The Wind

Ok, that first review is a bit much to read and a bit over thought ... Don't let it detour you from giving this movie a chance if you like the slow burn psychological thriller type of movies (fast paced gore fans will probably find it dull). Its very well done in my opinion. Good acting, nice steady pace that keeps the suspense going. Along with a really good score, or lack of at times enhancing how completely isolated and alone she is. The few special effects it does have are done well and not cheesy. Definitely worth taking a chance on. I love the fast gore fest stuff as well if done right but this is definitely not that.

There are only a handful of actors and the main character is alone a lot of the time. You do need to make sure you can actually sit and watch it without doing other things as well because there are a lot of flashbacks and back and forth from past to present. So try and wait until you can actually kick back and let yourself get sucked into the story. The pieces fit together. Anyone that likes suspenseful, mysterious, slow burn phycological thrillers that make you think will love is. It is a very well done thought out story, the characters are likeable and you end up caring about what happens to them.

I am not saying anything about what actually happens story wise as I do not like posting spoilers if I can help it. Knowing too much can take away from the suspense of these kinds of movies. Its better to go in blind. So I am leaving it at that.

Due to its non-linear storytelling, 'The Wind' can be a very difficult movie to follow. The film simultaneously plays in three different times. If you can wrap your head around these different times, it is easy to follow and it becomes very clear which period you're looking at.

'The Wind' grabbed me from the mysterious opening scene, and then became spine chillingly creepy and suspenseful. In the vein of 'The Witch' (especially) and 'Hereditary', this film is much deeper than meets the eye, and rather disturbing. The film takes us on a roller coaster ride of fear, deception, infidelity, and absolute evil.

Caitlin Gerard is very good as Lizzy, the film's heroin. Director Emma Tammi did an incredible job ensuring a constant foreboding atmosphere. (Interestingly enough, there's hardly any wind in the film...)

A folkloric tale of madness, paranoia & things that go bump in the night, The Wind paints a menacing portrait of isolation, loneliness & their overwhelming nature with its desolate wilderness setting, ominous atmosphere, arresting camerawork, stellar sound design & excellent performances yet the story as a whole fails to deliver the maximum impact due to shortcomings of its own making, for its muddled narrative structure, inconsistent editing & overuse of flashbacks prevents it from realising its true potential.

The acting is great and it gets the feeling of eerie isolation across well. Rather than being scary thanks to big effects, it relies on subtle and slowly increasingly more obvious sounds and visuals, as well as the (well acted) emotional states of the characters, which I really enjoyed. Would definitely recommend.

The trailer already made me feel like I'm gonna like this - and I did. I love and respect folk horror movies & I think this has all the qualities to belong to that subgenre, even though it's a western.

"The Wind" possesses many qualities - a strong lead performance, decent, on-point-bleak cinematography and crafty editing, an ambiguous (I enjoy ambiguous horror movies) and twisty plot, very fitting original score & eerie, isolated atmosphere. Those were the reasons Why I liked it, so what were the flaws? Honestly, I can't quite pin them down, put it in words. It might the be fact that, ultimately, it offers nothing new or that the chills weren't ... chilly enough. Like, for example, "The Witch", which I find similar in some ways, is a more effective movie. At least for me. Whatever the flaws are, nothing stuck out to me, it's just that objectively this is neither a masterpiece or the best horror movie of the year.

If You like modern folk horror movies, bleak, atmospheric movies or ambiguous plots, be sure to give this a watch - it deserves more attention. I'm interested to see what's next from this director. My rating: 7/10.