Wind Chill

For Christmas break, a bitchy college girl (Emily Blunt) is in desperate need of a ride home to Delaware. When a classmate (Ashton Holmes) overhears this, he puts up an ad on the school's billboard since he has a crush on her. She winds up taking the ride, but it soon becomes obvious that he's a tad bit obsessed with her. Naturally, this leads to a tense atmosphere for the long drive home, so he takes a shortcut. While heading down this lonely road, they're involved in an accident which leaves them stranded in the snow. With no one around to help and the cold reaching below zero temperatures, their situation isn't exactly enviable. It becomes even less so when they realize that this isolated stretch of road is haunted by unsettling apparitions, one of which is quite dangerous.

I've been extremely fond of Emily Blunt ever since I first saw her in 2004's "My Summer of Love". Aside from being a stellar talent, she's a stunning girl and infinitely charming. The film is worth seeing just for her, but her co-star, Ashton Holmes, is much better here than he was in "A History of Violence". I found him so annoying in that film, but here, he was actually likable. What a shock!

The film is definitely creepy at times. Thankfully, no weak jump scares either. It's all built up subtly through mood, atmosphere and shadows. There's one especially effective scene about halfway through. You'll know it when you see it, but I'll just say it reminded me of a similarly unnerving scene from Wes Craven's underrated "The Serpent and the Rainbow".

I was thrilled to see Clint Mansell's name in the opening credits, as I knew right away that the film would have a particularly strong score. It did wonders for the film's tone, and especially shone through during the ending. Speaking of which, the ending is somewhat on the weak side. It seemed too simple, and the connection between these two characters wasn't strong enough to support it. Actually, they're pretty much at odds with each other for the majority of the picture, so there's hardly a connection at all. It speaks volumes about the power of Mansell's score, as it manages to give the ending a feeling of emotional weight where there otherwise would be none.

In spite of the film's closing moments, this deserved a wider release. The scenes on the deserted road are effective and moody, while Blunt has talent to burn. It isn't perfect, but it's a good little film with more to offer than some of the filth that hits 3000+ screens nationwide. Think of it as a sort of ghost story by way of urban legend, which is supported by the characters just being referred to as "Boy" and "Girl" in the closing credits.

Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes play two nameless college students who share a ride home for the holidays. On the way from Pennsylvania to Delaware, their car becomes stranded in a snow bank far away from civilization. Soon they are being haunted by the ghosts of all the numerous people who died earlier in the very spot that seems intent on claiming two fresh victims.

"Wind Chill" is a modest little horror outing whose admirable restraint and sense of atmosphere don't quite compensate for its overall lack of energy and incoherent storyline. It takes quite awhile for the plot to kick itself into gear, and even when it does, the movie ends not with a bang but with a whimper.

"Wind Chill" is certainly preferable to an out-and-out gore-fest like "Saw" or "Hostel," but a few more runs through the typewriter (or word processor, as the case may be) might have gone a long way towards making it a more satisfying and scary film. Like the car stuck in the snowdrift, the audience at "Wind Chill" ultimately finds itself stranded in the middle of nowhere.

A boy and a girl (whose names are never revealed) share a car ride home to Delaware, which is strange once you realize no film in history has ever taken place in Delaware. Luckily, they get stranded on the roadside and don't make it there, saving us the chance of this being the first film to take place there. But the stranding was just the beginning -- ghostly figures live in the woods and the girl slowly learns the guy is not who he says he is.

I have to hand it to the creators of this film. Gregory Jacobs is a relatively new director (though he has helped on many projects) and Joe Gangemi is a new writer. Steven Katz also co-wrote this film, but hasn't written any screenplay since 2000's "Shadow of the Vampire" (which was quite good, for the record). Being new doesn't hamper these guys -- they put together a tight picture.

The writing is much stronger than the plot or directing, I have to say. I enjoyed the plot of the boy's mysterious background (this alone could have carried the film), but the ghosts and the violent cop just weren't all that interesting to me. I enjoyed the isolated car story much better in "Penny Dreadful". The dialog was astoundingly incredible. I could have listened to these two talk about pointless things for hours. The inclusion of Nietzsche's eternal recurrence was a nice touch, and actually ties in to the plot. As a philosophy major, that tugged at my heartstrings.

The guy was a decent actor, but the real star here is Emily Blunt. You might know her name, and you're familiar with her if you've seen "The Devil Wears Prada" (I haven't). Miss Blunt has several projects in 2007 and 2008, and I'm not surprised -- she is a dynamic actress that is both talented and beautiful. And not the dainty type of beauty Hollywood likes, but a more powerful brand.

The film is a bit tedious and drags in the second half. Things get repetitive (hence the eternal recurrence) and the ghosts aren't really all that interesting. The cop is bland, the priest is just mildly intimidating and the black man who coughs up an eel is not nearly as creepy as it could have been. I mean, he's coughing up an eel -- that should have been the highlight of the film, but it was just a quick scene.

I'm glad I saw this one. It had solid writing and a nice dynamic between the two leads. I was expecting the music to be better, with the score being done by the same man who composed the score for "The Fountain" but I was instead treated to bad Christmas songs. I've had enough of Christmas movies and music. But, I suppose it's better than Creed or Rush. If you're curious, pick this one up. It's not a bad beer and pizza movie, though you could probably do better.

Wind Chill (2007) 4 of 5 Dir: Gregory Jacobs Stars: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan

A girl (Blunt) is in need of transportation home for the holidays. She hooks up with a guy to share expenses for the trip home to Delaware. But a scenic detour gets them in proverbial hot water when out of the snowy darkness a vehicle runs them off the road. Now stranded in the cold with the wind chill quickly approaching 30 below zero they thought find out that the cold is the least of their worries as strange figures appear around them and a ghostly patrolman appears to harass them. This snowy stretch of road may well be a highway of a different kind.

'Wind Chill' is a refreshing change from all the entire Saw'-like entertainment lurking about as of late. It takes its time getting where it wants to be while establishing characterization and eventually building up a pretty decent atmosphere from about the mid-point. I liked the sort of red herring that the filmmakers threw in regard to the relationship between the boy and the girl. The twist is an interesting one, not fully realized but still done very well. The acting is done very well and since Blunt and Holmes nearly have the screen to themselves they play off each other excellently.

I recommend 'Wind Chill' for those who may like a change of pace. Nicely acted with a solid script and interesting premise.

It'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.