La meute

'tough girl' Charlotte is also a bit of a daft twit, who doesn't mind picking up hitchhikers, even falling asleep while allowing him to drive, snoop in her belongings, and take her to an out of the way backwoods diner. When he disappears into the restroom of said diner and never returns, she's hellbent on finding this complete stranger. And that's far from the last mind-blowingly stupid decision she makes. Furthermore, while it was nice to see French horror mainstay, Philippe Nahon playing a local policeman in the movie, it only served to remind me of other more quality horror films. Ones that this movie can't help but fail in comparison to. The creatures are visually striking but that's pretty much it.

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.

On a lonely country road, Charlotte ( a young angry woman ) is travelling in her rusty old car ... clearly running away from something, which is unclear. Along the way she picks up a hitch hiker by the name of Max. Max is a strange man, but Charlotte could use the company. When they stop at a Truck Stop, owned by a woman named "La Spack" , Max mysteriously goes missing when he goes into the mens restroom. When no one else is giving her satisfactory answers concerning his whereabouts, Charlotte decides to investigate further, and unknowingly falls into a trap.

This is another very recent New Wave French Horror that may initially disappoint you to start with, but on second and third viewing, the film comes across as a lot of fun, but not much else. The characters were paper thin, but there were some very memorable performances, in particular, Yolande Moreau as La Spack. A very sinister and unique type of villain. That was one old woman not to be messed with! I loved the costume designs for the creatures, which also brought some fairly decent gore as well! Unfortunately the gore was few and far between and for a film of this nature, it was a little disappointing to see that the bloodbath that was on offer, wasn't as bloody as it could and should have been. The ending is fairly straight forward, which concludes a fairly straight forward film. If you are a French Horror fanatic, such as myself, this one will interest you. If you are just a casual viewer, this movie isn't something you haven't seen all before.

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.