As 2016 comes to an end, I must say that it has been another great year for independent horror films.  The amount of variety has been refreshing, with an abundance of unique and intriguing storylines.  Some great movies are still coming out of the woodworks this year, and one of them being the psychological thriller PET, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Directed by Carles Torrens, PET tells the story of Seth (Dominic Monaghan), a timid man whose flame reignites after running into an old crush from high school, Holly (Ksenia Solo).  As these innocent feelings quickly turn into obsession, Seth stalks and kidnaps Holly, keeping her hostage beneath the animal shelter where he works.  While events unfold, Seth realizes that things are not always as they seem and becomes entangled in a much more dangerous game of cat and mouse than initially anticipated.

With unexpected plot twists followed by some gut-wrenching sequences, PET delivers for any fan of the psychological thriller subgenre.  This film travels down a slightly predictable, yet steady road at first, but quickly wavers towards an unseen path of strange surprises.  I was enjoyably taken aback once the gruesome scenes emerged, with no knowledge of the events to come.  The gore scenarios were right in my wheelhouse, taking PET to a level I hadn’t imagined. Each character’s downward spiral will leave you curious, disgusted, and nothing short of uncomfortable.

Without a doubt, PET will grab your interest and pull you along for its sick and cerebral ride. A good psychological thriller will stick to the back of your mind like glue, providing bittersweet thoughts of what you’ve just seen.  As a whole PET does just that, giving the audience a copious amount of simultaneous feelings.  With a favorable amount of good symbolism, along with unique (and macabre) plot elements, I was left feeling strikingly captivated after watching this film.

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Abigail Braman

Abigail is a macabre and horror artist, primarily working in oil paints and found objects, and does freelance writing for both Nightmarish Conjurings and Pophorror. She loves all-things horror, animation, and art history, and is currently working on her first dark stop-motion animated horror short film, Cadillac Dust. Abigail is also very passionate about music, having used to play the banjo, guitar, and sing in a band called The Killer Pines. When she's not either painting, writing, working, or watching movies while doing all of these things, she's probably sleeping, or cuddling with Claude the cat (or both).

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