The Pact Reviews

Nicholas McCarthy admirably tries to deliver both a terrifying tale of horror while mixing in more gritty elements, but doesn't explain much as to why.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/10

Quite easily, one of the scariest films I've seen in a long while... It's a corker.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10

Debut director Nicholas McCarthy possesses a good grasp of effective, tension-building technique in this psychologically rooted chiller, in which dark, repressed memories of a turbulent childhood bubble to the surface.

Full Review | Original Score: B

The film has some cheap thrills ... but lacks more sustained tension.

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The explanations for what has been going on are weird, fantastical and sort of reasonable, within the context of the story, maintaining the film's sense of grounded directness up to the very end.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

A satisfying ghost story without leaning too hard into trends. It's not a deliciously overwhelming feature, but The Pact has modest vision worth a look.

Full Review | Original Score: B-

McCarthy is clearly an economical director and what he gets on screen here - while hardly new - is still effective and occasionally creepy.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

A tightly controlled low-budget chiller whose occasional moments of unexpected special effects are set up beautifully by long periods of suspense.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

In the end, like a lot of genre movies, this one pulls from different inspirations, and so weighs in, by turns, as overly predictable and satisfyingly recognizable (part of genre cinema's one-two punch).

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

In truth, there's nothing here we haven't seen before. But McCarthy, who also wrote the straightforward script, keeps the pace moving and the atmosphere eerie (if rarely terrifying).

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

The best thing The Pact has going for it is the way it manages to play its cards right, despite the fact that it doesn't have many aces up its sleeve.

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More horror movies set in the 21st century ought to integrate technology into their scares as well as Nicholas McCarthy's The Pact.

Full Review | Original Score: B+

There's no pact in The Pact, which is indicative of this faux spooky tale's guiding illogicality.

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When The Pact descends, finally, from suggestion to explication, the scares regrettably slink away.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

[VIDEO ESSAY] "The Pact" is a horror movie with training wheels. It's for audiences who have never seen one before and don't want to be too scared.

Full Review | Original Score: C-

At times scream-out-loud scary, with a second half that can't maintain the momentum.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

To those brave enough to stomach the horrors of the Saw series, The Pact will seem tame.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

The film cleverly exploits aspects of everyone's childhood.

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Expanding a successful short, first-time feature, director Nicholas McCarthy displays more savvy than inspiration: there's some technical ingenuity to the jumps, but not a lot of logic.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

While it retreads well-trodden horror paths and shies away from any originality, it does favour heightening the mystery over goriness, relying on some impressive visuals ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5