La meute

Rule number I forget in horror: Don't leave someone behind when they've "disappeared". It will come back to haunt you, or the people responsible for his "disappearance" will get you. That's what happens in the French horror film "The Pack."

Charlotte (Emilie Dequenne) picks up a hitchhiker named Max (Benjamin Biolay) and they go to a local truck-stop diner. They running into a gang of degenerate bikers (is there any other kind in movies?), only to have said bikers get scared off by the owner of the restaurant La Spack (Jean-Pierre Jeunet regular Yolande Moreau.) When Max doesn't return after a trip to the bathroom, Charlotte finds herself in the clutches of Spack, who turns out to be Max's mother-and who feeds people to ground dwelling, humanoid flesh eaters.

I won't deny that for what it is, "The Pack" manages to be fun albeit unspectacular. It's got a nasty and welcome streak of black humor that doesn't go overboard into a horror/comedy route, which is kind of refreshing. It's also capably directed, has some good performances (especially from Moreau, who seems to be having a blast as the villain), some decent atmosphere, and some choice gore. Also, Phillipe Nahon shows up wearing a shirt you've probably seen online that says "I F#ck on the First Date", which automatically bumps this up half a star.

However, as I said, the end result feels kind of unspectacular. That's mostly because of the fact that most of this is either predictable or familiar, and none of it is particularly suspenseful or scary. You know from the get go that La Spack is up to no good, what with her threatening the bikers with a gun and coming off as loony. We also get the requisite nods to other, better horror movies, including a near end siege straight of of "Night of the Living Dead" (or if you want to be obscure, Robert Voskanian's sole directorial effort "The Child"), and yet more references to the likes of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." That reminds me: do we really need another visual tribute to the door slamming from that movie?

As it is, "The Pack" is far from a classic, and not in the higher tier of the recent wave of French horror. However, it's disposable, mostly unoffensive fun that's not spectacular but does a good enough job, and would make a fun triple bill with "The Horde" and "Frontier(s)."

In the middle of a snowy no man's land, Charlotte Massot (Emilie Dequenne) picks up Max (Benjamin Biolay), a hitchhiker; they stop in a truck-stop restaurant... hilarity ensues.

Trying to define this movie, or even give it a coherent plot, is a bit of a challenge. There are definitely elements of "Saw" or "Hostel" with the torture sequences. But that is not the focus. There are zombies (or something like zombies), but it is not a zombie film. And there are outlaws that conjure up images of "Mad Max", but it is not really like that either. Does this film fit into a category? No. Which, I suppose, is both a compliment and a complaint.

I will say that the film was beautifully shot and the special effects far exceed the low budget American films that come out these days. I am not aware what the budget of this film was, but I am willing to bet it was not nearly the amount it appears to be. The cinematographer and special effects crew deserve every bit of praise heaped on them.

I first saw this in 2011 on a dvd which I own.

Revisited it recently.

The film started off very well and i thot it might b a good thriller like Kurt Russell's Breakdown but never mind it took another approach n succeeded as a horror film albeit with a few flaws.

A young female Charlotte, probably after her break goes for a road trip all alone and gets harassed by a group of bikers at a snack store to which she just ignores n rides off on the empty road only to see the bikers behind and a hitchhiker Max asking for a lift.

She gives the lift to Max and later they both stop at La Spack, a rundown roadside eatery run by a fat n sturdy woman.

The biker gang reappears and when one of the gang members is about to rape Max, the entire gang is chased off by the owner of the restaurant. Moments later, Max vanishes after heading to the bathroom. Charlotte inquires the owner n a retired cop but to no avail.

How can a person wear a coat of mail most of the time?

Now who stands next to a person presumed dead/down by facing away?

How the creatures were able to get inside n outside the mud without effort?

How the creatures were able to hang the gìrl upside down?

Why the bikers rested at the same spot. Also where were the bikers when the lady took the meals for the creatures for the first time.

And why wud any biker jus rest at somebody else's property by trespassing? Weren't they suppose to move on the roads.

The background story of the miners doesnt add to the scariness. They shud have jus left em as creatures from the marsh.

We have Matthias Schoenaerts in a tiny role as a gang member.

Claustrophobic n bleak landscape wise, the film has a similar tone of that of Calvaire and the wet, muddy n uneven roads wise, this will remind Straightheads aka Closure.

Viewed at the Festival du Film, Cannes 2010

One of the best things about the Festival is how everyone who loves film, whether it's for fun or profit, often piles into a cinema for a shared experience, whereby you get folks of all nationalities and tastes often watching a film they normally might not bother with. The Pack is a perfect example.

This is a cross-genre horror film that also wants to make some social comments, especially about the how and why of the creatures, hence my use of "meandering" in the summary. As has been mentioned by a previous poster, it starts as one film, changes to another and then goes a different way. At the same time, the elements do work, perhaps better individually than as a whole. Even so, The Pack is fun and it's nice to see a European horror film get a good reception.

The usual genre rules are there: Don't pick up hitchhikers, don't stop at a desolate restaurant run by a weirdo, don't get caged up in the basement as a snack for locally marauding monsters. In fact, maybe give all of France and Belgium a miss?

There are the obligatory jumps and shocks, some black humour, the requisite gore and the final last standard. In that sense don't expect anything new from The Pack. But at the same time there is a sure hand on the tiller, except for this meandering, which could have been sorted out at script stage. It doesn't damage the film as more as weaken the effect it could have. But my criticism is more the disappointment of how a good film misses being great, so on that basis The Pack was given a very good reception and makes for some enjoyable thrills, chills and spills.

First off, I'm sick of "tough girl" lead roles. A cigarette, leather jacket and a sneer is not character development.

As the plot developed it also dragged. I was wondering if it was going to be another "hostel" or similar torture/gore flick. And, I was starting to get annoyed because, I was already bored. Then came the twist of "The Pack" being revealed and it was original. It got my attention and I thought it might pick up.

Problem, every single character in this movie was such an overacted, quirky oddball, that the creatures are underwhelming. There is no prior reference to where they came from in the landscape or on the road traveled. The explanation of them is hastily thrown at you with a few unconvincing news clippings found later. The policeman was just a stupid character in a stupid shirt and according to the films own time line everyone was wearing the same exact clothes for a week (I know its France and that is a possibility). The biker crew was ridiculously awful, especially the one that wouldn't stop giggling. They reacted with the slightest skepticism when told monsters are coming to get them. When the big gory action scene comes you just don't care.

It was a very slow movie. There was not enough script to fill an hour and a half. With a bad, weird dream sequence ending that gives no closure.