The Pact

Today, our "best of 2012" turns to Jeff Allard.  Jeff has been writing for us for quite a while and I respect his work, moreover, his opinion.  If you've been following our year-end lists this week, you might have noticed a pattern in our selections.  Well, Jeff is here to break things up.  We'll begin with his "honorable mentions."  Head inside for his "top 5."  - Ryan Turek, Managing Editor

Honorable Mentions:  Shark fans should give Bait a look as it’s one of the best examples of the shark sub-genre; The Collection was the gnarliest slasher pic of the year; Tim Burton made one of his best recent films with Frankenweenie, a true love letter to Monster Kids; and although it probably would’ve worked better as an installment of an anthology show as the story felt padded out to feature length, Sinister nonetheless achieved some of the year’s best scares.

About six months ago, FEARnet's Lawrence Raffel and myself put the all-horror podcast we had been collaborating on, called Shock Waves, on hold.

A few factors into its hiatus (we knocked out 18 episodes consistently from July 2011 to January of this year), but nothing ever stays dead in this genre so we both agreed it was time to bring Shock Waves back, especially after the listener feedback asking when it would return.

Here's the rub.  All of our old episodes, from "season 1" we'll call them, are gone.  Lost to the Internet.  Don't ask me where they went, but they no longer exist, sadly.  We're starting "season 2" with a clean slate you might say.

In this installment, we're getting back into the groove of things.  We look at various horror movies we've liked and disliked in 2012 so far.  We also weigh in on the Korean import Deranged, now playing in select theaters.

Brian Collins (from BadAss Digest, Horror Movie a Day) swings by for a discussion about Halloween 4 and Halloween 5, two titles making their Blu-ray debut this month from Anchor Bay Entertainment.  How do the sequels featuring the iconic horror villain Michael Myers hold up?  Oh, we'll tell you...

All of this and much more in the Shock Waves relaunch!  Listen inside.

I had heard good things about The Pact going in.  It's being put out by IFC Midnight, which has proven reliable in the past.  And, I am pleased to say that I wasn’t disappointed.  It's not without its faults, but The Pact is a good flick.

It's not a tale spun solely from original ideas, but it's a lot more imaginative than many of the other films I’ve watched recently.  The Pact takes a basic idea that we've seen done before and puts its own spin on it, bringing some new life to the genre.  And, it was fun to see a supernatural thriller that wasn't completely predictable.

The Pact is Nicholas McCarthy’s feature directorial debut.  He also penned the script, which is based on his short film of the same name. I am interested to see what he follows up with.

At the prompting of her sister, Nicole, Annie returns to their home town after the death of their mother.  When she arrives at their late mother's house, Annie discovers that something is amiss and learns that Nicole is nowhere to be found.  While Annie hangs around, waiting for Nicole to return, she begins to experience strange and mysterious happenings; odd noises, doors opening on their own, and ghost-like visions.  The happenings, although subtle at first, become more intense and violent as time passes.

Now available on VOD - The Pact, a tight supernatural thriller from write-director Nicholas McCarthy which stars Caity Lotz (Death Valley, Mad Men) as a young woman searching for her missing sister (played by Agnes Bruckner).  To celebrate its release and tout its forthcoming July 6th theatrical run, we called upon Ms. Lotz to come on down to the Choice Cuts studio to talk about the film.

IFC Midnight is bringing The Pact - which debuted at Sundance earlier this year - to VOD on May 25th and we have the poster and U.S. trailer to share, along with a handful of new stills.

Written and directed by Nicholas McCarthy, the film stars Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Agnes Bruckner, Mark Steger, Kaley Hudson, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Sam Ball.

After their mother passes away, sisters Nicole and Annie reluctantly return to their childhood home to pay their last respects. While staying overnight in the house, the sisters sense a mysterious presence in their midst: noises startling them in the night, objects moving about, a fallen picture of an unknown woman posed next to their mother. Annie begins experiencing a series of intense and disturbing dreams – visions that lead her to uncover something terrible about her mother's past that is finally revealing itself.

Just the other day, we informed Nicholas McCarthy's The Pact was making its way into theaters on July 6th from IFC.

In the UK, however, audiences will see it on June 8th and Yahoo! UK has revealed the first trailer which you can watch after the jump.

Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Agnes Bruckner, Mark Steger, Kaley Hudson, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Sam Ball star.

After their mother passes away, sisters Nicole and Annie reluctantly return to their childhood home to pay their last respects. While staying overnight in the house, the sisters sense a mysterious presence in their midst: noises startling them in the night, objects moving about, a fallen picture of an unknown woman posed next to their mother. Annie begins experiencing a series of intense and disturbing dreams – visions that lead her to uncover something terrible about her mother's past that is finally revealing itself.

A couple of updates from IFC's forthcoming slate.  The May 4th release, The Incident, has been re-titled to Asylum Blackout.

Directed by Alexandre Courtes, the thriller follows George, Max and Ricky, three guys in a rock band waiting for their big breakthrough. Between small gigs and rehearsals they work in the kitchen of a high-security asylum for good pay at minimum risk - they have no physical contact with the inmates.

One night just before dinnertime, a big storm shuts down the security system, the doors open and the lunatics break loose. Help is on its way and should soon arrive - they just have to survive until it does.

Black Rock, VHS and now The Pact has garnered distribution.  All three titles were present at Sundance this year and all have been acquired for release.

The Pact is going to IFC Midnight, a genre umbrella of IFC Films, says The Hollywood Reporter.  Director Nicholas McCarthy has expanded his short film of the same name into a feature length tale starring Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Haley Hudson, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Sam Ball and Agnes Bruckner.

A film that has been kept a relatively low profile so far is The Pact, which made its debut at Sundance last night and will be playing at the fest over the next week.  The low profile, I imagine, is to generate mystery.  Very few photos have been released and no clips have been revealed, until now.  

Inside, we have the first teaser for the film, directed by Nicholas McCarthy.

Here, McCarthy has expanded his short into a feature length film starring Caity Lotz, Casper Van Dien, Haley Hudson, Kathleen Rose Perkins, Sam Ball and Agnes Bruckner.

After their mother passes away, sisters Nicole and Annie reluctantly return to their childhood home to pay their last respects. While staying overnight in the house, the sisters sense a mysterious presence in their midst: noises startling them in the night, objects moving about, a fallen picture of an unknown woman posed next to their mother. Annie begins experiencing a series of intense and disturbing dreams – visions that lead her to uncover something terrible about her mother's past that is finally revealing itself.

Sundance short film turned feature production, The Pact, has wrapped shooting.  Directed by Nicholas McCarthy, the film - described as a ghost story - stars Haley Hudson, Agnes Bruckner, Casper Van Dien, Kathleen Rose Perkins and Sam Ball.