Pack, The (2016)
Matt Molgaard
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Starring Anna Lise Phillips, Jack Campbell, Katie Moore
Directed by Nick Robertson
As a fan and consumer before all else – forget the fact that I work in the field – the one thing that I look for in a horror film is entertainment. A genuinely moving picture plays second place to no other thing cinema related. Moving pictures however, aren’t the norm in this business.
If you’ve got a stellar special effects practitioner, top notch performers or a tremendously polished director involved, well, of course I’m in to take the chance, but those strengths don’t necessarily mean that the picture will prove to be enjoyable and entertaining. You just never know how it’s all going down, and the worst case scenario tends to send audiences scattering like a terrified crowd with Cujo nipping at the heels. But the good ones, the gems… well, they’re appreciated to a great degree.
I’ll be damned if The Pack wasn’t an extremely rewarding piece of work. And it’s interesting that I might throw a Cujo reference in there, because the truth is there’s a valid case to be made that The Pack is the greatest killer dog flick since the 1983 adaptation of Stephen King’s beloved crazed Saint Bernard novel. Joe Carnahan may argue that his film of likeness, The Grey deserves to be ranked amongst the top efforts, and it’s very hard to argue against that, but even if The Pack falls short of the magic presented in Cujo and The Grey, there aren’t many, if any other canine films worthy of knocking The Pack down another rung on the greatness ladder.
This particular story plays similar to Robert Clouse’s 1977 offering of the same name. But that original Pack, was decidedly dull and unbelievable. The scares weren’t handled quite right, and although the protagonists of that film find themselves hunted by savage dogs in a secluded location, we never once felt a claustrophobic vibe, or that sense of inevitable doom and desperation that Nick Robertson’s film forces us to contemplate.
Robertson’s picture does indeed put us in a somewhat hopeless situation, as these monstrosities stalk one family, located in the middle of no man’s land, with extremely few resources with which they might be able to gain the upper hand. There’s a rifle in the home, but only a small handful of bullets. And a small handful of bullets isn’t going to do much when there are a dozen rancorous animals circling the home… and when they breach the Wilson home – oh good lord – things become markedly more intense. Adam, the man of the house, is injured early on, which means his ability to combat these brutes is a harrowing challenge, and his wife Carla and their two children are left to find a way out of a predicament no man could ever foresee (unless they’ve seen Cujo, of course). But they fight back, using the slim arsenal they have and an unwavering determination to keep the children safe. The only real question is, can they really keep the entire family injury free, even as these monsters burst through windows, saliva dripping from their jowls, all but dying for a taste of human flesh?
I won’t outline the body count. That just seems a bit too unfair to potential viewers.
What I will say is this, from a technical stance, The Pack is extremely well done. The rural settings look amazing. The chemistry between the family feels quite organic, as Carla and Adam not only love one another, they lean on each other for the support they need. Their youngest, a boy named Henry sells his terror with perfection, and the snot-nosed teen daughter Sophie, channels the mental makeup of a pent up teen in search of something greater, in masterful fashion. But now it’s time that all four family members come together and work in organized fashion if they hope to survive.
I could likely craft a five-page essay on the effectiveness of the performers, but I’ll aim to keep it all truncated. Jack Campbell plays a tough, reliable but desperate father wonderfully. We believe in this guy, and we’re hoping early on that he has what it takes to keep his family safe. Anna Lise Phillips, who approaches the motherly role is excellent as the panicked parental unit doing all she can to hold it together and think, think, think; she wants to keep her children alive, as any mature, selfless mother would. And while Hamish Phillips is a bit too green to give the viewer something tangible to cling to, we’re not likely to forget Katie Moore, who channels the true teenage sensibility… or lack thereof; let’s call it angst. She’s a decent kid, she’s just a personality that grates through the first act and a half. Bring these players together and you’re looking at an onscreen family that really does work quite well.
Kudos to Robertson and cinematographer Benjamin Shirley, who work the perfect magic to make these dog attacks look quite realistic. The camera constantly switches points of view, and the decision to shroud most attacks under moonlight is brilliant (and a little reminiscent of John Landis’ work on An American Werewolf in London). We never see too much. We never see embarrassing CGI. What we see are a series of merciless attacks that, with just a bit more gruesomeness would no doubt rival the jaw-dropping bear scene in Backcountry. As it is, there are a few truly stomach turning sequences in the picture, and you’re going to want to take them in for admiration.
If these kinds of films work for you, The Pack will no doubt be a must-own. It looks great (I can’t get over the beauty of the scenic shots, which will leave you contemplating a relocation), it’s extremely well-acted and it’s a taut piece of work that will leave you hoping for just a few minutes more when the credits finally role.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
