| Product: |
Wendigo (DVD) |
| Date: |
01/06/07 (83 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Some stylish, creepy moments
Disadvantages: But it's all too sloooooooooowwwwwwwwww
"The Wendigo is a mighty, powerful spirit. It can take on many forms-- part wind, part tree-- part man, part beast—shape shifting between them. It can fly at you like a sudden storm, without warning, from nowhere, and devour you, consume you with its ferocious appetite. The Wendigo is hungry, always hungry. And its hunger is never satisfied. The more it eats the bigger it gets. And the bigger it gets, the hungrier it gets. It can grow as tall as the trees, and still it aches with hunger. And we are hopeless in the face of it. We are devoured."
Have you ever watched a film and go this feeling that there was good idea here that was just dying to be transformed into something spectacular? It’s a feeling I was never really able to shrug off whilst watching this film.
A couple and their young son decide to spend the weekend in the middle of a snowbound forest in order to gain some quality time together, away from the city. As their blue Volvo trundles along the slippery roads, they narrowly avoid disaster when a deer runs out in front of them. They are unharmed, but the unfortunate creature is mortally injured. Minutes later, a small hunting party emerges from the woods, and rounds on the creature, finally putting it out of its misery with a gun shot. The hunters turn on the family in their vehicle, angry that they have damaged the antlers of their prize catch, but after some reasoning the situation is resolved and the Volvo is able to go on its way.
Hours behind schedule, the family arrive at their woodland retreat, where they quickly make themselves at home. As they unpack their things, and warm the house up, the father (George) is perturbed to see that a gunshot has been fired through one of the windows – the bullet is still lodged in the wall opposite. His growing unease is shared by his son, Miles, who experiences strange dreams of frightening creatures lurking in the wardrobe. The following day, whilst shopping in the local store, Miles is approached by a mysterious stranger who offers him a small, wooden carved idol. The stranger explains that the idol is that of the Wendigo – a powerful spirit that exists in the woods. Miles shows the idol to his mother, but the mysterious stranger quickly disappears, leaving Miles’ mother to pick up the bill with the shop owner. Is the Wendigo born of fact or fiction? Who is taking pot shots at the holiday home? Why is Miles so frightened? Only one thing is certain - there is great danger in the dark forest….
Larry Fessenden, whose previous work includes the cult horror film Habit, directed and wrote Wendigo. Fessenden’s work is far from conventional, and as such Wendigo is certainly not a conventional horror film. This film is intended to play on our fear of the unknown, and weaves its sinister way through a trail of bizarre images and mysterious events, dispensing with any conventional horror fare. Sadly, in this case, any innovation is largely lost through what becomes a fairly dull piece of storytelling. Many ideas are thrown into the pot, but the obvious lack of budget and an absence of any firm direction means that the whole film draws to a rather unsatisfying close. This is one of those films that seem to have been made more for the benefit of the director’s self-indulgence than any real desire to entertain the audience.
The trouble is that Wendigo just takes far too long to get going. Various camera techniques are used to create mood and atmosphere, but in some places, this makes the film quite hard to watch and unfortunately, these scenes tend to be the longest ones. For example, the roadside incident at the start of the film takes place over a period of about fifteen or twenty minutes, and is filmed in an edgy, shaky way, rather like the home video concept behind The Blair Witch Project. To be honest, I started to find myself with a bit of a headache and an overwhelming desire to tell somebody to keep the camera still. All the early dialogue and character interaction is very slow, and very intimate and there is no real purpose behind this. Conventionally, a film would use these scenes to put the lead characters (and the audience) at ease before things take a more sinister turn. In Wendigo, these bits seem to take forever, and you really do start to wonder whether things will ever get going.
With little prior knowledge of this film, and only a very cursory plot synopsis on the sleeve, I was unsure what to expect, and at times the plot could have gone in a dozen different directions. The “something lurks in the woods” idea is suggested throughout, especially through the eyes of the young son. The Blair Witch similarities are unavoidable, and there is also an inevitable comparison with the child lead of The Sixth Sense. The presence of a rather unsavory bunch of hunters reminded me at times of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the whole concept of the family’s isolation reminded me of the setting of The Shining. I’m not giving anything away here though – if you want to find out where this actually ends up, you’ll have to watch it for yourself.
My criticisms of the pace of the film will come as a great disappointment, because there are some really nice touches to this film. The forest setting is used to great effect, with lots of different colour and lighting used to expose the harsh nature of the trees’ silhouettes. The camera speeds around at intervals to give brief glimpses of “something strange” and the film is very often quite creepy. The family’s isolation instantly leads to vulnerability, and as such you do find yourself becoming increasingly fearful for their safety. I also liked the way in which Native American music was used – very atmospheric, and entirely appropriate to the subject matter.
The limited budget means that there are no big star names here, with otherwise relatively unknown actors and actresses in the leads. The mother (Kim) is played by Patricia Clarkson, who I recognised from another sinister film The Pledge. Jake Weber, an English actor with a relatively lengthy resume, but not a face with which I was familiar, plays George. The young boy may be familiar to viewers of Malcolm In The Middle – he plays Dewey.
I would have liked this film to take on a proper identity. I liked the idea of the Wendigo, and the spiritual nature of the location, and I also liked the idea of the menacing hunters, but they should have been brought together much more quickly. There was a lot of scope for less chat, and more action in this movie and I think it is such a shame that this was never realised. The director seems to have a flair for the subject matter, but needs to learn to be a little less self-indulgent. I hired the DVD, but would have to say that I didn’t think it was worth the money.
Not recommended
Summary: Could have been so much better
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