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 | Apparition | Snow | Supernatural Power

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Jan. 10

7:00 PM

LIFE

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:

Continuity: After the first time the Girl tapes over the gap in the car window she sees a ghost outside the car, they cut to the inside of the car and the tape over the gap is missing.

Quotes:

Girl: The next gas station you see, do me a favor and pull over, I gotta pee.
Guy: Yeah ok, I'll keep my eyes peeled.
[girl gives him a look]
Guy: What?
Girl: It's that phrase, keeping your eyes peeled. It's just kinda creepy.
Guy: Yeah it is sorta.
Girl: Yeah?
Guy: Yeah. Speaking of uh, peeling eyeballs. Did you know that's how they do the corrective eye surgery?
Girl: Yeah they use a laser.
Guy: Yeah they do but there's also peeling involved.
[...]

A turning point in contemporary horror?

It's a shame more horror fans either aren't or can't see this movie, because it may very well signify a shift in the contemporary horror film (as of Spring 2007, when it was released).

The first "Saw" movie is usually seen as heralding a new direction and a new popularity in horror when it was first released and, despite the fact that the movie is principally a really twisty whodunit, it spawned dozens upon dozens of movies based on its essential formula: people (usually teenagers, often teen actors on their summer hiatus from their WB TV shows) in peril threatened with ghastly violence shown explicitly. The studios put any number of old movies into the remake machine in order to retrofit them with the new formula--and an R rating--to the point where these movies had the repetitive predictability of a Catholic mass.

Besides being bored with this genre, the massacres at Virginia Tech, I think, forced people to look to a new incarnation of horror--although, to be honest, I think current events have only a momentary impact on the movies. And that's where "Wind Chill" comes in.

"Wind Chill" is a movie which will disappoint you if you're hoping to see "Hostel"--a type of movie some people have compared to porn in its lack of substance apart from its depictions of explicit physical acts (in this case, violence). It's a thoughtful movie which takes the traditional elements of the most primitive horror movies and re-imagines them for our time. Think of the old James Whale haunted house movie, "The Old Dark House," and compare it to "Wind Chill" and you'll see how our oldest fears are presented anew--as if to say those old fears are never eliminated. This is the archetypal basis of the entire genre.

The movie isn't perfect--it's too talky, the exposition is piled on in the last third, the scares are rarely effective, and the resolution isn't quite plausible. But I thought it was fun and weird and full of unexpected depth.

I'm not certain in which direction "Wind Chill" is pointing the horror movie--maybe in the direction of the late 60s/early 70s "just slightly off" horror like "Rosemary's Baby" or the old "Night Gallery" TV series--rather than in the direction of grind house horror. But it's a worthwhile experiment.