" film like "You're next" but with animal predators. Whatever the ultimate reason is for their aggressive behavior, isn't explicitly explained. Are they just fierce, wild wolves? Or are they a mutated breed of dogs and the result of an intersection that went wrong? Or are they demonic creatures? The latter came to my mind when watching a scene in the movie. It seemed as if a prowling carnivore went up in smoke. Or was this due to the flickering lights and shadows?

And that's the only flaw in this film. The fact that it all takes place in the evening, makes this film pretty dark. Pitch-dark conditions with deep black wolves running around, isn't an ideal situation. So you really had to guess sometimes what was going on in the darkness. There were also some improbabilities. I doubt it that a predator with such instincts and a sense of smell won't notice a human scent when walking past him or her. But at the same crawling around with a shining flashlight apparently can be done unnoticed.

Further, nothing but praise for this Australian film. I start to appreciate horrors from Down Under more and more. Especially after watching "The Babadook" and "Wyrmwood". Everything feels like "back to basics" and priorities are set differently. There's much more focusing on suspense and tension without many bells and whistles. A straightforward movie experience without annoying intros and explications. The actors performed as expected. A typical family consisting of a stubborn family man Adam (Jack Campbell) who wants to keep his farm at all costs, his wife Carla (Anna Lise Philips) who tries to make ends meet with a veterinarian practice, daughter Sophie (Katie Moore) who's fed up with living on the countryside and Henry (Hamish Philips), the teenage son, future veterinarian and notorious kleptomaniac. The cast is fairly limited. The only people you'll also get to see are the farmer and his wife at the beginning, a banker who came over to talk about their payment problems and a cop on patrol. A short but intense contribution. It wasn't really horror, because the horrific massacres weren't visualized explicitly. Only some bloody close-ups are shown. For the most part you'll only see the bared teeth of the predators. This combined with the intense threat and the exciting cat-and-mouse game between man and predators, made sure it became an exhilarating and exciting thriller. And that's more than enough, mate!

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