The Pact: Bring on the Nightmares!

THE PACT: 2012: --: HORROR:  I had this movie in my cue on Netflix for awhile, but never got around to watching it because I hadn't heard a lot about it.  I'm glad I watched it though because it had some great scares and an interesting plot.  Sure it was about a serial killer and the victims haunting a home (a common theme) but it had some scenes that were done really well and made my skin crawl.


Focus on the scares, not the trite circumstances.

Sometimes when movies don't have recognizable characters/ actors, they become more engaging, almost as though you are watching real events unfold before your eyes.  The camera shots and structuring also enhanced this feeling because they were straight forward, without any fancy parlor tricks or gimmicks.  The Pact is a good movie worth watching and here's why.

The lead actress is easy on the eyes and it doesn't hurt that she is almost entirely in her underwear for the first few segments of the movie.  Sorry ladies, I am a guy after all..She's beautiful and there's nothing wrong with that.  Having a pretty leading lady is common in horror movies and let's face it, the other leading male wasn't hideous, so there, it's a even mix..

  
The two leads were charismatic.

The premise of the movie is simple and it doesn't lead the viewer many things to assume.  There is a serial killer involved in a murder and the leading lady, Caity Lotz is related to him.  One of the victims is harassing her in the afterlife, causing her to seek out a medium played by Haley Hudson.  She has to be one of the most interesting women I have seen in awhile.  She definitely fit the role perfectly.  

  
The medium was very exotic looking and fit the role perfectly.  I enjoyed her performance.

The scares in this movie were pretty effective and actually startled me a few times, which says a lot since I am pretty hardened to horror movies by now.  Currently, it's been 8 days straight, only horror movies, not to mention my 3 month horror movie binge last year, which I'm sure you're all tired of hearing about..


A cup of tea with your blood fest anyone?

One of the best scares is when the medium is in the home, trying to detect the presence and starts repeating the name Judas and gets dragged under the bed by an unseen force.  The music heightened this effect and I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed that part.  I was already in the mood because it didn't take long for mysterious forces to plague the lead character in the beginning segments.


When the medium gets pulled under the bed made my skin crawl.

Although I've seen this type of mystery force move people along the way, it was what happened next that really frightened me. Floating on the roof was a dead body and that literally made the hairs on the back of my neck rise; a true sign of a great scare!  Well done Nicholas McCarthy!  Then after that, a trap door is revealed and a severed body appears right before her head turns in an extreme close up.  This freaked me out.  Maybe it was because it was 3 AM and I was alone in the dark but it did. Period.

 
This was a grade A scare based on great timing and music which crescendos perfectly.

The plot line was decent and moved along very well without any periods of downtime.  It was almost too quick and deliberate but it made for a "Quicky" horror movie that you didn't have to invest too much time in.  Plus there were the gratuitous scenes of a half naked girl.  


The female lead was a badass, no doubt about that.

I won't give away too much more of the plot, because it has a semi-interesting and engaging ending, so watch the movie.  The one thing that made my cringe was the music at the end and that displayed the title of the movie.  Why?  Other than that, it's short and sweet and delivers some nice paranormal/ supernatural related scares:  79%


"Only a 79%, lock your doors Damien!"


"Don't mess with me!"


What a great pic for a dating profile!  "Wink ++

The Marked One: Paranormal or just Normal?

THE MARKED ONES: --: 2013: HRR:  The new Paranormal  didn't live up to the original, but really, at this point, how could it?  The first one broke all sort of records for an independent movie and really set the whole "found footage" stage on it's head.

So is there a reason to watch this?  Well, it depends how much time you have.  It is a little bit of a time sink, but the mythology and some of the effects are decent.  Overall, it had many of the elements that made the original a hit, but fell short on many of the others.


Where is this scene in a bodega?

The primary thing that this movie fell short on was the fact that the focus of the fright was a tangible figure, an adolescent kid.  In the previous movie(s), it was a being or entity.  This made it quite the bit more frightening.  I'm going to be a lot more scared of an evil entity than a skateboarding kid.  That in itself, makes the move not as good as the previous ones.  Plus the way in which the scares were delivered, were a little more obvious.  


Why be afraid of this kid?


I would be more afraid of this, as was the case in the first one!

Again, there was a nice buildup, a nice backdrop, and overall a great discovery scene, but it was just a let down because it was a possessed kid instead of a being or "ghost".  

There was a cultural element in the movie which was entertaining and made it unique, plus the found footage element did lend to it's supposed reality, but overall it just didn't deliver.  The original movie had some people in it as "experts" that gave it a bit more of a real feel and perhaps this missed that.  


There were some scares, but few and far between...

I wanted to like this movie, I just couldn't give it my all out endorsement.  Let's face it, it's the 6th one.  Give it a break.  If you want a scare and LOVE the Paranormal movies, this one won't disappoint.  Just based on it's own merit, it does fall short.::::65%