Wind Chill Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES
There Are Worse Things Than Dying
Two college students share a ride home for the holidays. When they break down on a deserted stretch of road, they're preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there.
| Emily Blunt | Girl |
| Ashton Holmes | Guy |
| Martin Donovan | Highway Patrolman |
| Ned Bellamy | Snowplow Driver |
| Ian A. Wallace | Priest |
| Donny James Lucas | Stranger |
| Chelan Simmons | Blonde Girl |
| Darren Moore | Clerk |
| Linden Banks | Proctor |
| Caz Odin Darko | Teenage Boy #1 |
| Heath Horejda | Teenage Boy #2 |
| Gregory Jacobs |
6.20 out of 10 (112 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Ghosts of your former lives
posted on 23 Aug 2009This is another case where a small film has a great idea but it's not executed well enough. They interest me. In the end, Wind Chill fails, but it is probably my favorite failure of all time.Three persons made me see this. First of them was Stephen Katz, another of the writers who was behind the script of the awesome 'Shadow of the Vampire'. Some of that is here, in the blurring realities. Seems to be a smart guy. Second was Clooney as a producer. Okay, he has produced some awful stuff like 'Rumor Has It...', but I was interested that he would take a chance with something like this. And the third was of course the beautiful (and seemingly very talented!) Emily Blunt. But that's just a crush.The point behind this was to integrate Nietzsche's (and before him, the ancient Egyptians', for example) idea of eternal return to a ghost story. It is great because they match so well: ghosts are all about infinitely repeating former mistakes, a myth created so we'd live a better life; and the horror of the eternal return is that no matter what you do, you just can't "know better", worlds will always follow each other, never overlap, never give any hints on how to change your ways (that's already scary enough to make a horror story!). Except in this case, because now the ghost world and the human world meet. So all that talk about philosophy is important, setting up everything we are about to experience.The girl is important too, but most of this manifests in the guy. We learn that he has lived his life as a ghost, 'ghosted' the girl for so long, ultimately encountering real ghosts (and finally...). It is because of his choices that they end up in the dark, cold road. It's Nietzsche's hell. Everything repeats there, no one knows how to save themselves. The characters are haunted as much by the way they have lived than by the real ghosts. Religion doesn't help, because it is dead, forsaken.For me, the emotional center point was when the guy told her how he would do things differently if he had the chance - but it's just a slap in face, cold reminder that nothing can get you out of the cycle... except maybe.I loved this side of the movie. But somewhere, someone figured that it would be boring, not intriguing enough for horror fans. Then they did the worst thing: throw in the cheap screams, copy and paste them from the stuff that worked years ago. So we get all the clichés and even more. We get hands coming through car windows - we get murder flashbacks - we get close shaves, our heroine crawling away and the bad guy trying to grab her ankle - we get a sudden wake-up-in-another-place/time cut, really stupid if it's out of place (at least Nic Cage wasn't there to yell "GODDMNIT") - we even get a horribly Freddy Kruegerish nemesis (he was burned alive, for Christ's sake!) with lame dialog. It's just sad, after all the build-up, to see it go down in flames. And most of the time you aren't scared at all.And the scene in the bathroom was probably just a red herring, but that, too, is amazingly out of place. There was no need. Five minutes that could have been used to show something else. Maybe they thought that there had to be something menacing at that point or people would give up. No risks taken. No real power.Otherwise, everything works. The actors are good: while Ashton Holmes has a more complex character to portray, it is Blunt who shines all the way through. She is not your typical scream queen.And cinematography is great, even though it's mostly dark. The snow, the ice, the frost, the overall coldness... It looks great and feels just... chilling. I wonder what someone else, aiming higher, could have done with the script.
the subtle poetry of a great horror film...
posted on 21 Aug 2009Earlier this year this film was released quietly in a few theaters around the country. It had little to no advertisement and that is usually signs of a stinker. Cause you can only imagine how bad this movie could be with the crap the studios release. When images and a trailer popped up for this film online I was interested in seeing it. It starred Emily Blunt Oscar Nominated actress of Devil wears Prada and cute Ashton Holmes of History of Violence in a genre film. The trailer was a little lackluster but looked liked it had the potential to be a subtlety creepy film. It finally hit DVD shelves yesterday and following my instincts I decided not to buy it even though I really wanted to see it and I put it on my netflix que. I mean it would probably be pretty bad after all this studio did release the worst film ever made The Grudge 2 as well a sthe crapfest The Messengers. I just finsihed watching Wind Chill and I must say that all of my suspicions in believing the film would be atrocious were absolutely wrong. Wind Chill tells the story of two young people on there way home for the holidays. An accident occurs and leaves them stranded and this is a horror film. That's all I can really tell you. You see it works best when you don't really know what this film is about because it leads in several different directions and without a doubt is the most original horror film to come out this year. I can however see why they didn't release it wide. I mean how can a film that is smart, well acted and original actually make money. When our genre box office is flooded with ultra violent remakes and sequels. A film that is subtly creepy, drenched in mood. A film that makes you work for your answers and doesn't give you any easy ones. But instead leaves you with a feeling of complete emotional satisfaction because not only was the story well developed but so were the chrachters. So memorable you could feel as if you knew them. And the film's stunning revelations which calmly insert themselves into the film's unique finale. Void of any crazy camera tricks, gore, sexuality or bad language Wind Chill is a classic horror film one that exudes the subtle poetry of a great genre film such as The Shining, Session 9 or Rosemary's Baby. Except that it's not really like any of those films but an original film all on it's own. It's a shame more people weren't exposed to such a gem but hey maybe the people that could appreciate it will find it on DVD, I certainly hope this review gets to enough people so that they may appreciate this as much as I did. Despite the praise I've given the film it isn't flawless at times it feels a little tales form the crypt but it's minor plot holes are covered up by the film's creative logic leaving more questions than answers but stirring up lots of great conversations. People that don't have the patience for a film like this beware there are plenty Halloweens, Chainsaws and Saws out there for you. Which I enjoy as well but something like this comes along so rarely it's hard not too praise it's genuine originality.
For a horror movie, great character buildup, prehistoric thrills
posted on 09 Aug 2009This is the kind of movie that gets you to actually register here to voice your dismay.Why? Because it has everything going right from the start; blueish, ominous, still (as in grave) footage, something-bad-is-going-to-happen atmos, and a great character and story buildup.Problem is, the story being built up is not a horror story, it's a romance, or a romantic comedy. These people obviously have never understood horror movies, it's like watching something out of the 70s or early 80s once the "action" gets going. Mix in 21st century character writing and great acting with clichéd and excessively overused and non-scary 70s style horror moments, you've got the essence of this movie.The story would be great if it were not for the sudden shift from the romance line to the horror line. But, then again, this is supposed to be a horror movie. And, if you're a different kind of screen writer, what do you do? You ask some horror buff about what's scary, because you've got all this story built up, but it's not just scary yet.So, the mate says, "put it some ghosts, they're scary," and "something about dead people with a vengeance" etc. And the screen writer just throws that in here and there without any particular contextual reason.Also, this is one of those movies that tick you off with the classic "but, hello, why don't they just *****" (without spoiling anything). It's one of those things where you just hope that someone (without, in this case, knowing what the hoo someone would be) would kill the leading characters just because they act completely foolish and because you just want the thing to end.Don't watch it. I've seen much better movies here with a much lower rating. The high rating is entirely for the acting, which is really superb.
mediocre
posted on 22 Jul 2009This movie looked pretty good to me when I first saw the trailer, but I expected some flaws and disappointments and there were a few but it was surprisingly entertaining. The first hour is surprisingly entertaining because they just sit in a car freezing and see visions of ghosts and stuff, then the last 30 minutes is where they start seeing that they aren't alone and altogether I thought it was pretty good compared to some of the really dumb horror films that I have seen this year. I think one of the worst horror films I have seen this year would be Dead Silence because it drug out really bad, but anyways Wind Chill is a pretty good straight to DVD horror film that you may find kind of entertaining if you are just wanting to kick back and watch a movie, just don't expect too much because its not awesome or anything.
Just Medium Level
posted on 02 Jul 2009What attracts me is just the middle section which present what occurred in 50s and why such a weird thing goes on. The thread in film impressive that the cop who revenge his death, it would have been evitable if priests hadn't left him for his sin in firing cars, as ghost is the key of all accidents in that highway 606. That is the very circle that boy believes.It's ordinary without any excellence in the beginning which draws the background of whole story and the reason why the guy who is the driver have been at lost. So does the end part. Its emotion line is junk. It is the realistic style of description ,however, can be attributed to the only merit.
Well produced, well acted excellent movie
posted on 26 Jun 2009A fan of the horror genre, this really stands side by side any horror movie made in the 21st century. As many mention this sticks clear of the gore factor and replaces it with huge amounts of tension that builds and builds as the film moves forward. Compared to 'Peny Dreadful', another recent 'people-stuck-in-a-car' movie, this is certainly superior. This is due to the excellent acting from the leads who build a good rapport with the audience and really drag you into the situation. On top of this (when allowed) the score is very good, and the direction uses the background to great effect which will make repeated viewing even more enjoyable to pick up on other pieces of the puzzle.Yes there are some weaknesses - I wasn't totally enamoured with some of the end pieces- but overall this is a very slick effort, and certainly makes you look forward to forthcoming efforts by the director and the lead actors.
A Good "STUPID" Film
posted on 24 Jun 2009Wind Chill was a movie where the main actor or actress sees a creepy stranger lurking down the road when it's probably below freezing outside,and after the person is already walking away from them,they decide that the stranger is going to help.Yeah,this film was REALLY unbelievable.Some of the maneuvers the characters did,a lot of people would not do in real life.I will say this was a very entertaining movie,but for the record it wasn't very precise in how they played out the plot.I was concentrating the whole time I was watching this movie because it was extremely interesting,but at some times I would just make a "yeah right" face at the screen.Emily Blunt was a fabulous actress in this movie.I loved her character,even though they never told anybody's name,as you can see from who Emily Blunt & Ashton Holmes character was.This was really good,very close to great,but not yet great.
Psychological old school chiller
posted on 06 Jun 2009Back to basics horror/chiller keeps the effects simple and manages to thoroughly entertain.First off I can't quite understand the bizarrely low 5.9 score this picture achieves in light of so many positive reviews, but nevertheless.Wind Chill initially comes across, during the first 10 minutes, as a fairly bog-standard teen-style horror as so many other horrors-by-the-numbers have gone the route of.The longer Wind Chill goes on though, it becomes clear this is a distinct cut above the usual fare expected when the leads are as young as the main 2 protagonists are here.The plot keeps itself simple; 'girl' needs a ride home for the holidays and 'guy' provides one. This is during the winter of course and the weather gets increasingly treacherous. There is literally no point saying anything else as further comment would spoil the way the story develops.Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes, it has to be said, play their roles extremely well indeed. The characters are extremely well rounded and the longer the story goes on the more and more believable their development becomes. There is also an excellent side plot of whether 'guy' is good or bad, and I will not spoil that one either.As this is a horror/chiller there has to be a bit of horror/chilling content, and there is, but it's much more intelligent than the majority of slashers and horrors aimed at this kind of market. While some of it may seem 'silly' on its own, in the context of the film, and with the added psychological overtones imbued throughout, it is plausible and works.This is undoubtedly a lot better than many of its peers, managing to entertain effectively, aided and abetted by solid performances and gripping direction.Highly recommended.
Chillingly bad
posted on 25 May 2009Watching and reviewing Wind Chill has convinced me of the following: a) most unprofessional horror movie websites are not worth reading b) this movie was an incomplete project dumped into theaters for a quick dollar/pound/euro/krona.I do not understand how someone involved in this project approved its release. None of the protagonists are named, the villains are numerous and without motivation, and the pacing is amateurish. Why wasn't it finished? George Clooney is an executive producer; he's been in good movies, so why didn't he lobby for this one? There are occasional scares to be had, but only as reward for tedious character interaction. You will be impressed by the bloodlessness of the picture, but remorseful of its lost potential.Some random loser (credited as Guy) stalks his prey (Girl) enough to know where she lives. They attend some preppy northeastern liberal arts college and share Philosophy 101 class. They spend a lot of time talking about the theory of eternal returns. Guy likes her, but instead of confronting her, he creates a ruse to trick her into riding to Delaware with him. He doesn't bother to research anything about the state either. They arrive at a gas station where everyone is old and leery. Typical Wrong Gas Station pattern begins. The cashier tells them about a scenic path they can take so they do. Some other driver hits them and they are stranded and exposed to a series of bizarre events.The film becomes a sequence of moving images without purpose after that. The Guy tries to walk back to the gas station but doesn't make it. So he and Girl spend most of the evening in the car. Various undead appear and walk aimlessly to an abandoned cabin. It's spooky but undermined by our inability to determine what they are. Some of them appear like rotting corpses, while others are "fresh." The spirits don't appear to do anything other than exist, and most don't even notice the youngsters. It's so odd and even the characters observe it. So they rest in the car, which has the best battery ever. They talk and waste time for vast periods of time but we learn nothing about them. Girl probably recognizes her role in this awful movie so she tries to walk back to Wrong Gas Station. She gets cold, sees more zombie thingys, and returns to Guy's now frozen corpse. A helpful old person (another staple of bad horror movies) appears at the last minutes to finally reveal the plot: ghost of murderous policeman wrecks havoc on passersby. Girl confronts ghost, escapes, and is lead to Wrong Gas Station by Guy's ghost. The end; no conflict, no resolution, and no reason to have watched.It's actually similar to a slasher movie, but worse if you can imagine. There is a "final girl" who survives until the end. Admittedly, she doesn't have to do much. The villain makes only one distinctive appearance and isn't defeated. He isn't victorious either, he just is. My guess is that the theory of eternal returns (meaning evens will recur throughout eternity) is a metaphor for the ghost's rampage. I don't accept it. It's a fraudulent insertion with no justification. Wind Chill wants you to think it's an enriching horror film by including the theory of eternal returns, but it doesn't elaborate on this idea in any way. Ghosts, zombies, or whatever they are would be present in this movie even if there was no reference to philosophy. At least the filmmakers exhibit some knowledge of their film's terribleness by adding a pseudo-intellectual explanation. A better ghost (I guess since there is at least one ghost) movie wouldn't have to create a lousy reason for ghosts to be there. We don't care for a reason. Just make us tremble and you've succeeded.This is yet another failed attempt at resurrecting the "creepy" horror movie which has disappeared from mainstream cinema. Most unsettling pictures are released in only in major cities or directly to DVD. It is worth you time to research new ones, and add them to you rental list. Don't add this title, though. Wind Chill, like last year's The Strangers falls flat on its face because it is incapable of suspense. All scares are instantaneous and therefore repetitive. A better screenplay would have ameliorated, but probably not solved this problem. Wind Chill is a terrible movie which shouldn't be as bad as it is. Audiences have proved their desire for terror cinema, as Karloff called it, (given The Strangers surprising box office return) and deserve a new horror film. For now, I recommend watching The Orphanage or May while you await better cult horror films.
Overall good, but it could have been better.
posted on 17 May 2009"Wind Chill" is a movie that I had been kind of wanting to see for some time now. Like from reading the premise of two people trapped in a car, and in zero degree weather no less. This is a premise that I found very original and creepy. So I came into this movie with relatively good hopes for it, but it just didn't deliver that. I love horror films that truly take their time in building suspense, and I love ones where people are in trapped, isolated, and dangerous situations that may result from one thing. "Wind Chill" as hard as it tries to balance the main threats(the weird cult-like people) and the freezing weather, it just didn't quite do it as well as it could have been. This movie started off very very well, and I just loved how it opens with this moving shot of Girl(Odd name huh?) walking around campus and slowly setting up the main premise. I also do like how her character is very aware of her surroundings, and I love how she suspects everything. While she may have been a little over-the-top with this, it's better to be safe than sorry, something that many people in horror films seem to never know. I also absolutely love how the films sense and portrayal of cold weather. For example from the beginning it's pretty obvious it takes place in cold weather, and how slowly it turns into something more than just cold weather. I just love in films how they can take a very natural and uncontrollable thing like weather and turn it into a death threat. The acting is good, and the writers intentions for scenes were good. Unfortunately at times "Wind Chill" just didn't deliver what it could. Like I don't think the film balances the cold weather and the weird peoples presence well. Like sure I know the cold and the people would have(in reality) been the main thing at the moment of their solo time, but a little "I wonder where those weird freaks are." lines at times would have made it a little more interesting and believable. I also think the dialog and character structure lacked. For example Emily Blunt's characters was, while tough and likable, was just really unoriginal, and too much of her characters stereotype: A smart, tough, and rather bipolar bratty girl. It's just been done so many times, so much so that she, The boy(no kidding that's his characters name), and even the villains, become so boring to watch. So much so, that at times I honestly said "Do I REALLY need to keep watching this?" However it was original and different, and definitely fresher than recent films of this genre(Rest Stop: Dead Ahead). Overall "Wind Chill" while it's definitely not the best horror/thriller ever made, and while it does lack things, it still manages to give the viewer some sense of entertainment and satisfaction. Is "Wind Chill" worth a rent? Yes. A shot at watching? Yeah sure.
Promising and Eerie Ghost Story, but with a Disappointing Resolution
posted on 15 May 2009In Christmas, a female college student (Emily Blunt) accepts to share a ride home to Delaware with a stranger (Ashton Holmes). The driver tells her that they study philosophy in the same class, and they briefly discuss the definition of Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence. The girl tells to a friend in her cell phone that the highway was boring and the driver takes a shortcut through a nice and romantic scenic route. They are forced off the road by another car; they have a car accident and get stranded in the lonely road. When the driver is blamed and pressed by the girl, he explains that he is a shy man that had a crush on her, and used the trip to spend some time close to her. Along the night, the temperature gets colder and colder, and they are haunted by ghost of people that have died in the location."Wind Chill" is a promising and eerie ghost story, but with a disappointing resolution. I am not familiarized with Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence, the theme of the whole plot, and I found in Wikipedia that "Eternal return (also known as "eternal recurrence") is a concept which posits that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur in the exact same self-similar form an incomprehensible and unfathomable number of times. The basic premise is that the universe is limited in extent and contains a finite amount of matter, while time is viewed as being infinite. The universe has no starting or ending state, while the matter comprising it is constantly changing its state. The number of possible changes is finite, and so sooner or later the same state will recur." This philosophical definition explains the existence of ghosts in that deserted road living the same situations of fifty and something years before. However, it is never clear for me when the driver died: is he struggling to survive along the cold night, or did he die immediately after the accident? In the end, his ghost guides the girl back to the gas station and saves her life. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Estrada Maldita" ("Damned Road")
Could've been better, but it's not that bad
posted on 13 May 2009"Wind Chill" is a fine if slightly problematic effort.**SPOILERS**Going home for the holidays, a Girl, (Emily Blunt) and a Guy, (Ashton Holmes) college students hook up on campus and proceed to drive home to Delaware. While driving along, she starts to suspect that he isn't telling the truth about everything and questions him about it. Crashing into a snowbank on a deserted road, he reveals himself to be an admirer of hers that planned to take the trip all along to get to know her better. Trying to stay alive in the freezing environment, they find out that the road is haunted by a series of ghosts that have died at the location over the years at the hands of a corrupt police officer who has targets to make them permanent residents as well, and try to stay alive while fending off the ghosts.The Good News: This one had some decent stuff to it. There's an extremely creepy atmosphere here that works really well for the film. It creates an extremely thrilling sense when used right, which this one does. The best examples of this is the early scenes of them driving around with the snow-covered landscape surrounding them. As they keep going, the more time spent feeling cramped and isolated due to the location and it's eeriness that gets even better when they first get stranded, which is where the film really scores a lot of points. These are pretty much all-around fun, as are the ones of them driving through the woods that leads into the action-packed car crash scene which is a nice plus. Afterwards, the first scenes of them stuck in the car, where they realize the situation and try several tactics to get free and get out, are all well-done and interesting, since the methods of escape are nicely done. These are all a rather nice way of making sure to keep the whole thing creepy, which is a nice plus. The ghosts themselves look really great, covered in goo and debris from where the victims died, and given a really eerie look that makes their appearance a nice shock. The interaction with the ghosts, either the creepy walk down the highway road or the flashbacks to the ghostly attacks on the cars from the past, provide enough entertainment from these to stay interesting in the proceedings. The last positive here is the fact that it plays with realism when dealing with the elements. Frostbite, the effects of freezing and a respect for the coldness are constantly mentioned, just as what would be expected for something like this. These here are the film's good points.The Bad News: There was a slightly problematic entry with some flaws to it. One of the bigger ones here is the fact that, despite the impressive atmosphere on display, the beginning to this is terribly boring. There's very little action to it, and none of what occurs then is all too engaging. It's either endless scenes of them out on the road talking to each other or lame attempts at scares, such as the locked bathroom. It's not explored upon, has no purpose other than to generate something in the beginning half and is a tired scare. The later attempts at scares are fairly better, but it's not much of a competition to these. These just go by so slowly that it takes a lot out of the film and makes getting into it a rather hard with it's slow-going nature. There's also a rather big one here at the ending, as the film's conclusion is a rather confusing mess. It's really hard to make out what happens as it goes back and forth between the real world, which affects the ghost world, and how the real world's actions have affected the ghost world and back again, leaving it incredibly confusing and just somewhat irritating as it just sort of ends without really feeling that something really important happened in that time. That is not the kind of feeling a film wants to end with, as it sort of sours the whole experience considerably, but overall, these here are the film's flaws.The Final Verdict: Though there's a lot more in here that works than doesn't, it's still plagued enough to appear slightly above-average. Worthwhile for those who enjoy these kinds of films or the plain curious, while those looking for something other than what this one provides should heed caution.Rated R: Language and Violence
Actors To Watch
posted on 27 Apr 2009Rare, its rare that a film with so few actors can not only hold a audience but make for a really entertaining experience. Ashton Holme's vulnerable 'guy' is performed with a skill belying his age, I really felt the attraction yet frustration he emotes for his passenger however that said this film is really a platform for Emily Blunt.Emily's performance in 'Wind Chill' is mesmerising, even given the script limits Emily shows us how it should be done, Susan Sarandon wasn't wrong when she described Blunt as one of the finest newcomers she'd worked with in recent years, perhaps ever.In closing my one hope that they both are given the opportunity to shine as actors of extraordinary talent.tb
cheap wanna be rip off of dead end
posted on 17 Apr 2009Cheap, ugly, pointless. This movie in a word sucks. I fell a sleep watching it several times. I was astonished by the barrage of bad f/x, lousy acting and poor story telling. Be afraid, very afraid of this movie. It will totally waste about an hour and a half of your life. I just feel like i should get some sort of compensation for torturing myself with this abomination of a film. If i could do any kind of web design i would make a site dedicated to warning people about this "HORROR". One thing that could have slightly improved this was if the girl took her clothes off at any point. it is cold in the movie, but she could have shown something more than her nice belly, which by the way for me was the highlight of this poor project.
Classic Case of bad marketing
posted on 09 Apr 2009I saw "Wind Chill" in the videostore before with that screaming face cover which looked like a real cheesy horror movie, so I skipped it. After reading some positive things I watched it and can only say its one of those many cases of bad marketing you get regularly nowadays. It looks like everyone wants to jump on the horror craze so many movies get labeled horror which aren't and the more a typical horror movie watcher will be disappointed. Sure, "Wind Chill" has some classic elements. A couple taking a detour and having a car crash in the middle of nowhere, strange people and ghosts appearing, its dark throughout most of the movie. But thats about it... The movie is very slow starting off with a girl at university sharing a ride with an unknown guy. It soon turns out that he played her into sharing his ride since he is into her and doesn't even live near her destination. She is acting really bitchy while he is rather the nerd guy. After a strange stop at the petrol station they take a pretty stupid short cut and crash. From here on most of the movie deals with two persons in a car forced to get to know each other and override their antipathy. Strange persons appear and a ghost story about previous car crashes on the road unfolds and it seems the past ghosts walking the place they died. From the horror elements it reminded me of the "Penny Dreadful" idea of being trapped in a car and "The locals" idea of ghosts trapped to relive the day they died again and again. Anyway, the movie is slow, the ghost story, the detour, the strange petrol station all just make no deeper sense and after all its more about the girl overcoming her distance and finding sympathy for the guy until even trying to save his life, risking her own. The ending made it seem rather like a supernatural ghost love story which fits very much to several lines about the guy drops about his psychology class. In that way, the character development of the two (who were acted in a pretty natural and believable way... and since most of the movie played in close ups in the car it would have been a disaster otherwise) was real good and interesting. What kept the movie from really clicking is that the ghost story didn't quite fit the rest and many decisions which lead to the crash made as little sense as several scenes... Why did the guy take a detour in such a hurry after getting directions at the stations, what is the scene in the locked bathroom meant to imply, why were the priests frozen, why did the one ghost (pretty much the only shock scene) have a deformed face and spitting a snake? Why didn't the guy talk about the seriousness of his injuries and why did they always end up back in their car but not back in time when the whole stopped watch thing after the crash implies some timeskip-theme? Too many loose ends, too many things dropped in the plot which never were explained later. I think this could really have been a good movie if the horror elements weren't forced into the plot like this. So don't fall for the DVD Cover and rather rent this if you are into slow supernatural and psychological movies with a hint of romance.
Some nice spooky scenes with little payoff
posted on 05 Apr 2009Wind Chill was a bit of surprise for me once I seen it. I was expecting something dreadful, but found myself impressed with some scenes. It's too bad that the movie never has a good payoff to go with its creepiness.A young college student heading home for the holidays (Emily Blunt), catches a ride with another student whom she meets through a college riding board (Ashton Holmes). Wanting to beat a winter storm, the two take a shortcut down a lonely stretch of highway, where they are run off the road by a mysterious stranger. Trapped, the two settle down for the night and wait for daylight, only to be haunted by ghostly apparitions and a sinister cop who has a strange history of his own.The scenes in this film were brilliant in building suspense. It's been awhile since a scene involving snow and the wilderness has spooked me, but this movie did just that. The lighting and the creepy music also helped build the tension throughout. The feeling of isolation for the two characters was completely realistic,and this only serves to ratchet up the chills once the spooks come on the scene.The story is not only chilling, but it is character driven by the performances of both leads. They are never given real names in the story, but it doesn't matter. In fact giving them the generic names guy and girl only makes you realize that what is happening to these two characters can happen to anybody. The dialog between them is strong, and they have a good chemistry together. This works well because the film focuses almost entirely on them throughout.The photography is excellent and is more effective than any gore could ever be, and I'm so glad the director and writers when a different route instead of giving us just senseless violence. In fact this film barely has any blood in it. The gore hounds will be disappointed.Overall the film is slick and very well made, but it's too bad the story behind what is happening was never clear cut. In fact I'm still at a loss on some of it. They explained it somewhat, but the story never really takes off, and the film never totally becomes as scary as it could've been, hence no payoff. The ending was also weak and a bit of a cop out.Wind Chill has a lot going for it, and with a more complete story it could've been so much better. Kudos to the director, photographer, and actors for giving us a lot of good points, but I still can't quite recommend this movie.
Almost perfect thriller with good script,acting,and directing.
posted on 14 Mar 2009Another great claustrophobic thriller,from Clooney,after The Jacket.The message is very important.The atmosphere is really near to the quality of The Mothman Propecies,against this time the music is much less than that film had.Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes just shines in this drama.The director Gregory Jacobs did not make a gore -fest,the story stay intelligent,and logical.The sound editing is great too,more times than I waited.The ending is just OK.And if you wait a dirty horror with gore -fest,in the swearing-club,please stay away from this sophisticated,intelligent,dramatic,but dynamic horror film.I hope this type of thrillers will live in the future.Personally I enjoyed this more like a slasher,gore,swearing trash movie.
A turning point in contemporary horror?
posted on 03 Jan 2009It's a shame more horror fans either aren't or can't see this movie, because it may very well signify a shift in the contemporary horror film (as of Spring 2007, when it was released). The first "Saw" movie is usually seen as heralding a new direction and a new popularity in horror when it was first released and, despite the fact that the movie is principally a really twisty whodunit, it spawned dozens upon dozens of movies based on its essential formula: people (usually teenagers, often teen actors on their summer hiatus from their WB TV shows) in peril threatened with ghastly violence shown explicitly. The studios put any number of old movies into the remake machine in order to retrofit them with the new formula--and an R rating--to the point where these movies had the repetitive predictability of a Catholic mass.Besides being bored with this genre, the massacres at Virginia Tech, I think, forced people to look to a new incarnation of horror--although, to be honest, I think current events have only a momentary impact on the movies. And that's where "Wind Chill" comes in."Wind Chill" is a movie which will disappoint you if you're hoping to see "Hostel"--a type of movie some people have compared to porn in its lack of substance apart from its depictions of explicit physical acts (in this case, violence). It's a thoughtful movie which takes the traditional elements of the most primitive horror movies and re-imagines them for our time. Think of the old James Whale haunted house movie, "The Old Dark House," and compare it to "Wind Chill" and you'll see how our oldest fears are presented anew--as if to say those old fears are never eliminated. This is the archetypal basis of the entire genre.The movie isn't perfect--it's too talky, the exposition is piled on in the last third, the scares are rarely effective, and the resolution isn't quite plausible. But I thought it was fun and weird and full of unexpected depth.I'm not certain in which direction "Wind Chill" is pointing the horror movie--maybe in the direction of the late 60s/early 70s "just slightly off" horror like "Rosemary's Baby" or the old "Night Gallery" TV series--rather than in the direction of grind house horror. But it's a worthwhile experiment.
Griping and well acted
posted on 26 Dec 2008You have to be thoughtful with this. This film reigns supreme if for no other reason, its not for imbeciles.The plot is intriguing and the woman, played by Blunt is so typical of the bitchy personalities female engineers often have. I think they have a chip because men dominate the field. But, that isn't at all what the film is about.I will say the eternal recurrence theme is there. The guy clearly dies yet again on the road, and we suppose he has died in that way a number of times before or is it just after 1953?Where Blunt comes into this eternal circle isn't clear. Maybe I missed it. For consistency she would need have been a person, having an accident with the same guy at some other time, yet again.So, I guess there were some illogical pieces here, just inconsistencies with the screen play.See the DVD, it is quite worth the watch.
Wind Chill
posted on 25 Aug 2009On watching this film I was amazed to find that it was quite enjoyable. It was easy to expect a bad experience what with the lack of mega-tastic effects or recognisable actors, but the overall feel was not unpleasant. There were not many jump-out-of-your-seat moments, but the tension was held from the beginning with the guy (Ashton Holmes) appearing to be a little creepy. From the start I was eager for him to be the bad guy, but this was short-lived when I realised that he was just a stalkerish guy who was spoiling for time with the films lead lady (Emily Blunt).The acting was good and the script in my opinion was really well written, but it failed to raise my expectations for a thriller/horror genre. Where was the ultimate final fight with the bad guy? Where were the many shocks and twists? Why did the film end so unsatisfactorily? For this type of film one would expect for the nemesis to come crashing wildly through the trees for one final battle before being banished for eternity. Okay, I am getting a bit far from the point, but what I am meaning to say is that this film failed to make me say 'WOW...that was one good film'. There were no final discussions with the husband about what happened and where and trying to get my head around it all.The doomed growing relationship of the two main characters was obvious from the start. And the outcome was easy to see.I have rated this film a 6, because i think that the acting was brilliant for these two people, especially Ashton's role, which I felt was played brilliantly. I also think that the tension was at the right level, but it was the lack of excitement and jumps which has taken the points off.I would recommend watching this film, because it may be to other peoples tastes.