Synopsis

After their mother passes away, sisters Nicole and Annie reluctantly return to their childhood home to pay their last respects. While staying overnight in the house, the sisters sense a mysterious presence in their midst: noises startling them in the night, objects moving about, a fallen picture of an unknown woman posed next to their mother. Annie begins experiencing a series of intense and disturbing dreams – visions that lead her to uncover something terrible about her mother’s past that is finally revealing itself.

Official Review

As I’ve written previously on this site, ghost stories stop being scary as soon as you turn the ghost into a protagonist with a problem. That’s why the first half of poltergeist movies are usually scarier than the second half. The Sixth Sense features some classic horror movie moments, but a pukey Mischa Barton ceases to be frightening as soon as Haley Joel Osment starts making deliveries for her. Nicholas McCarthy’s The Pact––based on his short film from last year’s Sundance fest––suffers from a similar problem. It’s a ghost story that starts out with a nerve-jangling bang, but once it starts to delve into its central mystery, it has a hard time sustaining the tension and suspense of its opening act. Which is too bad, because the first 30 minutes of The Pact are scary as hell. …Read More