The Pack (2010)

I love this movie so much

Undescribable Perfection

Great Film overall

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

As backwoods horror films go this isn't great. Gaping holes in consistency, some nonsensical behaviour, and some low level moments are found in this film.Benjamin Biolay seems to pose more than act, suggesting perhaps he should stick to singing and beautiful women. The award winning Emilie Duquenne is introduced driving whilst nodding to music. She looks so uncomfortable doing so that this sequence almost signals that the film to follow is not going to exactly be top notch. And it does turn out a bit of an amateur affair. It is possible to see how this would have been a first class movie if they had spent more time on the editing and generally reworking the script, and recast.There are some better aspects as it does feel like the auteur is a lover of this genre. Yolande Moreau fills the screen and creates most of the madness. Some of the lines from the generally entertaining dialogue are great. The music and soundtrack is excellent and well chosen. A surprisingly weedy Matthias Schoenaerts looks hilarious in his brief cameo as a goth.A mediocre production that seems to have some good ideas and love behind it, and the film does provide some decent moments and Yolande Moreau.

In some godforsaken rural part of France, a young woman, Charlotte Massot (Émilie Dequenne; playing one of those edgy, posturing types whose clothes, attitude, and taste in music defines her personality) driving with no specific destination, decides to pick up a solemn, relatively introverted hitchhiker, Max (Benjamin Biolay), telling him she plans to stop when her cds run out, just following the direction of the sun. Stopping off at a cruddy diner, the two sit down for a cigarette smoke and drink, getting into an altercation with repulsive, purposely vulgar bikers, the slovenly shot-gun packing proprietor of the grungy joint (Yolande Moreau, as La Spack) breaking it up. When Max hits the john, not returning, Charlotte is curious of his disappearance, not finding him in the bathroom, bewildered at where he possibly vanished to. After a conversation with a rather creepy retired law enforcer of the area (who wears a shirt that reads "I F*ck on the First Date"), Charlotte (giving this guy her name and phone number) will return to La Spack's establishment later into the night, her goal to see what lies behind a peculiar door in the restroom where Max went in and never came out. La Spack is waiting for her, using a paddle (it is basically a piece of wood with a handle) to knock her unconscious. From there is a surreal nightmare where creatures from deep within the earth, with a voracious appetite for blood and flesh, may be treated to Charlotte, and some poor Asian kid in a cowboy hat, murmuring repeatedly, "John Wayne, John Wayne, John Wayne…", rocking up and down nervously, both held captive in La Speck's basement, in cages, preparing them as human food because why should the vampires (with no eyes or nose) be refused din-din—don't they deserve to survive just as much as Charlotte? That's pretty much it, in a nutshell. You'll remember the grotesque facial features of the monsters (they walk in the lumbering fashion of Romero Zombies, with two husk-like lower teeth that protrude as they gargle, ready for their blood feast), the slobby La Spack and her macabre activities favorably doting on the monsters at the misfortune of victims who become trusting of her rather unassuming son (he doesn't look threatening, and Charlotte becomes so at ease with him, she lets Max drive while she sleeps!), the farm and its surroundings (reeking of a depression era poverty, out in the middle of nowhere, fields and lumpy empty valleys surrounding it), and the graphic violence (a monster's hand literally rips through a victim's chest, searching for the lock handle to the door holding the creatures out; a shot gun hole open in a victim's upper torso La Spack sees through; a victim hanging upside down, missing a leg; a hand is blown right off the arm; the aforementioned paddle has a large nail at the end that sticks into a victim's forehead, the hole later used to pour blood into a bucket) will produce some moments of minor excitement, but the movie has one of those eye-rolling endings that can't be taken seriously, not to mention, Charlotte is really, really a stupid character (it takes her to get to the *good stuff* but it is really hard for me to sympathize with someone who gets herself into such detrimental situations which could lead to her own undoing, when, in fact, she could escape without too much harm) who makes some mind-numbingly, head-scratching decisions that result in her own personal misery. The movie's over pretty quickly, though, but the opening is slow-going before the plot gets weird and grisly.

I like European cinema, i really do. And the producers of french horror/thriller films tend to create excellent atmosphere, effects & acting. This movie has all these i mentioned but, unfortunately nothing more. First 1/3 was interesting and wanted to see more. But as the film progressed i was getting bored, and at the end i couldn't care less about anything and anyone on this film. It lacked scenario and tried so hard to shine from the bunch of its kind, that failed miserably.pros: as previously written effects, acting, atmosphere. cons: really bad "wannabe good" script, no character development, classic till "bored to death" ending.

I wonder whether the script for this one was complete before filming began or whether they just made things up as they went along. The film is a tonal mish-mash, falling into three distinct segments of notably varying seriousness, starting as a coarsely comic affair it then moves into dark "woman in peril" territory, ending in the realms of loopy siege horror. Fortunately things are underpinned by a fine lead, inspired villain and constant dark ambiance that is rather chilling at times. We follow the attractive young Charlotte Massot, driving across France when she picks up a long-haired hitcher. Stopping off at a roadside restaurant they narrowly miss getting raped before Charlottes new friend goes missing and things get worse from here. The film combines numerous backwoods horror tropes into one tasty brew, geographic isolation and cultural isolation with all character bar the heroine being rather strange, threat of being raped, threat of being eaten, broad characters and wonky dialogue, all dealt out with mania that never winks at the audience, no matter what the cliché. Handy performances give this one a big leg up, Emilie Duquenne is a delightful lead, tough but convincingly frayed when things get nasty, and affectingly traumatised when her ordeal gets nasty. Eric Godon gives suitably greased up and shifty vibes as the hitchhiker, while Philip Nahon plays things broad as a dirty minded cop. Highest marks go to Yolande Moreau as physically imposing, fearsomely tough restaurant owner La Spack, homely looks and unwieldy size hiding creepy malevolence and impressive vigor. Director Franck Richard largely plays things unflashy but has some imaginative flair, the film is focused less on action or big setpieces than mood, with plenty of time spent highlighting the grim and grimy art direction, bleak surroundings and atmospheric outdoor conditions. Some gore, though the gore scenes are around just long enough to be appreciable rather than dwelt on. Score and sound design brood, erupting in industrial pounding when events really hot up, a good complement to the visuals. Tighter handling would have helped this one, also some better dialogue but altogether I had a great time. Well worth a look for loopy backwoods/hicksploitation horror enthusiasts.