The Pack

My quick rating - 5,1/10. Was much better then expected by reading the summary. Basically a family on the brink of losing their house in the middle of the outback is suddenly under siege by a "pack" of attack dogs. Yes, it does sound somewhat stupid by that but taking a simplistic idea and doing something with it (without cheating and using a 200 million dollar budget) is something to be said. The acting is good and seems very matter of fact. The characters just had believable qualities that helped the story along. The pace was done well and of course turns into high gear when the animals go into full attack mode. Speaking of, the effects were fine and not overdone are bad cgi laden. Overall not a bad unknown little flick that has a couple decent scares.

Just another Aussie movie that I was disappointed after watching. I've been going by what the previous reviews say about Aussie films and as a American film goer, I gotta say, their films kinda suck a...s. They start off pretty decent like this one did, but twenty minutes in, you start seeing some real stupid scenes, that makes you question what were the script writers thinking, when they wrote that part in the scene. The movie is a about a pack of wild ferocious wolves who now set their fury on a family of four, who's home is about to be put into foreclosure. Not giving any spoilers, but this story is tired and old and done so many times before, you would think they would've gotten basic formula right. But my issue with Aussie films are they always have certain scenes that make absolutely no sense, when it comes to survival. Anyway that's my spiel on it. Not really worth the watch unless you have nothing else to do, but time to waste.

The first thing I checked after blindly purchasing "The Pack" was if it's a remake of the tense but sadly forgotten 1977 horror/thriller with the same title and directed by Robert Clouse. It's not, and I guess that makes sense, since "The Pack" is a logical and common title for a movie about a bunch of wild dogs entrenching petrified families. Nevertheless, I couldn't wait to watch it fast, because I have a fondness for Aussie horror and particularly because I'm always in the mood to see a good old-fashioned "animals gone bad/nature against humanity" flick. It's already a personal favorite sub-genre of mine and, quite frankly, I've been so fed up with horror movies about cannibalistic/inbred families lately, that an "animal-attack" film sounds extra fresh and appealing! The best possible thing I can write about "The Pack" is that debuting director Nick Robertson did an exceptionally impressive job when it comes to building up tension and sustaining the uncanny atmosphere. The body count is rather low, I'll reveal that much, but it's a rare example of a recent horror movie where you develop sympathy for the lead characters and move towards the edge of your seat during the chase sequences. The plot introduces the Wilson family, living on an isolated farming estate in the remote Australian countryside. The rebellious teenage daughter wants to move back to the city and the parents are virtually bankrupt, mainly because all their sheep are getting killed by a pack of bewildered dogs. When the dogs move in closer, the mean and nasty debt collector from the bank is the first one to get what he deserves. But savage dogs don't care about mortgages, and pretty soon the family's sole concern becomes the nightly battle for survival. I like my 'nature revolts' movies best when the animals in question are as normal as possible. Like in the awesome 1977 film, these dogs aren't mutated, sick or excessively large. They've just gone savage because they were abandoned and depend on their natural killing instinct to survive. Simple, perhaps, but even more efficient and it's exactly what makes them more menacing. There are a few clichés and fake jump-scares, but also a bit of decent gore and the attack sequences are more than adequately illustrated. I didn't know any of the names in the cast, but they all put down good performances. "The Pack" isn't the most memorable or spectacular horror/thriller you'll ever watch, but it's certainly worth and hour and a half of your life.

A family becomes trapped as a pack of man eating, feral dogs descend on their property.

This isn't an awful film but there isn't a whole lot to it. It has little in the way of character development or a solid story so that you can invest in the family. It didn't have much gore or blood but there was brutal suggestiveness in the attacks. We didn't even get to see much of the dogs. After all my complaints, I still liked the film. I could see this as a Lifetime movie.

Well-made, small scale Aussie survival horror that won't blow you away, but will entertain for the odd 80 mins. The familiarity of the premise's set-up (isolated family farmhouse under sieged/terrorised by wild dogs) and by the numbers story progression is offset by the intensity and viciousness of the well staged attack scenes. It can get quite nasty, and the foreshadowing in those scenes make it suspenseful.