With Halloween just around the corner, The Pact 2 is a worthy selection to put in this week’s horror rotation. Grey’s Anatomy star Camilla Luddington is June Abbott, a crime scene cleaner who draws vivid and graphic artwork during her spare time. Coupled with her grisly nightmares and a possible link to the Judas Killer (the murderer featured in The Pact), June’s days are not exactly filled with sunshine and rainbows.
Patrick Fischler is Ballard, an eccentric FBI agent who has his doubts about June’s innocence, with Scott Michael Foster co-starring as June’s concerned cop boyfriend. The Pact headliner Caity Lotz reprises her role as Annie.
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Though the film has its requisite “shock you” moments, the project’s main strengths lie in the atmospheric feel and pacing delivered by co-directors Patrick Horvath and Dallas Hallam. Their 2012 film Entrance was initially shot on the cheap, so working with a low budget was definitely in their wheelhouse.
During my interview with the filmmakers, Horvath and Hallam discussed the challenge of getting a cinematographer (Carmen Cabana) at the midnight hour of pre-production (the first DP left the project). The movie still ended up with a solid and eye-catching visual style (it’ll be interesting to see what the directors do with a bigger budget), and they also credit Cabana for helping create the film’s visual aesthetic.
The movie’s a great showcase Camilla Luddington, who’s a lifelong horror fan, and co-stars Fischler and Lotz (they are both Mad Men vets) also add an extra luster to the material.
I’ll be posting more from my interview with Horvath and Hallam in the future, as they give great filmmaking advice for first time directors.
In sum, the flick is a supernatural/serial killer hybrid that delivers the goods, especially if moody and atmospheric thrillers (tinged with a bit of blood, of course) is your type of dance.
The Pact 2, which opened in select theaters earlier this month, is also available On Demand as well as on Amazon Instant Video and on iTunes.
Photography by: Carmen Cabana & Ron Batzdorf)