Pet (2016)
Starring Dominic Monaghan, Ksenia Solo, Jennette McCurdy
Directed by Carles Torrens
There is something particularly enjoyable about sitting through a movie like Carles Torrens’ Pet when you are seven days into a festival like the SXSW Film Festival. At such cinematic showcases, you come to reasonably expect a certain level of artistry, cleverness, or subtext applied to most of the films that ultimately get screened, which can admittedly make many of the viewings run together after you have seen 10+ films in a matter of a few days. Torrens’ psychological thriller is a different kind of experience, however, and while I am still quite surprised at how it managed to sneak into a lineup like this, I am certainly glad it did.
Pet tells the story of Seth (Monaghan, “Lost”), a socially inept man who works a dead-end job at an animal shelter in Los Angeles. One day on the bus, Seth runs into Holly (Solo, “Orphan Black”), an old high school classmate who has no recollection of who he is — though this doesn’t stop Seth from developing a quick and passionate crush. Though Seth painstakingly attempts to impress Holly by keeping track of her likes and dislikes on social media and not so subtly dropping by the restaurant where she works, she ultimately rebuffs his attempts at romance. Unable to shake his unrelenting obsession, however, Seth snaps one day and kidnaps Holly, taking her as a prisoner in an abandoned basement room of the animal shelter. He has a plan of “saving” her in mind, and, well… things get a bit crazy from there.
Pet is the kind of movie that puts it all out there at once, and unapologetically so. It does not function through some grand thematic message, nor does it play any of its hands in a particularly subtle or clever way. The setup of Seth and Holly’s captor-prisoner relationship is the driving force of the film, and I was happy — and oddly refreshed in a fest like SXSW — to find it insanely entertaining, even through its sometimes flawed and on-the-nose execution.
Monaghan imbues Seth with the most painful kind of awkward hopelessness, making for many uncomfortable exchanges that will have you cringing with secondhand embarrassment. He is a lonely social outcast with arguably pure intentions that go horribly wrong, and, in all honesty, there are many times in which you might find yourself feeling sympathy for this very unstable man — even if you also feel rather terrible for doing so. Solo plays against Monaghan as Holly with an impressively fierce performance that seems to come out of nowhere. I have not previously been familiar with her work, but loved her injection of acidity into a role that ends up being both complex and entertaining; simply put, she is right at home in a genre film like this that is built upon such an unabashed sense of emotional and physical havoc.
Pet does a great job of toying with its audience as our characters learn more about each other, introducing a significant twist into an otherwise familiar story about halfway through. At this point, Torrens and screenwriter Jeremy Slater go balls-to-the-wall, delivering a story that is best described as a grisly, amped up version of a Lifetime original thriller. There is a level of outright cinematic irreverence that carries the film at its peak of insanity, but if you can get on board with the ridiculousness of it all once it takes this turn, it is a majorly fun ride. Admittedly, I would have welcomed even more extreme turns in the plot, though Slater’s fast-paced script definitely keeps you hooked either way — at times through genuine narrative intrigue, but mostly through a sense of wild curiosity to see how the chaos ends.
That’s not to say that some of its more outright flaws are not bothersome though; occasional chunks of stilted dialogue grow somewhat laughable at times, and there is a section of the plot involving Holly’s roommate that seems to drop off altogether in the last third of the film. The film in general will no doubt put off people who were hoping for more of a restrained and refined psychological thriller narrative, and I personally know a handful of horror fans that will just outright hate it. It is most definitely not a film you’ll have to think much about, as Torrens and Slater spell everything out pretty clearly.
Frankly, if you can get through the first twenty minutes without being completely turned off by its tone, I can almost guarantee that your viewing experience will be an enjoyable one. The great thing about Pet is ultimately the purity of its execution. It does not pretend to be any smarter than it is and it has a wholly unpretentious handle on the oft absurd elements of its plot. There’s definitely something to be said for films like this in the horror genre — the kind that are best enjoyed when you have a drink in hand, some good friends present, and your brain set to autopilot. Think of it this way: Though many of us love an extravagant filet mignon dinner, sometimes you really just want a cheeseburger and fries. Consider Pet that cheeseburger and you’ll have a good time.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
