The Hounds is Cheaply Made but Richly Conceived
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The Hounds, made in the U.K. for an undisclosed low budget, keeps it simple to achieve something pretty complex with great performances and an excellent twist.
Written by The Horror Czar, Don Sumner
September 3, 2011
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Release: TBD Completed 2011
Directed by: Maurizio del Piccolo, Trevor Gittings and Roberto del Piccolo
Written by: Roberto del Piccolo
Starring:
Andy Callaghan as Mike Crowell
Paul Tonkin as Dave
Danny Shayler as Man with Scar
Alice Knapton as Lisa
David Drew as Jake
Vicky Vatchers as Tracey
John Doughty as Martin
Nasif Malik as PJ
Maddie Moate as Sarah
When a group of friends decides to go camping in the beginning of a horror movie, no good can come of it. That is exactly what the crew in The Hounds decides to do though, and when morning comes they set off on their trek, sans one of them who had too much to drink at the club the night before and decides to sleep it off at home. The purpose of the camping trip, other than just recreation, is a bit unclear, but there is something driving the surge into the wilderness it seems, and it all goes to complete hell when they discover a partially buried body near their tent site. As the trip goes on each of them is maimed or killed by what appears to be the dead body, periodically coming to life to rip their organs out of their bodies. Meanwhile government agents are up to something in the background, closing in on the deadly secret.
The Hounds is shot simply with most of the scenes outside at the camp site, and most of the scenes are shot during the day. This helps the film avoid some the most common pitfalls of Indie horror, namely bad cinematography and cheesy sets. With natural light and the woods as a back drop The Hounds looks great.
The acting performances are all spot on as well as each of the
actors does what is necessary for them to appear real. There is not
academy award winning dramatizing or deep moments where an entire story
is told with a single look… just the impression of real people going
through some terrible stuff, just like it is supposed to be. The actors
are generally well suited to their roles so it’s not too much of a
stretch to 
believe what they are saying, or
that they would actually
say it.
The story is the key to this film, and while all is
eventually explained in one of the best twist seen in a while, much of
the film is a bit confusing. Thankfully the confusion is diffused by
some good mysterious happenings on the screen so the frustration that
can come from having pertinent information withheld is reduced. Writer
Roberto del Piccolo does a great job giving enough clues in the early
stages for theorizing.
The Hounds is an interesting and fun horror movie with lots of great gore and good suspenseful scares, all in broad daylight. By not trying to get too complicated and keeping it simple this film pulls off a fairly complex story that keeps interest throughout and satisfies in the end.
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