Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘The Pact’

Written by Scott Edwards 

Family secrets can be damaging when they come out to the world. Every family has a secret, your great uncle was a mass murder, or your cousin is actually a Kennedy. Although most families think that this is a bad thing for the world to know, it is more damaging to the children when they find out from someone else much later in life. Telling your children up front about the family history helps them find a direction they want to follow, be it in their family footsteps or the opposite direction to correct what their ancestors have done wrong. With the knowledge of their own history, our children can chose what is right for them, and be able to stand by their decisions when someone tries to call them out on their family history.

Annie has returned home after many years to help her sister take care of her daughter. But upon arriving at her childhood home, she finds that her sister has gone missing. Not knowing what to do what the future holds for her niece; Annie tries to stay positive in the house that has haunted her dreams for many years. When Annie tries to find a way to keep young Eva from the same terrors she experienced in the house for so many years, an unseen force awakens and begins pushing her around the house, forcing them both to leave.

Reporting the strange occurrence to the police, Annie is treated like a crazy person, but one officer will go and try to investigate what is actually happening. Not witnessing anything on his visit, he tries to keep Annie at bay until she can receive the help she needs, but Annie will sit by and wait as she knows that there is something or someone in the house that is trying to tell her something. Persuading the officer to return, they uncover a secret room that has been boarded up that Annie has no recollection of being there. Taking pictures of the house, the officer seems to believe that there is nothing out of the ordinary going on, it is just her imagination getting the better of her. But when reviewing his pictures of the old estate, he finds that there are strange things that are appearing in front of his camera that cannot be seen by the naked eye.

Annie knows that there is something strange happening in the house and needs to know who is trying to show her something. Finding that an old classmate is still living in town, Annie puts her trust in Stevie who was known to see strange things when they were growing up. As Stevie and her brother enter the house, she believes that the woman that she is seeing is Annie’s mother, but when Annie sees the same woman, they know that something sinister has happened. Stevie captures all of the emotions around the house, even being able to see what Annie was trying to run away from, but when she enters the hidden room, something darker comes out to play as she is touched by the unseen force as well. Without getting the answers of what is really happening in the house from her old classmate, Annie has to find out what other secrets have been kept from her by her mother, but when she finds what she is looking for, will she be able to take the next step and do what needs to be done?

This is a very interesting movie, as you have a young woman that was terrorized by her mother growing up, returning to the house that changed her life forever. That, combined with her sister going missing and leaving her niece unattended to, it seems like Annie was going to be the perfect fit for the job. But with all of the strangeness happening around the house, there seems to be no way of escaping what evil still is lurking around her old prison. I really enjoyed how the script came together in this movie, as even when you think you know what is happening in the house, there is still more that you may never see. I must say that if I find out that my family has been keeping a secret like this from me in all my years, I would not be one to be around for many, many months. Stay Scared.

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