Wind Chill

Sorry , but this movie doesn't make sense . They do nothing , hate - love each other randomly. Breathing in a frozen car should produce some steam. Running in the cols like they do means they never have never been to cold environment (I live in Canada, I know). No plot. No Horror. No original idea. Dull movie has it doesn't go anywhere , we don't have a clue as what they want to do , or want to do . Please don't waste your time on this movie !

this movie. to be honest. sucked donkey balls. it doesn't even deserve to be called a horror movie. and you know a lot of thought was put into a movie when the names of the main characters are "guy" and "girl". it's absolute garbage!. if you were thinking of renting this movie. save yourself the trouble and rent a good horror movie. hell even dead silence was better than this. don't get me wrong the basic idea of the movie sounded awesome. that's why i rented it. but to be portrayed in such a terrible way ruined it. and like. how did "girl" know about the radio thing in such detail out of nowhere? it was bull! and what was up with the random frozen guy that pukes a snake? that was totally unnecessary. in summary. i'm going to kill myself because of how bad this movie was.

In Christmas, a female college student (Emily Blunt) accepts to share a ride home to Delaware with a stranger (Ashton Holmes). The driver tells her that they study philosophy in the same class, and they briefly discuss the definition of Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence. The girl tells to a friend in her cell phone that the highway was boring and the driver takes a shortcut through a nice and romantic scenic route. They are forced off the road by another car; they have a car accident and get stranded in the lonely road. When the driver is blamed and pressed by the girl, he explains that he is a shy man that had a crush on her, and used the trip to spend some time close to her. Along the night, the temperature gets colder and colder, and they are haunted by ghost of people that have died in the location. "Wind Chill" is a promising and eerie ghost story, but with a disappointing resolution. I am not familiarized with Nietzsche's theory of eternal recurrence, the theme of the whole plot, and I found in Wikipedia that "Eternal return (also known as "eternal recurrence") is a concept which posits that the universe has been recurring, and will continue to recur in the exact same self-similar form an incomprehensible and unfathomable number of times. The basic premise is that the universe is limited in extent and contains a finite amount of matter, while time is viewed as being infinite. The universe has no starting or ending state, while the matter comprising it is constantly changing its state. The number of possible changes is finite, and so sooner or later the same state will recur." This philosophical definition explains the existence of ghosts in that deserted road living the same situations of fifty and something years before. However, it is never clear for me when the driver died: is he struggling to survive along the cold night, or did he die immediately after the accident? In the end, his ghost guides the girl back to the gas station and saves her life. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Estrada Maldita" ("Damned Road")

Factoids: 1.'Short cut' road used is a clearly maintained county road.Never any maintenance, police or local use? Unbelievable.2. Sound of wind didn't match very light snowfall;hardly any snow falling which undermined the isolation one is supposed to feel.3.Very cold outside but no steam when they spoke?4.What did they not turn on the car heater?5.How could the battery last so long with the lights on?6.The guy early on mentions somethings spooky; i.e. supernatural: no tire tracks from car that runs them off the road. But showing his insight, no footprints are ever mentioned when the 'ghosts' appear repeatedly.7.Though in real life not too far removed from a college-aged kid, E. Blunt appears a decade older than the character she's playing.8.Overuse, with little payoff, of spectral figures fleeting by.9.Why not start walking back on road they just drove on? Irritating and periodic time reminders showed they weren't that far from the garage.10.The garage:Her being locked mysteriously into restroom with no one hearing her yelling?Does this mean that this is a warning from the evil vibes hovering many miles down the road?Why should this "warning" just be directed at her?11.Those periodic visits from spooks ultimately go from being mildly frightening to being irritating.AND SO ON AND SO ON. Main overall complaint? Too many story devices pulled in leading to confusion and its ultimate fate, irritable I-don't-care-what-happens-to-them syndrome.

A girl, unnamed, played by Emily Blunt and a guy also unnamed played by Ashton Holmes share a ride home for the holidays. Instead of doing the logic and sensible thing the guy turns of the main route because he knows a short cut. The girl tells him to go back to the highway but he refuses. What can possibly go wrong? At one point hey almost get hit by a car and swerve of the road and get stuck. They are stranded and girl is not really trusting of guy since he knows a lot about her but she doesn't know anything about him. And to make matters worse dark figures are randomly appearing who seem very off. Normally I avoid telling people to watch trailers since they spoil too much. In this case it's one that teases and will make you excited for this film. The trailer gave me an impression that we were in for a thrill ride of scares and twists or at least psychological terror. I know not to rely on trailers as they often are misleading and sensationalised. Still it sometimes can channel the atmosphere to the viewer. And in that regard the start of the film does deliver on what is promised. Until the scene where the car is immobilized and the main characters get stranded in the middle of nowhere. What should have been the start of a chilling experience becomes a dull and unimaginative chain of small events. The biggest problem I had with Wind Chill that there was no real threat or dread present. The characters have a lot of opportunities to leave the car and walk back to the civilized world. But they never do. They are not restricted by anything other than the cold. (I know that some will disagree, but I am purely judging on what is shown in the film.) Without real danger and creepiness Wind Chill never gets scary. Isn't that what a film like this is supposed to do? On the plus side the performances by Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes are quite good. I wished I could say the same about the plot and the film. Wind Chill had the potential to be compelling and terrifying but for some reason director Gregory Jacobs (Magic Mike XXL) wants to evoke something else. The mystery certainly isn't that interesting nor the horror elements that are in service of that story. Love story perhaps? Maybe there are people who can find the romance in the dynamics between guy and girl. Although realize that you are just one step away from being a creep yourself since the whole way guy went about this is downright wrong. Overall Wind Chill is a very disappointing affair and not beautiful in the slightest. I have read some comments and reviews where people were claiming that. There is nothing beautiful about forcing a love relationship that does not exist and certainly if it leads to unnecessary accidents and dangers. So don't buy into these positive reviews.

WIND CHILL (2007) *** Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan, Ned Bellamy, Chelan Simmons. (Dir: Gregory Jacobs) "The Sure Thing" meets "The Twilight Zone" Everyone loves a good ghost story and the latest installment on screen is a well-crafted suspenser that feels like "The Sure Thing" meets "The Twilight Zone" if written by Stephen King. Set in the frost-bitten winter of a small Pennsylvania college campus days before the Christmas break, a young coed (THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA's gloriously bitchy Blunt) is attempting to get back home to Delaware when her plans fall flat forcing her to chose a ride from the bulletin board to share expenses on her trek for the holidays. Her driver is a fellow student (A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE's Holmes) whose compact sedan is overflowing with all his worldly possessions (he claims he is in between living spaces), and harboring a secret crush on the pretty yet cranky passenger. En route the two do not hit it off at all and bicker back and forth making the tedious drive insufferable. While getting gas Holmes decides to take a detour on a snow-covered back road, claiming it'll be picture post-card perfect viewing to break up the monotony. Blunt becomes increasingly angry and demands they get back on the main highway and as they argue an oncoming car force them off the narrow path into a snow bank. With a crack in the gas tank, no food and no cell phone signal (natch) the pair suddenly discovers the bleak, quiet snow drifting countryside has a sinister presence that they will soon encounter. A surprisingly well-written screenplay by Steven Katz (SHADOW OF A VAMPIRE) and newbie Joe Gangemi, the dialogue rings true of the formulaic supernatural yet offers an intriguing premise interpolating Nietzchian thought (eternal recurrence) – the two were students in a philosophy class – and some fine moments of paranoia fueled anxiety for Blunt's heroine (is she in danger with this person or not), and although the 'ghost story' section feels a little rushed it works with the backdrop of the winter storm encroaching. Director Jacobs (who helmed the "NINE QUEENS" remake "CRIMINAL" for his long-time associates Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney's Section Eight production company (the high powered filmmakers serve as exec producers here) does a very good job of creating enough tension, sprinkled with dry humor mixed with dread employing tight editing by Lee Percy and a cool-to-the-touch cinematography by Dan Laustsen. The better-than-average film is buoyed by excellent acting by its stars, with Brit Blunt employing an impeccable American accent and making her bitchy 'girl' (as she is only referred to at the credits' close) redeemably likable and Holmes' 'guy' switched back and forth from mensch to menace. What is truly surprising is why the film has been neglected in marketing by Sony Pictures – its distributor – and why it wasn't released more appropriately in the dead of winter instead of the beginning of spring is beyond me. But if you want a decent ghost story on a secluded evening check this out.

How boring can a plot be concocted? A couple stuck in a car in the darkness and snow quarreling during most of the film, can it get worse? Well, in "Phone Booth" and "Cast Away" it was only one person, but at least they had some other scenery than a snowy road. And how many attempts at horror films have started with a dubious "shortcut"? Was it "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 1974, or wasn't that a shortcut? For us who have to drive through winter darkness several months every year, getting stuck in the snow is something of the most tedious traumas we can experience, and we certainly don't want to pay for a movie ticket to watch other people doing it. With or without ghosts.

I disagree with anyone who states this movie lacks substance. The director takes you from two angles. Wrapped around the back story which is expertly inserted during this wild psychological ride. I was fully intrigued clinging to my seat as things progressed. Great psychological thriller that blows the mind. There isn't a lot of gore but what is there, does the job nicely. During the their ride in which a discussion takes place, the boy makes mention of something they never see coming. The story doesn't really take off until they crash. The crash sends the story in a great direction as the story builds. The crash sends the girl on a thrill ride she never saw coming! I loved it! This is worth seeing and the special effects are great!

I love intelligent horror. I'm not a fan of torture */slasher flicks. I love Hitchcockian subtlety, and nerve-jangling set-ups. This film has none of the above. It begins promisingly enough with a brooding college student accepting a ride home for the holidays from a stranger who's posted an available lift on the campus ride-board. How many times did I myself catch a ride home in this manner while in school...always feeling a tiny bit chilled by the possibility of danger. Her driver, an odd young man, is full of mystery. It appears that he knows a wee bit too much about his passenger. Interesting premise. Then all hell breaks loose. The script descends into horror cliché ("Penny Dreadful" did the trapped-in-the-woods routine much better) and inarticulation. In short, it makes no sense. Oh sure, there's the dime-story theology and philosophy that's supposed to make this mess look cerebral. But, it never quite delivers--leaving viewers scratching their heads and asking "who was that?"..."what was that?" and "huh?" Pity, because Emily Blunt is terrific. Unfortunately, her character has the IQ of a grapefruit, which makes her a tough gal with whom to sympathize. Incidentally, comparing this film to the brilliant "Rosemary's Baby" is blasphemous. Polanski's masterpiece is still the gold-standard by which fright flicks are judged--40 years after its release. Who will be discussing "Wind Chill" six months after its straight-to-video debut?

This film was very well done. The scars are marvelous and the acting is terrific. It did have one flaw though. Every good horror film has "THE BIG SECRET", of "THE TWIST". This keeps the story moving and makes it scarier. In this film, the big twist is figured out to early. One can figure the secret out half way through the film. But just because the big secret is known, does not mean that this film isn't worth watching. There are still some scares that are really good and aren't seen coming. Because of this, I highly recommend this film to other horror buffs. It is a traditional scare, where the fear is in the situation and the people; not based in how much blood is in the film.