A few months back I was watching and reviewing as many Bloody Disgusting Selects films as I could gather. Rather quickly, I had accumulated a nice stack of these movies, but I never found the right time to watch the one I was most excited about. That film is Franck Richard’s The Pack.
Charlotte is an unrefined girl on a road trip to nowhere, when she picks up a stranger hitching a ride. The two stop off at a diner for a rest, when out of nowhere Charlotte’s new friend seems to just disappear. Nosey Charlotte doesn’t accept the disappearing act and decides to snoop around after the diner is closed for the night. She is knocked unconscious and when she wakes up, she is locked in a cage and is about to find out why exactly that is…
I have yet to find a French horror movie made in the last 15 years that I’ve disliked. It seems that French filmmakers know exactly the right formula to please the American horror audience. The Pack is a monster movie, which takes elements of werewolf, zombie, and vampire folklore and melds them all together to make a new and original type of monster.
I am a huge fan of the creature design and can’t say I’ve seen anything quite like it before. The closest thing I can compare it to would be the creatures from another great monster movie, The Descent. These guys are creepy and frightening and just plain awesome!
The acting in this film is right on point for what you want in a horror film. Nothing is over the top and while the cast may not be in the running for any Best Actor awards, the performances are certainly a perfect fit for the overall tone of the movie.
While the story and acting are both strong points for this film, my favorite elements were really the camera work and the special effects/make-up. Laurent Barès’ cinematography is outstanding throughout the entire film and from the eerie first person views to the frantic close-ups that you’d expect in a Sam Raimi production, every shot looks beautiful.
The special effects team did an awesome job with this movie and while the gore scenes may be few and far between, they do deliver when presented. From what I can tell with my naked eye, it seems that most of the effects were done without the use of CGI, so that right there should be a big selling point for any of you guys reading this.
If you like foreign horror or monster movies, you definitely need to give The Pack a watch. Go out and buy a copy of the film today because you won’t be disappointed.
I give this movie 3.5 finger tattoos out of 5.
