Kill Theory (2009)

If you were in a situation that required you to kill in order to survive, would you do it? What if the people you had to kill were your best friends? It’s an interesting concept to think of, I would like to think that I wouldn’t kill my friends, but unfortunately humans are primal creatures deep at our core. When were a backed in to a corner and its life or death we all would react differently.

Kill Theory is a story about just that, If you were put in a situation where it was kill or be killed… would you do it? Basically a group of college kids go out to a cottage for one last hurrah before graduation. When one of them is brutally killed, they find out they are not alone, and they all have life or death decisions to make.

The film stars Ryanne Duzich (Friday Night Lights), Teddy Dunn, Daniel Franzese (I Spit On Your Grave Mean Girls, Party Monster), Agnes Bruckner (The Pact, Blood & Chocolate), Patrick Flueger (Brothers, Mother’s Day, Footloose), Steffi Wickens, Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy), and Taryn Manning (Hustle & Flow, 8-Mile, SoA, Hawaii 5-0). While it did not possess the greatest acting, it was still good. At times I felt Daniel Franzese frantic crying and screaming was a little much but his delivery was still good. Taryn is fantastic as always while she doesn’t have many lines she still shows why she is successful. Ryanne Duzich, Agnes Bruckner, Theo Rossi, and Patrick Flueger did great jobs as well. Ryanne is very good as Amber, I am surprised I haven’t seen her in more stuff. She’s talented and very beautiful. I hope to see her back in action soon.

Written by Kelly C. Palmer, Kill Theory’s biggest strength is its script. The dialog is fluid and natural. The overall premise is the most captivating part of the film. It makes you think and put yourself in the same position. That along, makes this film successful. While some areas of the film hit a bit of a wall, the overall arch of the films story is great. There is a lot of red stuff in the film, fans get some shootings, sliced throats, shovel smashes, human traps, eye puncturing, & stabbings. While there was a lot of red stuff, the setting is so dark its hard to tell if a lot of it was effective. It looked good, but hard to tell.

Basically, Kill Theory is a great movie to watch if you want to kill some time with a good movie. The story and premise are great, the acting is ok, and the gore is alright. GLP gives this effort a 3 out of 5 stabs. The film was released on DVD as part of the After Dark Horrorfest Series 4. View the trailer below.

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The Pact (2012)

A new wave of horror is starting to peak its head out of the proverbial coffin, and no it’s not found footage films. It’s a throwback to 70’s and 80’s horror that some have appropriately coined “Slow Burn” films. Why would you want to watch a movie coined a Slow Burner? It’s simple really. Slow Burn films take out the stereotypical, and rely on fear and imagination to do the dirty work. Haunting images, eerie settings, exceptional camera work, and intriguing stories are what follow.

IFC’s The Pact is a well-crafted slow burn film reminiscent of late 70’s ghost films such as Burnt Offerings. The Pact is about two sisters dealing with the fall out of their mother’s death; the sisters have a strained relationship with their mother as well as each other. Reluctantly Anne makes the trip down and discovers that something is amiss in her once childhood home.

Written by Nicholas McCarthy, The Pact seems like a rather straight forward ghost story, however as the story develops the genre is flipped on its head in a rather spectacular way and the viewers are left with a sense of dread, despair, and overall excitement. The genre bending story works and because the execution it cements itself as a heavy contender in this new wave of independent horror.

The acting in the film is done quite well. Caity Lotz plays the younger sister Anne. Caity carries the film as the lead actress and delivers a great performance. Anne is a believable character and you can’t help but to connect with her on some level. Agnes Bruckner place Nichole, Anne’s older sister and previous drug user. Agnes really did a great job with this role. Also on the cast is Casper Van Dien, this dude is like a go to guy for independent film makers, he doesn’t do bad, but let’s face it Casper will always be Johnny Rico.  He plays detective Bill Creek and gives a solid performance.

While the story is the utmost best thing about this film, there is a rather gruesome scene that caught even me by surprise. The film doesn’t rely on blood and guts to get the point across but the views are treated to a rather nasty knife in the throat. A subtle side note, what the eyes. That’s all I will say about that. The view also gets a rather grim image of a beheading but it’s merely a still picture and great part of the story arch.

The Pact surprised me, and I left the film very happy I gave it a chance. I was slightly worried about the film when seeing the poster artwork, and how unrealistic it looked, but there’s that old saying never judge a book by it cover, I guess the same thing can be said about film. The Pact gets a hefty 4 out of 5 stabs for great story, and atmosphere. I am very excited to see what comes of this; apparently there is a sequel in the works as I type. To find out more about The Pact visit the films Official Facebook Page. The film is currently available OnDemand, DVD, Blu-Ray, and currently on Netflix. View the trailer below.

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