Wendigo | | Cast : | Patricia Clarkson, Jake Weber | | Director : | Larry Fessenden | | Studio : | Lions Gate Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | April 22, 2003 | | Language : | | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 15, 2005 | | Summary | The spirit of vengeance lurks in the woods... | Content
 | A dark psychological thriller which accesses more of an atmospheric sense of terror, rather than blatant displays of gore - very subtle, leaving the mind to 'fill in' some of the plot ideas - one derives a sense of 'something' haunting the woods, being itself part of the woods, the trees, the grass, the wind, the animals, the night itself. The wendigo is the spirit of vengeance in native american culture, invoked to address a wrong committed by the rotten, to set the natural balances straight.
A family travels through the backwoods when they become entrapped within a snowy ditch after having striuck a deer on the highway, and the only people around are a gaggle of hunting drunken rednecks who complain that the deer's antlers are broken, thus minimizing its prize value. The family eventually make it to their destination, but not after the presumptuous interference of the hicks, especially "Otis" now and again, who also happens to be a peeping Tom. The new house seems haunted, with its bloody memories appearing to the perceptive son, in somewhat of a "sixth sense" manner.
They take a quick trip into town to survey the local neighborhood, and come across a store selling rather odd little items, when the boy is confronted by a native american stranger who relates to him the legend of 'the wendigo', and bestows him a veritable talisman resembling a deer-like 'Pan' figure - the stranger disappears as mysteriously as he appeared, like the wind, yet the story of the wendigo haunts the boy, who begins sensing its presence throughout the environment, which begins increasing exponentially as the nights go on - a feeling of impending doom looms heavy in the air.
So he and pop go sledding, but things go horribly awry, as dad is knocked off therefrom and lays in a bloody heap in the snow. After a few hours of unconsciousness, he is taken to the hospital, and much is revealed in the climax of the film, as the wendigo lurks in the darkness of the forest, taking an anthropomorphic form as well, and justice is served in a delightfully ironic twist at the end.
This is probably not a film for those with a short attention span, accustomed to exaggerrated stuntman exploits, profuse gore, or fight movies, as again, the plot is subtle, and many wonderful effects are used to accentuate the pleasant eeriness felt here. To truly appreciate the film, one must immerse oneself completely within it. An understanding of metaphor and poetic justice is elemental. Afterward viewing this film, take a brisk walk out into the night - it certainly makes one's Nocturnal Consitutional that much more intriguing... |
| Rating | | | Date | May 24, 2005 | | Summary | Family Ties meets Deliverance a\k\a Milquetoast (milk toast) | Content
| The long and short of it: Milquetoast Dad, Milquetoast Mom, and Milquetoast Son make the mistake of having Milquetoast weekend of winter fun in the wrong neck of the woods. A deer is hit with Milquetoast Volvo, stereotypical redneck hunters with high-powered rifles show up and bully over hit deer, which they were hunting. After being bullied and pulled out of ditch by stereotypical redneck hunters, Milquetoast family gets to the weekend getaway house where said Milquetoast weekend of winter fun is to occur, only to discover it's apparently being used for target practice by SOMEONE with a high-powered rifle. Milquetoast Dad and Son go sledding in a shooting range, chaos ensues. Aside from all that, the myopically obsessed director made WAY too much of speed photography and blurred images to set mood and advance story. Here's a hint sir, a guy running around in a deer costume is only scary if you are a small child at the Neverland Ranch. Yeah, it's that bad. Save your time and watch The Shining if you want to see a truly scary tale of a family disintegrating before your very eyes. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 08, 2005 | | Summary | At least an angry bambi did a brief cameo. | Content
| For the first 10 minutes of the film, I thought, this is going to be cool- grainy, no big budget CGI to ruin a nice story line, little kids (always make for a creepy time unless your the one gloved wonder), incoherent redneck, city folk in the country, etc.
20 minutes later, I thought, ok, this is an indie, so it's going for the depth and camera work that will probably make sense soon then it's going for the jugular.
35 minutes later, I had to go to the bathroom.
40 minues later, I was beginning to think that maybe this wasn't a horror film but a bad sequel to Deliverance or Redneckville's gift to cinema: Bambi vs NASCAR.
An hour later, I got scared. I realized I was wasting my time and I would never get it back- still I had invested too much time to just stop watching it.
When it was all said and done, there was a hood ornament chasing a redneck while a kid lay on a bed holding what was NOT a Transformer, but more than meets the eye, that was given to him by a Native American that was more than likely a Poltergeist- those prankster ghosts always trying to get some to shoplift (Next time you're caught trying to walk out with something say- 'My native American brethern gave it to me' and see if they give you a bargain)! All the while, in the background auditions, were being held for Patient 874 in an upcomming episode of ER. Let us not forget about the poor cop in dire need of Rid who was left outside a trailer like a poor Watchtower pusher on Christmas eve. Then there's the boots. I don't want to spoil the ending- but, oh those scary Nancy Sinatras weren't made for walking, were they?
I love horror movies. I love indie horror movies the best because they are character driven and rely more on 'what you can't see' to creep you out. This movie is about as incoherent and dumb as my review. There's nothing scary about this film and the plot is shotty at best. I will say the acting is a bit better than Matress Mac selling Gallery Furniture or Bitsy selling a 4x4 in Dixie Country. Also, it does a decent job of providing about 1 minute worth of creepiness. This is mainly achieved through ticking clocks and blood dripping from this hanging string-- I know, I know- BOO!
However, the camera angles (that have received much praise in
several reviews) are silly: Family Scene- then cut to snow, trees, branches- family scene- cut to a totem pole and a dead deer- back to snow back to braches- now throw glitter into the wind! My favorite of the worst was when tree branches were tied to a camera and someone ran with it through the woods. WOW! Ohh. Creepy. Branches brushing up against branches. Yeah, whatever! This sort of stuff kind of worked in The Blair Witch, but is done so poorly on this film that it's funny.
The angles and camera work is not thought out at all- there is no artistic value in them. It's like someone said, "quick, we've got 25 minutes of film we have to use, record different parts of the woods!" Then, they used those parts to put into the movie to make arthouse wannabees think they were watching something with depth and value when in actuallity they were probably added to make this movie a Full Length Feature instead of a Short Film.
This could have been a decent to good film if it was done differently, say with some supernatural spooks. You want something creepy and artistic and GOOD???- watch The Devil's Backbone- superb film!
I give Wendigo 1.25 stars and I am being kind. I would have given it 1, but I thought the make out scene was kind of sexy. |
| Rating | | | Date | March 28, 2005 | | Summary | Could've been so much better.... | Content
| I am a huge fan of spooky, atmospheric movies--I don't need a maniac running around knocking off sorority babes to enjoy a horror film. But this movie...hmm. I thought it spend so much time setting up a story that turned out to be nothing in the end. We find out all sorts of things about the family dynamic of the characters, but then in the end, what difference does it make? I was expecting some big confrontation with the Wendigo, but it appears that it was mostly in the little boy's head and the real evil were those stereotyped rednecks. (Surprise, surprise!) It's hard for me to get excited about a movie that has about five things happen in the whole of it, and then ends so unsatisfyingly.
Through most of the movie, I thought it looked like a student film which showed off a lot of new tricks the director learned (the fast, jerky motions; the 360-degree spin-around; the superimposed images that I assume are supposed to be creepy) but when it comes down to content, the movie just doesn't deliver.
And a personal thing--why is it that movie hospitals are always completely deserted? That annoys the heck out of me! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 26, 2005 | | Summary | Worst Film ive seen in my life. | Content
| When thinking about renting or buying a horror film and you pick up the case for wendigo dont be fooled by the lyes that are put on it saying the scariest film of the year, just put it down and run! Although i reccommend this film if you want a good laugh its the best comedy film me and my friend have seen ever! The storyline is well, there isnt a storyline its about a family of three going to a cabin for a weekend and on the way they knock down a deer, the boy gets a toy figure and it creates a monster deer made from some branches that you see for about 10 seconds. The acting is the worst ive ever seen in a film, we couldnt understand one word said in the whole film. I know it was a low budget film but they could have at least bought a decent camera it was like a home movie. The best special effects in the whole film was a branch taped to the camera chasing the boy. So unless you want a good laugh and not a good scare dont ever lay your eyes on this 'film' if thats what you want to call it. The director should change his identity if he expects anyone to ever want him to direct a film again. P.s " Heres your dead husbands boots " ?!? |
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