The Pact – Toronto After Dark 2012 Summer Screenings

By Sean Patrick Kelly

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The second film to be screened at the Toronto After Dark Summer Screening's last night was the Canadian Premiere of the haunted house film The Pact.

Of the two films screened, this is the film I have decidedly more mixed feelings on. The film is about a woman named Annie (Caity Lotz), who returns to her mother's old house for the first time to search for her sister Nicole, who recently went missing. Shortly after arriving, her cousin Liz disappears as well and Annie becomes convinced that the disappearances were caused by a ghost that attacked her in the house during the night.

I have to say that the actual haunted house aspect of the film was a bit on the cliche side. To start off you have a main character that everyone thinks is crazy. Her main confidant (played by Starship Trooper‘s Casper Van Dien) starts off skeptical, but slowly begins to believe her. Then to top things off, you have one of the most pasty-skinned emo psychic mediums that you will ever see on film.

That said, there were still things that I liked about the film. I did respond positively to a plot element where ghosts react to electronic devices, including a creepy scene where the ghost is actually “seen” through a camera. I also have to say that the film's climax was extremely tense and involved a plot element that you never saw coming.

Overall, while The Pact is probably not the most original haunted house film, but I still thought that it was a decent enough film.

7 | FAIR