Wind Chill (2007)

Director:

Gregory Jacobs

Writers (WGA):

Joe Gangemi (written by) &
Steven Katz (written by)

Release Date:

3 August 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

There Are Worse Things Than Dying

Plot:

Two college students share a ride home for the holidays. When they break down on a deserted stretch of road, they're preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there. |

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | College Student | Burned To Death | Bathroom | Public Restroom

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Emily Blunt	...	Girl
Ashton Holmes	...	Guy
Martin Donovan	...	Highway Patrolman
Ned Bellamy	...	Snowplow Driver
Ian A. Wallace	...	Priest (as Ian Wallace)
Donny James Lucas	...	Stranger (as Donny Lucas)
Chelan Simmons	...	Blonde Girl
Darren Moore	...	Clerk
Linden Banks	...	Proctor
Caz Odin Darko	...	Teenage Boy #1 (as Caz Darko)
Heath Horejda	...	Teenage Boy #2

MPAA:

Rated R for some violence and disturbing images.

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

UK | USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:R | Argentina:16 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:PG | Netherlands:16 | Germany:16 | Australia:MA | Italy:T | UK:15 | Finland:K-18 (self applied)

Filming Locations:

Brenda Mines Road, Peachland, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Blueprint Pictures

Goofs:

Plot holes: When the guy and girl try to follow the ghostly strangers after the car crash, they lose them in the heavy woods. But they never think of simply following the footprints of the strangers in the snow to get back on their trail.

Quotes:

Guy: Ok, so let me get this straight, you think I intentionally arranged for us to get stranded out here?
Girl: I don't know!
Guy: It was an accident goddamit! You saw the other guy! You think he was in on it too?
Girl: Maybe!
Guy: You're crazy!
Girl: I'm crazy?
Guy: Yes!
Girl: You know what, while you were supposedly unconscious, I got through to a friends voice mail and I'm sure she's called the cops.
Guy: Would you listen to yourself? What kind of a psycho do you think I am?
Girl: Exactly!

A nice return to minimalist horror films.

At Christmastime, a girl (Emily Blunt) is riding home from college with a guy (Ashton Holmes) she met through a college ride board. As they travel through the snowy wilderness, his unthinking use of a shortcut leads to horrifying repercussions: forced into a snowbank by a near-collision with another vehicle, their car is crippled and they soon find that they have more than the extremely hazardous weather conditions to deal with. Throughout the night, they will see one bizarre and disturbing image after another.

Flying in the face of more action and gore oriented modern horror movies, "Wind Chill" is a real change of pace. It's a very character-oriented piece, often confined to the claustrophobic setting of the inside of the car. Hinging a horror movie on its acting (our two leads are most often the only ones on screen) and atmosphere is not something that I see a lot of these days, making this a solidly refreshing experience. It would have needed two excellent actors to make it work, and Blunt and Holmes develop a strong rapport and enable us to learn as much as we can about two characters who as you can see don't even get proper names.

The bleak wintry setting is another substantial plus: the locations are completely authentic and one can believe that it really is as cold as it looks on a screen. The colors are reduced to an assortment of blues, grays, blacks, and whites, rendering it almost monochromatic but rich in its atmosphere. Everything about the look feels right; right down to the ravine and abandoned nearby house.

That's not to say that there's a complete absence of effects work, but it's delivered in small doses, and never does it get too cheesy. The apparitions genuinely look spooky, and one moment involving a regurgitated eel was a good little gag.

It plays out in a highly surreal fashion; we get just as much back story and exposition as is necessary, and no more. As it progresses, it takes on the tones of a true nightmare, where nothing quite seems real.

The attractive and engaging leads are ably supported by the excellent Martin Donovan as a malicious highway patrolman and Ned Bellamy as a helpful snow plow driver.

Clint Mansells' music is beautifully eerie, and overall it was a real pleasure for me to watch a horror movie that I could consider legitimately frightening. I would agree that the resolution isn't as effective as the first two thirds of the movie, but the overall effect is undeniable. I would definitely recommend it.

George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh were among the executive producers.

9/10