The Pact (2012)

When a woman goes to organize the estate of her dead mother a video call to her daughter shows despite her beliefs, she is not alone in the house. Three days later the woman’s sister Annie (Caity Lotz), arrives in the house, investigating the disappearance of her sister in her dead mothers house. She soon realizes that something is not quite right in the house, as a series of supernatural encounters take place. When a close friend disappears in the house, Annie enlists the help of a detective, and an old school friend with a gift, and uncovers a long forgotten series of murders.

The Pact is one of those movies that has been clearly made on a budget, yet through praise has made it through to the big time, taking box offices across the globe by storm. Despite it’s budgetary constraints, the film manages to build an incredibly good level of suspense, and to begin with a totally cohesive narrative.

Somewhere along the lines, things in the movie go tragically long on a number of levels, emotion gets completely taken out of the equation, and when a key character dies, its with a whimper rather than a bang. Then there are great expanses in the story line that fall down. Finally, there is an overwhelming feeling that something quite major is missing.

It’s not all bad, after a build up, a portion of the story takes you in a direction you really do not expect, having gone from something a little less of this earth, to something very much in reality. At this point you get a sort of pact (hence the title) between two of the forces at battle in the movie.

Starship Troopers actor Casper Van Dien turns up as the detective, and his arrival is a bit of a surprise, despite being in his 40’s he still looks too young to be sporting a beard, and it just does him no service at all.

Leading lady Caity Lotz is an interesting casting decision, simply in the fact that she looks so much like both Gillian Anderson and Melissa George, and I can imagine many watching may spent much of the movie thinking she is the latter. For the most part she delivers a compelling performance, sadly she lacks a little in the “when the shit hits the fan” stakes.

The Pact is on paper a fantastic movie, it has a nice twist, and more importantly it was made for very little and has achieved a worldwide audience that must have shocked its cast and crew. Sadly it’s a big let down however, it has a ridiculous final scene, a drawn out finale, and so many holes in it’s plot that you could not go fishing with the movies metaphorical net.