Director: Gregory Jacobs
Writer: Joe Gangemi, Steven Katz (Screenplay)
Starring: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan, Ned Bellamy
Plot: Two college students share a ride home for the holidays, but when they break down on a deserted stretch of road, they are preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there.
Tagline – Catch Your Death
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Nice Little Horror
Story: Wind Chill starts as a college student only known as Girl (Blunt) is looking to head to Delaware for Christmas, suggested the ride share, she gets a lift with Guy (Holmes) as the difficulties in the journey beginning with their lack of conversation.
When the journey starts to take an unexpected turn with the nature of the lift being offered, the two get caught up in an accident on a snowy highway, needing to survive the cold they wait for rescue until they start seeing people walking past only to not get any reply from them with the visits getting more haunting as the night rolls on.
Thoughts on Wind Chill
Characters – This is a strange film for trying to describe the characters, no one is named, so we have, Girl who is trying to get home for Christmas, she seems stuck up about everything and feels selfish for the most part. She does start to take the ride share guy for granted without wanting to give him the conversation desired. She does feel more streetwise through certain situations though. The Guy who offers the lift, seems simple enough to start with, only for his true motivation to come to light, as he has planned to use the lift to get to know the girl. The highway Patrolman is one of the more aggressive spirits haunting the highway, we learn more about his presence as the students learn about him.
Performances – Emily Blunt is now one of the biggest names in the industry and like many young stars they start in a small horror movie, she is good in the leading role, showing all her potential for the world to see. Ashton Holmes is good in the supporting role and Martin Donovan makes for the creepy patrolman.
Story – The story follows a couple of students that are traveling across country for Christmas, only to find themselves in a crash which leaves them stranded in the freezing condition which only becomes worse then the ghosts of the road start haunting them. This is a mix of survival story which shows how the girl must survive the conditions, while also doing the ghosts haunting to send a warning of what is coming. We do get a lot of sequences which you need to pay attention to certain elements and we do get foreshadowing being used that you will pick up on too. The story doesn’t need to be that complicated which is isn’t and you can follow along even with a twist along the way.
Horror – The horror comes from first the location of being isolated after the accident, then the ghosts only make it worse because they learn what one of them will do if it gets its hands on them.
Settings – The film puts our characters on the side of the snow-covered road over the night which is filled with freezing conditions which will only make rescue difficult for the characters.
Special Effects – The effects are held off for when they are needed to make us understand the paranormal to reality moments.
Scene of the Movie – The end of it?
That Moment That Annoyed Me – One too many false moments.
Final Thoughts – This is a nice little horror that will get the jumps when needed and clever story telling on what could be going on.
Overall: Horror fans check this one out.
Rating
