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News Article for Saturday 28th May 2011

The debut feature from writer-director Franck Richard, The Pack, released on DVD by Icon Home Entertainment on 4th July 2011, is a deliciously gory slice of new wave Euro-horror made all the more delicious by a top-notch cast of celebrated actors that includes Benjamin Biolay (Stella), multi-award winning Belgian actresses Yolande Moreau (Gainsbourg; Seraphine; Amelie) and Emilie Dequenne (Brotherhood Of The Wolf; Rosetta) and renowned French veteran, Philippe Nahon (Switchblade Romance; Irreversible; Brotherhood Of The Wolf).

Taking a short snack break while driving along a remote leg of a solo road trip, spirited 20-something Charlotte (Dequenne) has a minor verbal run-in with a gang of loutish bikers at a roadside food van. Shortly afterwards, she picks up a hitchhiker named Max (Biolay) and takes him for a coffee at a rundown café, La Spack, named after its middle-aged female proprietor (Moreau). No sooner have they sat down than the bikers arrive threatening violence and sexual assault on both Charlotte and Max. A fight breaks out, but before the incident escalates too far, La Spack steps in with a shotgun and sees off the bikers with threats of her own.

Following the ruckus, and while Charlotte passes the time engrossed in a video game, Max mysteriously disappears after heading off to the bathroom. Suspicious, and concerned for her new companion, Charlotte returns to the café after dark to investigate. Shortly afterwards she finds herself waking up bound and caged in a dank farm building, the prisoner of La Spack. It quickly becomes apparent to Charlotte that she is very soon going to be added to a menu specially tailored to suit a particularly fussy group of diners.

An "interesting, compelling bit of work [with] impressive gore set pieces" (Todd Brown, Twitch), The Pack begins by pushing the same primal fear buttons as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have Eyes and Wrong Turn before upping the ante with a truly gruesome revelation that spins the story into another realm of horror entirely. The UK DVD release of The Pack features specially commissioned exclusive artwork from acclaimed British film poster artist Graham Humphreys (A Nightmare On Elm Street, The Evil Dead).