When given the prospect of watching a French horror film that I had never heard of I jumped on it. As someone that really enjoys non-mainstream horror movies and actively seeks them out, having never heard of this movie only made me more excited to watch it. Thankfully, The Pack (La Meute) lived up to my self-induced hype.
The pack follows Charlotte (Émilie Dequenne), a young woman that, for whatever reason, is traveling without a specific destination in mind. She stops for a quick bite to eat. In the quick few minutes she is getting her food she gets hit on by bikers in a rather vulgar manner if I may so myself. Not long after Charolette is driving along a long stretch of highway, the bikers show up behind her. Its at this point that half out of fear that the bikers will make due on their earlier vulgarities and half that the hitch hiker ahead of her seems like he might be able to prevent such a scenario from taking place. The hitchhiker’s name is Max (Benjamin Biolay) and luckily for her he’s not interested in practicing to make a baby. They stop at a truck stop to grab some food and it’s clear that Charlotte has taken a liking to Max. Hey maybe some baby making is in store for him after all. Then the pack of bikers shows up and attempt to rape Max. I had no idea what Charlotte was so worried about, they’re into guys. La Spack (Yolande Moreau) the owner of the truck stop promptly escorts the bikers out of the stop via pointed shotgun. Its at this point Max decides it’s a good time to take a bathroom break. Something that I think anyone would do having just escaped a potential four-some of the devil variety. A good amount of time goes by before Charlotte realizes that Max hasn’t returned. After some investigation it looks as though Max has vanished into thin air. Charlotte has taken such a liking to Max that she camps in her car until nightfall before breaking into the stop to do some investigative work a la Scooby Doo style. It’s during this investigation that she gets taken by La Spack and put into a cage. Also, Max turns out to be La Spack’s son. It was all a set up, but why? Simple, to feed La Spack’s dead sons (Max’s brothers) that died in a mining accident years ago but have returned as Golem’s. They have a striking resemblance to the Pale Man (monster with eyes in hand that eats children) from Pan’s Labyrinth. At the first encounter with the real Pack, the monsters spare Charlotte because they like her for some unexplained reason. Due to my strict adherence to no spoiler policy, the tables turn and the rest of movie is Charlottes attempt to kill the monsters.
Three aspects of this movie raise it to a level above the other non-mainstream horror movies that I’ve seen. The title of the movie I think is perfect. Whether it’s a product of translation or a intentional decision by the director it works much better than most movies where the title ends up being said in the movie. Movie titles in my opinion are supposed to give you a slight clue as to what the movie possibly entails. The Pack plays with that notion by having the opening scene involve a pack of bikers harassing the main character. This immediately made me think that that was The Pack the title was referring too. At this point I was slightly disappointed as I had seen 
many of these types of movies before and they aren’t always so entertaining. So naturally when the pack in which the title refers to ends up being the pack of golem brothers I thought it was great. Especially because the bikers leave early on in the movie so you are left thinking when will they return, when all of a sudden it’s the dead golem brothers that are the true Pack.
The second part of the movie that I’d like to go into more detail about but won’t due to spoiler issues is the twist. As with most movies there is usually some sort of twist that occurs. I believe its how predictable and how much of a role that twist plays in the movie that enhances its plot or takes away from it. In The Pack the twist wasn’t predictable and set the stage for the last third of the movie to take place. I don’t want to say too much but it involves the investigator and believe me you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when it happens.
The last aspect for me truly made the movie better than others in my opinion is the Writer/Directors choice of monster. Usually it’s a vampire, warewolf, zombie, derange deformed person turned serial killer or any variation or combinatory of the two. So when the monster is finally revealed to be a golem, or to be more specific a mix between a golem with vampire tendencies I was pretty happy. Also, it added to the story of it being miner brothers that were trapped when a mine shaft caved in, thus they are born of the mud of the area. Which, if you didn’t know, is the exact definition of a golem. I only said vampire tendencies before because they apparently have a thing for human blood, but even then it’s a combination of human blood and flesh so its only slightly vampire like.
I would definitely recommend checking this movie out if you get the chance. I know its subtitled but I think it’s a movie that’s makes it very easy to get past that point since the acting pretty much conveys exactly what the characters are saying. I’m hopeful that this isn’t Franck Richard’s last movie.
Rating: A refreshing horror film that’s worth checking out (7.5/10)
Trailer Below:
The Pack is available now on VOD thanks to Indomina Releasing
Recent Comments