The Pact (2012)

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Day 140 of Sobriety.

I came across The Pact when I found it included on a list of “atmospheric horror films.” The list included a number of my favorite films, such as Mandy (2018), Hereditary (2018), and The Shining (1980), plus a few that I’d never heard of, including The Pact. Since it was in such good company, I thought I would check it out.

The story is about a young woman (Annie) who travels to her old family home in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles following the death of her mother, at the same time her sister (Nicole) and cousin (Liz) disappear under mysterious circumstances. Annie tries to find out what happened to them, while trying to come to terms with her family’s dark past.

One thing that distinguishes The Pact from most of its neighbors on the “atmospheric horror films” list that I saw is that it is clearly a low-budget, independently produced work. It looks to me like it was shot on video, and has that slightly flat “TV soap opera”-ish look. That’s a shame, but perhaps unavoidable given the film’s low budget. On the plus side, it has an excellent atmospheric soundtrack, with moody synthesizer work offset with organic double-bass and piano motifs. It reminded me of a couple of albums I have by Antoni Maiovvi, including his soundtrack for the independent horror film Housewife (2017) (which I have never seen).

Despite its budgetary limitations, The Pact does manage to generate a moody pensive atmosphere, which is what I came for, so I enjoyed that aspect of it. It’s one of those movies with a slowly unfolding mystery. I have read comparisons with Ari Aster’s Hereditary, or rather seen it accused of trying to imitate. While it’s certainly no Hereditary, I thought that those aspects (including, I suppose, some parts of the soundtrack) were some of the best elements of the film.

What I felt let the film down somewhat was the final reveal, which I think leaves the backstory a bit too murky and unresolved, and also (without giving away too much of a spoiler), I found the final antagonist to be pretty unconvincing. Also, I thought the three female leads in the film—the two sisters and their cousin—were all a little interchangeable. They even looked pretty similar. They are family, I suppose, but I wonder if they could perhaps have been given more distinct identities.

All in all, though, I enjoyed The Pact. Even though it has its flaws and budgetary limitations, it is carried off with a fair bit of style, and I found it considerably better than most of the mainstream jump-scare/CGI-drenched efforts that have proliferated recently. (There is a sequel, but apparently it’s not very good.)

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