not a member? click here to sign up

The Pact

Director's feature debut is a muddle of horror chlchés, but occasionally shows promise

Roe McDermott, 05 Jun 2012

Based on director Nicolas McCarthy’s 11-minute short that was screened at Sundance 2011, his feature horror film The Pact had a lot going against it; it was made quickly, on a low budget, and its leading lady was known as “yer one from Bring It On: All Or Nothing.” Yikes.

But though The Pact is far from a perfect film, neither is it an outright failure. The surprisingly strong Caity Lotz plays the underwritten streetwise heroine Annie, who returns home for her mother’s funeral to find that her sister has vanished. Desperate to uncover the secrets of the house and find her sibling, her investigations force her to confront the ghosts, literal and figurative, of her past.

There are a few genuinely brilliant moments that demonstrate a real understanding of both traditional jump-scares and emotionally haunting subjects.

From the brilliant John Carpenter-like opening that uses sea-sickness inducing camera work to stalk an unsuspecting woman, the visuals are strong, and some of the underlying ideas even stronger. As silhouettes eerily move around the house and Caity has fractured flashbacks that leave echoes of a man’s violent sobs hanging in the air, the scares build, both aesthetically and atmospherically. And as the abusive history of the building begins to unfurl, a real sense of suspense is created as we wait for the literally horrific secrets of Caity’s home to reveal themselves.

Except they never do, really. Instead, McCarthy tries to shoehorn in yet another horror movie; one in which ghosts, séances, Ouija boards and the obligatory “horror heroine running around in her underwear” scene take priority. And as these spectres lead Caity down the dull garden-path of old photos, ghost-whisperers and the exorcising skills of Google (or “Global”) maps, the pace lags, clichés are embraced and theme becomes desperately muddled, and unintentionally funny. Transforming his short into a feature seems to have involved hurling everything but a haunted kitchen sink at the audience, and only a few things stick.



Page 1/2     <Previous 1 2 Next> 



Related Content

Latest Articles by Roe McDermott

Movie Interview: Randal Plunkett

Randal Plunkett, Lord Dunsany, is defying convention by making Barons, well, a little bit badass. His horror short Out There has been selected to play Cannes this month...


2013-05-20

Best DVDs out now

“Presented” by horror master Guillermo Del Toro Mama is a singularly underwhelming scare-fest.


2013-05-10

Theatre review: Broadening

A non-linear tale of authority, compliance and manipulation...


2013-05-09

Hot Press meets Irish actress Charlene McKenna

Star of television’s Raw, Ripper Street and new film Jump, Charlene McKenna talks crazed fans, her run of creepy parts and the decision to quit her best-loved role...


2013-05-07

Best DVDs Out Now

It could have been another gloopy cancer drama. Instead, Death of a Superhero is a moving meditation on sickness and mortality – starring Gollum from Lord of the Rings!


2013-04-29

Contact Us

Hot Press,
13 Trinity Street,
Dublin 2.
Rep. Of Ireland
Tel: +353 (1) 241 1500

Email:info@hotpress.ie

Click here for more contact information.

Click here to find out more about Hot Press

Hot Press always welcomes feed back so if you've got something to tell us click here.

Advertise With Us

For more detail on how to advertise with Hot Press click here or call us on +353 (1) 241 1540