The Wind is a western horror movie that focuses on a young woman named Lizzy, played by Caitlin Gerard, who lives in a remote land, isolated from the rest of the world. She begins to have sinister visions, and feels a dark presence looming, which slowly drives her to the brink of insanity, as her suspicions are dismissed by others.
The movie mainly develops its thrills through a slow burn, taking its time to build up suspense before an explosive scene of violence or chills. This is mainly done through various scenes of Lizzy being seen by herself, dealing with her own madness as the visions she experience begin to overwhelm her. These scenes are filled with some solid visuals as well as a creepy soundtrack that comes across as chilling, though subtle, keeping in line with the movie’s themes of isolation.
Seeing Lizzy by herself is where the film is at its strongest. These contain no dialogue, and rely solely on Gerard interacting with some creepy imagery that’s placed in front of her. And she does a great job in these moments. She has vivid facial expressions and body language that dominate each of these solo scenes, though don’t come across as if she’s overacting. She feels like a real person, never just expressing her thoughts out loud to no one, and because her reactions feel natural, it’s easy for the audience to be intrigued by what she does next.
The only problem is, while these scenes are great to watch, they don’t come often enough, and there are long stretches where there's nothing to really keep viewers hooked. There are various other scenes of Lizzy interacting with others, including her husband, played by Ashley Zuckerman, who constantly dismisses her visions, as well as a mysterious newlywed couple, played by Julia Goldani Telles and Dylan McTee, whose presence causes Lizzy’s fears to get worse.
What’s ironic is the fact that whenever Lizzy is forced into a dialogue-filled scene, these wind up being some of the most lifeless parts of the movie. These scenes are filled with mostly mundane dialogue that are mostly just standard conversations that don’t really go anywhere. While Lizzy is supposed to be psychologically effected by the young couple, it’s never exactly felt within that scene. The scene will play out like a normal conversation, only for Lizzy to be seen going more insane in the very next scene. It gives off more of a disjointed feel, as it gives off the impression the movie is headed in one direction, only for the next scene to sometimes contradict the feel of the previous scene.
And because the film is filled with so many middling exchanges, the stakes don’t always feel high. There will be a great scene with creepy imagery and the feel like something big is going to happen, only to be followed by long stretches where not really a whole lot happens. The dull conversations can often feel like they dominate extended periods of time, which becomes frustrating because the dialogue adds very little to the overall situation.
The movie often teases the viewer with bits of creepy imagery, but never consistently builds towards anything. Outside of the very end of the movie, the terror doesn’t heighten from the previous scene, remaining at one consistent level of dread, like it’s on autopilot. While the ending is interesting, the journey to get there seems more like a chore, feeling much longer than its 80 minute runtime.
The Wind plays with some potentially intriguing ideas, but ultimately doesn’t do much with any of them. It often feels like a sneak preview of something much more dark and disturbing. While it has some effectively creepy scenes that give off a great sense of dread, it never builds on the previous scene, essentially just repeating itself. The film does have a fine lead performance from Caitlin Gerard, who proves she can act thanks to a fair amount of scenes that rely solely on her facial expressions and body languages, and it’s unfortunate she didn’t get much stronger material to work with. While it has some solid moments that will please horror fans, The Wind blows right down the middle of the road.
Recommendation: Proceed With Caution
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