The Pact, the feature directing debut of Nicholas McCarthy, is a refreshing and effectively scary horror movie hybrid, a gimmick-less thriller produced in an age when gimmicks are pounding the genre to death.

Filmmakers and amateur ghost hunters Don Hertzfeldt, Nicholas McCarthy, Brent Green and Mike Plante head for the nearest snow-covered graveyard at Sundance.

Nicholas McCarthy’s The Pact and Richard Bates Jr.’s Excision are two of seven feature films screening at “Park City at Midnight” at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Jewel Staite stars as a mother haunted, quite literally, by her own childhood in Nicholas McCarthy’s spooky short film The Pact.

At the 2009 AFI Fest, Mike Plante screened 13 amazing short films from his Lunchfilm project, including films by Naomi Uman and Brent Green.

Lunchfilm is an ambitious and fun short film project organized by film journalist Mike Plante and includes work by Martha Colburn, David Fenster and more.