The Wind

The Wind flirts with some interesting themes about postpartum depression, female jealousy, hallucinatory paranoia, and hellfire possession. It's not about history, or pioneer life, or bloodthirsty ghosts. It's about a loneliness so overwhelming that it becomes terrifying. This excellent is indie horror .

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.

I had high hopes for this movie. The trailer reminded me of The Witch (2015), which is one of my favorite horror movies. But The Wind never grabbed my attention. I told myself that it only had a slow start, but by the end I was simply waiting for it to be over. I thought the two main leads had good performances. I haven't seen Ashley Zukerman in much, but I loved him in Manhattan.

The cinematography was good, some silhouetted shots stood out. The music, especially when something scary happened, didn't really fit.

The story grabbed me at points, trying to uncover the puzzle. But there's really not much to it. If you go in with lowered expectations, and you're into the idea of a slow horror mystery, then there might be something for you here. Otherwise I wouldn't really recommend it.

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.