Movie Reviews

The Pact
submitted by
Thomas
 on
Friday, July 26, 2013 - 13:39
6.5
Directed by: 

When Annie (Caity Lotz) reluctantly returns to the home she grew up in in Culver City, CA for the funeral of her mother, she finds her older sister Nicole (Agnes Bruckner). Not only that but it seems like there’s an invisible presence haunting the place. She figures that one out when she hears creepy noises in the night and when objects start moving about. Meanwhile local cop Bill Creek (played by a grizzly looking Casper Van Dien) is trying to find out what has happened as well and treats Annie as the prime suspect. While he eventually comes around to the concept of something weird going on in the house, Annie has already hired the help of a medium to find out what the hell is going on before stumbling over some dark secrets from her family’s past.

Now, if this reads like a movie you’ve seen before, then you’re right. But The Pact has a couple of things working in its favor. Writer/director Nicholas McCarthy’s feature debut is an effective ghost story that comes with solid performances by its cast. Unlike other recent horror movies, this one is not about reinventing the genre or into over-explaining everything. Instead McCarthy focuses on the movie’s pacing and comes up with a couple of good scares.

This movie got only a small release with hardly any advertising. Here’s to hoping it finds a wider audience on DVD!