In The Wind, a horror movie that is thankfully not The Happening, a frontierswoman senses a sinister force seemingly of the land itself. Grounded by a strong performance by Caitlin Gerard and a respectable directorial debut by Emma Tammi, The Wind is a well-made indie-thriller that unfortunately never amounts to a whole lot.
A day later, much of The Wind has refused to stick with me, blown away into the howling darkness like a grain of dust on the plains. A woman, alone in a cabin, fighting something evil—or simply her maddening paranoia—is not exactly new material, even if the time period and firmly female perspective injects a dose of intrigue into the affair. The premise is handled aptly enough by Tammi and screenwriter Teresa Sutherland, even if the final product is largely unremarkable.
The climax exemplifies the challenge of a horror movie in which the antagonist is an unseen force—it’s very easy to slip into clichés and horror tropes that have been used to death. Possessed people, blackened eyes, creepy voices, images of dead people—the best of horror movies can still make great use of these, but they can also be extremely dull if handled poorly.
The Wind operates somewhere in between, like so many indie thrillers or indie dramas or indie comedies or indie-fill-in-the-blank—a movie that tries to defy conventions but ends up adhering to a whole another set of conventions.
The movie is by no means a complete loss. Tammi’s debut makes it known that she can develop mood and atmosphere, in this case by promptly establishing a true sense of remoteness. Visually, The Wind looks great—windswept is an accurate word to describe it. Further, Caitlin Gerard brings a strong presence to the film, both looking the part and immersing herself in the role.
The Wind is a decent movie, but to work it needed to amount to a hurricane, not just a few brief gusts. As horror movies go, it safely drifts to the middle, the forgotten purgatory of unremarkable craft.
Review by Erik Samdahl unless otherwise indicated.