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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Gregory Jacobs
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)
Ashton Holmes (A History Of Violence)
Martin Donovan (The Quiet)
Ned Bellamy (Lords Of Dogtown)
Supplied By : Sony Pictures
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Aug 22, 2007
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| PLOT Christmas break. A young woman catches a ride home from a stranger she meets through a college ride board. Racing to beat a severe winter storm, the two young travelers take a shortcut down a remote country road, only to find themselves forced into a snow bank by a mysterious vehicle that engages them in a dangerous game of chicken. Over the long night that ensues, an intense relationship develops between the pair as they must brave the elements and confront the road’s sinister legacy that dates back to the terrible events that occurred there in the 1950s. |
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| THE REVIEW WIND CHILL follows a young female college student whom is trying to get home for Christmas in Delaware on Christmas break. She hitches a ride with a male student in which she doesn't know, but strangely enough he knows a lot about her. The weather conditions are atrocious and they are heading right into a huge snow storm. After a brief stop at a roadside gas station they head down the highway to their destination which is a 6 hour drive. The driver decides to take a short cut and eventually the two commuters are ran off the road by someone with blaring headlights. The two are stranded hopelessly for hours before they begin to see some strange occurrences within the boundaries of the road in which they crashed - it seems that this very road has been haunted by the ghosts of victims that were killed at the hands of a crooked cop in the 1950's, in which he would strategically run them off the road before killing them in vicious ways. WIND CHILL is a film that starts off with the feeling that we are in for a movie like THE HITCHER, because the Male character seems to know all about the female, even though they have never officially meet and he later explains that he has watched her from afar. So the character played by Ashton Holmes gives off a sort of creepy strange feeling to the audience. But it is when the crash, that would set the tone for the rest of the movie happens that, the movie takes a turn as in what the feeling would be for the rest of the film. Suddenly, a character that seemed like he would be a predator to Emily Blunt's character, is suddenly dropped down to an equal level of sympathy and is shared with the female character. The eventually develop a bond in which would later intensify the terror the film would later bring, I felt the Horror of this film was on scale with such films as JOY RIDE and PENNY DREADFUL(which is another film, in which most of it remains in a car), also no character in this film has a name, which is perfect, because there are a lot of cases, in which murder victims and victims in general are never identified - it's something rarely done in a film. The story is fairly decent, and tells a tale of a crooked cop whom would run people off the road and kill them. On such occasion, the Officer's plan goes awry causing his vehicle to erupt in flames. A group of priests respond to give last rites to the deceased couple, but leave the Officer to die, but before he dies, he promises to return to haunt everyone. so our commuters are being haunted by all whom have died on the said road, even the crooked Officer. The film itself is a bit complicated in which many scenes are hard to distinguish from Emily Blunt's character's dream or her reality, as many scenes alternate from terror filled and suddenly back to normal again reoccurring when a certain song comes up on the radio (ala JEEPERS CREEPERS). In the end it gets a little too repetitive I thought, taking various twists and turns - I still do not understand this movie as a whole, such as the ending, which really puzzled me. I have to give props to the filmmakers for the setting and atmosphere, it couldn't have been more beautiful for a Horror film. The mountaintop location located in Canada turned out to be ideal. The acting was also great, more importantly by the films two main stars, Emily Blunt(whom is really attractive and talented) and Ashton Holmes. The two shared what seemed to be a natural chemistry, which came off well on screen and was good for the overall story. In the end, WIND CHILL is a film that starts off on a slow note, but gradually becomes better as it progresses. It's never really a "tension filled" film, as one might suspect, but it definitely has it's moments. | ||||
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| GORE
METER 1/10 There is actually no real gore here, only a few frostbitten corpses and body parts, and a burning body. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2/10 Only maybe a few piano-like tunes, that's it. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Having aboard George Clooney as one of executive producers, you'd think that WIND CHILL could've been marketed properly and become a hit. The film only got a limited theatrical release, and from what I understand, didn't do so well which really surprises me. Although I wasn't greatly impressed by this film, as I said, it has it's moments and is pretty decent. This DVD will be released on September 4, 2007 |
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