PET - If You Love Something, Don't Let It Go - DVD

Movie: Seth (Dominic Monaghan), an employee at an animal shelter, is as much of an outsider as they come. And I guess he always has been. Because when he runs into his former high school flame Holly (Ksenia Solo) on the bus one night, she can't remember him. Nevertheless, Seth tries his luck and asks Holly out, which she refuses. Seth is not intimidated by this. He continues to court her and begins to pursue his beloved. However, Holly more than clearly rejects him. But when the spurned Romeo comes into possession of Holly's diary, what he reads in it gives him an idea: he kidnaps the young waitress and locks her in a cage in the shelter's basement. And here begins a psychological cat-and-mouse game in which the line between perpetrator and victim seems to blur more and more.

Pet is a tense psychological thriller that actually starts out very conventional and predictable. Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, Lost) plays an outsider, of whom you suspect from the first moment that behind the quiet facade is a real psycho. Subtle it really isn't. He does have a not unsympathetic side, but even behind that there are clearly big problems bubbling up, which can quickly become dangerous, especially for Holly. Up until the moment Seth kidnaps his beloved, the story follows a clear and very predictable pattern. If it continued to follow this, the overall impression would certainly have been rather disappointing.

But there is a twist that makes the whole thing really interesting and shifts the omens a bit. The script and the staging still have some weaknesses, but all in all this twist makes the movie really exciting and reveals abysses you wouldn't have expected at first. The characters also become much more interesting, which especially benefits Holly, who isn't just pressed into the usual victim role.

Sure, the whole thing is and remains a B-movie, which can neither come up with Oscar-worthy performances, nor with spectacular pictures. But with the means at his disposal, director Carles Torres has staged an atmospherically dense and for long stretches genuinely suspenseful thriller with some fierce shock moments. And both Dominic Monaghan and Ksenia Solo deliver thoroughly convincing performances despite some very clichéd dialogue. While Pet may not be a masterpiece, viewers are treated to more than solid genre entertainment here with a good finale. And for that there is clearly a: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: With a slightly undercooked color scheme and coherent contrasts, the DVD is able to capture the oppressive mood of the story well. Overall sharpness is at a good level, with only minor weaknesses in detail here and there. Overall, the sound is rather subdued, but this suits the story quite well. All in all, there is a deserved for the audiovisual implementation: good!

Extras: As a bonus, the has only the trailer and other program tips to offer.

Conclusion: Pet is a tense psychological thriller that makes up for minor lengths, especially with its atmospheric production and some cleverly placed twists. The DVD presents the film in coherent picture and sound quality. Unfortunately, the disc has no bonus material to offer. Nevertheless: Who likes exciting psycho-horror, which can access here confidently.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp