Not Enough Impact
When her mother died Annie (Caity Lotz) reluctantly returned to her childhood home on the request of her sister who had already arrived to start sorting out her late mother's belongings. But on returning home there is no sign of her sister and then strange things start to happen as she is attacked in the home by something which seems to want her to learn something. Having gone to the police Annie along with det. Creek (Casper Van Dien) along with the help of a clairvoyant try to get to the bottom of what is going on but what they discover has gone on in her Mother's house rocks Annie's entire own.
Do you know what I say when someone berates a style of movie I like? "Each to their own". It is something which people seem to learn over time going from being young and outspoken in declaring a certain style of movie as either good or bad with only their view being correct. But it seems some people just don't seem to learn and as I looked for information on "The Pact" I found someone I know to be older declaring this a proper movie where as all other horror movies are mindless rubbish. Well "each to their own" and sadly "The Pact" was not for me with its slow and deliberate attempt to stray from the norm but in doing so ended up laboured and often reliant on artistic tricks.
But before I get to all that the actual story to "The Pact" is good as not only do we have some spooky goings on, some of them seriously spooky, but we also have Annie discovering a room in the house she had never come across with a bed in it and peepholes poked through the walls in to every room. The basics are good and in some ways the attempts to be more realistic with Annie having det. Creek accompanying her in to the house after some spooky stuff went down rather than being gung ho about things makes it at times believable.
But there is the other side to "The Pact" and unfortunately director Nicholas McCarthy over does some of the styling. From the creepy nature of the clairvoyant girl with a huge case of the panda eyes to a slow motion scene of Annie being prevented from leaving a room, they end up feeling forced especially alongside the more realistic elements. And it is also a real shame because some of the supernatural stuff such as people appearing to be dragged along the floor by some unseen spirit is visually effective.
What this all boils down to is that "The Pact" certainly has a creepy side which impresses but it is also an incredibly slow movie which gets undone by some of director Nicholas McCarthy's attempts at delivering attention grabbing style.
