The Devil's Pact

If your hoping the pact 2 is as good as the first outing of this impressive horror thriller film well im sorry to say you will be disappointed. The first film had something extra to add to the recent outings of horror films and gave the feeling this could be a new exciting franchise. The story was well thought and carried on from the first film but the acting and how it was put together was the let down for this sequel, the fright scenes were few and far between which after watching the first one I was excited to watch the sequel but 30 mins into the 95 minute attempt of a sequel you really lose interest. The saving grace is there is potential to make a third outing for the carpet hateing killer and lets hope they do make it and go back to how they done the first one as this has the potential to be a good franchise as lets be honest there have not been many lately and the only competition would be the never ending paranormal activity which has gotten dull. The pact 3 could work the same as sinister 2 and insidious 3, the future could be bright for horrors.

Every now and then a film comes along that breathes new life into an old genre. A film that makes you think...wakes you up...makes you take notice and become invested in it's twists and turns and intricacies.

Yeah, this isn't that film.

So this is a direct sequel to The Pact (2012) and it's exactly the same.

Muted, washed out color palette.

Strange and unprofessional lighting choices.

Technical problems regarding focus and overexposure.

And let's not forget the atrocious sound design.

Knowing that this film is a small, lower budget production one could maybe look past the obvious inexperience and lack of polish.

What I cannot look past is yet another film filled with completely unlikable and apathetic characters that I simply do not care about in any way.

Hence, the title of this review.

There is no way you can convince me that two separate films filmed approximately two years apart just happened to have an entire cast of people you simply cannot care about and probably actively dislike from scene one.

Coincidence? .... no way.

This must have been intentional.

The story is again, worn out and tired and the entire production offers nothing new or refreshing whatsoever.

The "jump scares" are amateurish and simply do not work.

The "suspense" is dull and drawn out and becomes boring really quickly.

The interpersonal dramas and emotionally charged situations are inconsequential and aggravating. You simply cannot bring yourself to care enough about any of these people to invest any time at all into their lives.

I was disappointed in the first film for all of these same exact reasons and I assumed that a sequel released 2 years after the first film would show some technical improvement, increased production value, better developed plot points and dialogue, and characters I actually wanted to go along with on the journey through the film.

What I got was a washed out muted mess full of aggravating events and plot holes, bad dialogue, horrible characters, and a collection of failed attempts to frighten me with tired, old, geriatric jump scares that fell flat every single time.

This is a failure through and through.

I was quite surprised to see that The Pact got a sequel, but that was a great movie and every successful movies these days gets a sequel i guess. What's no surprise is that The Pact 2 is inferior to it's predecessor in almost every way, cinematography which is very nice is on par and in the same vein as it's predecessor. The Pact 2 does also like the first movie build up the suspense through tension and atmosphere, but it only partly succeed and relies too much on cheap jump scares. Plotwise it's rather hard to follow and sometimes confusing to see the connections, especially through her nightmare visions and the supernatural elements. I also find the acting sometimes awkward and unnatural, especially FBI agent Ballard.

I started off thinking that this one had the potential to be better than the first. My two biggest gripes with the first one was the acting and the script, both of which greatly improved on this one. However, unfortunately the storyline wasn't as gripping and the twist was, well, kinda lame lol As a whole it was still entertaining and not a waste of time. I liked the way they connected the characters and the plot from the first to the second. It didn't quite feel like a sequel for a sequels sake, it made sense, which was nice. They were quite obviously setting it up for a third which I think could be successful if they really hunkered down and infused some creativity and originality into it because I think they have a good foundation to work from. Would recommend.

A less terrifying sequel to the sleeper hit horror film, The Pact. The Pact 2 fails mainly in its story that may keep you engaging, but is poorly connected and concluded together in the end. The climax is unsatisfying and is not even scary or memorable here comparing to the first film. The SCARES here might not be as genuinely creepy as the first but it does have some effective ones as well as cheap ones to have you jump from time to time. There are also some bloody kills but nothing GORY or anything. Overall, this film series has potential to be the next horror hit series like Insidious films due to its engaging story and creepy scares but for now, this sequel will be remembered as the most disappointing one, yet >>C+<<