Pack Animals

Bram Stoker Award winner Gifune (God Machine) serves up a lean, mean supernatural thriller that moves at a breakneck speed and doesn’t let up. It opens at a mental institution, where an unnamed man recuperates after surviving a horrific incident. The tale then flashes back to find depressed divorcee Truck having recently relocated to a patch of desolate land in the middle of winter. When he hears strange beasts circling his property one night, he calls up his friends in a panic. In response, his old crew—Mike, Elliot, Javon, Bart, and Dizzy—come to check in on their despondent friend. They believe their buddy is having a breakdown—until the sources of the strange noises make themselves all too clear. What follows is a pulpy and entertaining fight for survival that plays out over the course of a single night. Gifune doesn’t waste too much time on backstories, which keeps the pace up but makes the relationships between the men feel somewhat sketchy, especially as their banter grows repetitive. Still, the deaths land and a twist ending shocks. It’s a solid diversion for horror fans. (Dec.)