To complete the list of animals that can attack and kill you in Australia, The Pack adds vicious and bloodthirsty wild dogs. This is an effective little horror movie featuring a family trapped on their farm by, you guessed it, a pack of wild dogs. We all know the famous “dingo ate my baby” line from the real-life case of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. It’s about a woman wrongly accused of killing her own child and blaming the wild dogs for the murder. This is just one of many cases of wild dog attacks in Australia. Although they mostly attack the livestock, they can also attack and kill humans, especially if they’re young and helpless. Just check out this fairly recent and incomplete article about dingo attacks.
Being a fan of a closed environment movies and even more a fan of movies where people have to board-up their house in order to save themselves from an outside threat, I loved this movie. If you’re looking for a straight-up movie like that check out Savage Harvest, one of the crazier movies about lions starring Tom Skeritt. The Pack features a straight-forward story without much melodrama and side-plots. Moreover, it stays focused on suspense and terror with awesome pacing.
The Wilson family is in trouble. Their simple and idyllic life on a farm may be coming to an end as the bank is threatening to kick them out if they don’t come up with money in the next 48 hours. However, that will be the least of Wilsons’ problems when the night falls…
Acting and pretty much everything else was good and by the book. This movie knows it’s not some big-budget extravaganza and doesn’t try to be. It will keep your attention for eighty minutes with just a couple of scenes that were a bit dull and drawn-out. Granted, it is a bit predictable, especially since the family is involved but the pacing and cinematography help with that. That first attack was pretty gruesome and unsettling though. The rest of the movie relies on phenomenal sound editing and suspense-building, so don’t expect some grand finale or something.
I was attacked by a pack of stray dogs a couple of years ago with one of them even trying to bite my leg. Luckily, I was able to get in the car before something happened. And this wasn’t in some village or a remote farm but a major city.
The incident made me really empathize with our characters and take the story a bit more seriously. I know for all you dog-lovers out there, the plot might seem a bit far-fetched. However, you have to remember that this is just a movie. Sure, it’s not Stephen King’s Cujo, but it’s definitely worth watching despite the gimmicky elements.
If you’re looking to continue your journey into this sub-genre, I recommend you go even deeper and check out just Australian movies like: The Reef, The Boar, Razorback, Rogue, Dark Age and to top things off New Zealand horror/comedy about killer sheep, Black Sheep. And, of course, you can always check out Subversive Rabbit lists featuring movies about various animals like movies about crocodiles, cockroaches, bats and many more.
Director: Nick Robertson
Writer: Evan Randall Green
Cast: Jack Campbell, Anna Lise Phillips, Katie Moore, Hamish Phillips, Charles Mayer, Kieran Thomas McNamara
Fun Facts: Five trained attack dogs from New South Wales appear in the movie.
Rating:
IMDb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4167720/
