THE PACK

Australia, 2015, 95 minutes, Colour.
Jack Campbell, Anna Lise Phillips, Katie Moore, Hamish Phillips, Charles Mayer.
Directed by Nick Robertson.

The Pack is a small-budget film from South Australia, receiving very limited release although seen in countries outside Australia.

The film takes place over a day, beginning with a prologue and an elderly farm woman being savaged by mysterious dogs. The film then moves to a farming family, having financial difficulties in repaying the bank who send a representative to threaten foreclosure. The farmer has discovered many sheep on his property mysteriously slaughtered. His wife supports him but the teenage daughter, after exams, is wanting to go to live in the city, away from the country.

The second half of the film is the menace of the dogs outside the house, the response of the family, with guns, helping each other,

1. A small-budget terror film with overtones of horror?

2. A South Australian production, farm locations, the countryside, the sheep, the dogs? The homestead?

3. A story about farmers, financial difficulties, survival? The bank wanting to reclaim the farm? The farmer and his wife wanting to stay? The teenage daughter feeling she is trapped in the country? The attitude of the young son?

4. The introduction, night time, the roving camera through the trees, the suggestion of the dogs, the old lady, suspicious, going out, into the sheds, the attack and deaths?

5. The dogs, fierce, the focus on their teeth, the attacks on the humans, savaging the bodies? The suggestion of wolves? The film not giving explanation as to the origin of the dogs and their becoming rabid?

6. The home, the father, discovering the dead sheep, the puzzle, collecting them, burning them? The visit of the bank representative, his arguments, foreclosure? The mother, support of her husband? The daughter, on the phone, the exams, wanting to go to the city, her mother pulling the phone plug? The boy and his being at home on the farm? The details of the ordinary life? The daughter and intervention with the bank representative, her father telling her to back down?

7. The progress of the day, the presence of the dogs, howling outside, the darkness, the farmer with the gun? The continued presence of the dogs, the attack? Calling the police, the policeman arriving, his being savaged?

8. The continued buildup of suspense, the attack of the dogs, the fight,