The Pact

In debut writer-director Nicholas McCarthy's The Pact, Annie (Caity Lotz) returns to her family house in San Pedro after being convinced by her sister to attend their abusive mother's funeral, despite bad blood. When Annie gets there, however, she finds her sister has mysteriously vanished, leaving her young niece behind. Before long, the house begins to emit strange noises as doors and shelves open and close inexplicably, and after the manifestations increase and become more threatening, Annie enlists a medium with a ouija board—as well as a sympathetic cop (Casper Van Dien)—to help her uncover the reasons behind the ghostly activities, which include a dark family secret and a series of unsolved killings. Although McCarthy exhibits an affinity for using old-fashioned genre conventions to generate simmering tension and sudden shocks, the narrative of this low-budget film is both cliché-ridden and underdeveloped, with a denouement that is disappointingly mundane and silly. Still, The Pact does suggest that McCarthy has a knack for the tricks of the chiller trade, which bodes well for future efforts. Optional. (F. Swietek)