The Pact (2012)

As a woman struggles to come to grips with her past in the wake of her mother's death and the disappearance of her sister, an unsettling presence emerges in her childhood home.

Director:

Nicholas McCarthy

Writer:

Nicholas McCarthy

Stars:

Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Mark Steger

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Caity Lotz	...	Annie
Kathleen Rose Perkins	...	Liz
Haley Hudson	...	Stevie
Sam Ball	...	Giles
Mark Steger	...	Charles Barlow / Judas
Agnes Bruckner	...	Nichole
Casper Van Dien	...	Creek
Dakota Bright	...	Eva
Petra Wright	...	Jennifer Glick
Sam Zuckerman	...	County Clerk
Anjini Taneja Azhar	...	Hindi Child (as Anjini Azhar)
Rachael Kahne	...	Waitress
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Boriana Williams	...	Child

Storyline

Nichole Barlow comes to San Pedro with her daughter Eva to attend the funeral of her mother. She calls her estranged sister Annie to help her to resolve pending businesses, but Annie is too traumatized with the bad treatment spent by their mother and does not want to return to their childhood home. Nichole convinces her sister to come and she arrives to the funeral. However, Nichole goes missing and Eva stays with Nichole's cousin Liz. When Liz also disappears, Annie claims that supernatural events happen in the house but she becomes the prime-suspect. The open-minded detective Bill Creek assumes the investigation and realizes that there is something weird in the house. Meanwhile Annie summons the medium Stevie believing that the ghost of her mother is responsible for the vanishing of Nichole and Liz. But the woman warns Annie that there is a great danger in the house. Annie decides to go further in her investigation and discovers dark secrets from the past of her family.

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Plot Keywords:

hair tied to something | motorcycle riding | hidden room | barefoot woman | close up of eye | 

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Taglines:

Some doors should never be opened.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some strong bloody violence and language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Annie's full Name is Annie Barlow.

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Goofs

At the beginning of the movie, when Annie first stays over at her mom's house. She picks up a fallen jar of pickles in the kitchen, at the first shot you can see her putting the lid back on the jar, but in the second shot the lid is of the jar en she puts it next to the jar on the counter.

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Quotes

Eva: [on a video feed] Mommy! Who's that behind you?

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Connections

Remake of The Pact (2011)

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Soundtracks

Periwinkle
Written by Saturna
Performed by Saturna

User Reviews

Enjoyable thriller

A woman's mother dies. She calls the rebellious younger sister to see if she will attend the funeral. She then chats with her daughter who lives with her cousin. During the chat the daughter asks her who's behind her. She sees no one but looks around the house. Then she vanishes.

During the funeral the little sister, Annie, does show up. The daughter and the cousin are there and spend the night at the house. Next morning the cousin has vanished.

Annie goes to the police. One night some force grabs her and yanks her throughout the house. Annie does some digging. There's a picture of her mom and a woman in a park. She also has visions of this woman.

When the cop visits her house they discover a secret room with holes in the walls to observe everyone else in the house. When the cop returns to the house by himself he's stabbed to death.

Annie meanwhile has a medium come over who experiences things. As she leaves she utters the name Judas. Annie discovers there was a serial killer in the area years ago who was known as Judas. He killed the woman she sees in the visions. Annie goes to the park and is led to a church/school where her mean mom worked. She finds out a man worked also there who has their same last name. He was a brother of the mother no one knew about. The medium tells her to do a Ouija session. It provides her with more answers and Annie will confront the evil in the house.

The Pact is a well-done lower budget horror thriller. Why it's called "The Pact" is entirely unclear. It's a slower movie but it's effective. Music and effects are very good and you do want to find out just what is going on. The story combines human evil with the supernatural in a convincing way. It could easily have chosen either of those but together they make things more interesting. Direction is excellent and the cast does a solid job as well. My main complaint is the casting of Caity Lotz as the main character. They already hired better choices in the lovely Kathleen Rose Perkins and Agnes Bruckner. The story is a bit short as we learn next to nothing of our main character or the family.

Details

Official Sites:

Screamworks Records [Sweden]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 2012 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Pact

Filming Locations:

San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$400,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$5,664,404

Company Credits

Production Co:

Preferred Content

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1