A folkloric tale of madness, paranoia & things that go bump in the night, The Wind is an exquisitely photographed & thoroughly unnerving atmospheric horror that makes terrific use of its desolate wilderness setting to paint a menacing portrait of isolation, loneliness & their overwhelming nature yet fails to deliver the maximum impact due to shortcomings of its own making.
Set in the Western frontier of the late 1800s, the story follows a frontierswoman homesteading with her husband on an untamed land where the wind never stops howling. Isolated from civilization & sensing a sinister presence borne of the land itself, her fears are amplified when the arrival of a newlywed couple on a nearby homestead sets into motion a shocking chain of events.
Directed by Emma Tammi in what’s her directorial debut, The Wind is impressive in bits n pieces as it aptly showcases Tammi’s ability to build an unrelenting aura from minimal resources. But the final print also contains many glaring issues that can be only attributed to her inexperience in the field as she really struggles with how to sequence the events, thus resulting in few confusing moments.
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My main gripe with this indie horror is that the non-chronological arrangement of its narrative doesn’t necessarily work in its favor, not to mention that the abrupt & non-stop switching from present events to flashbacks become frustrating real soon. The plot lacks a cohesive structure and the narrative flow isn’t smooth at all. In short, Editing is an absolute mess that fails to streamline the events properly.
On the plus side, the film brims with an overwhelming dread that only intensifies as the plot progresses. The remote location & 19th-century timeline provide just the right environment for the horror to unfurl. Despite the vast surroundings of the west, there is suffocating claustrophobia that lingers over the frames. And as far as performances go, the entire cast chips in with measured inputs, with Caitlin Gerard impressing the most.
Delivering some genuine thrills yet wrapping itself upon an underwhelming note, The Wind is downright chilling when it gets the combinations right but it can also be annoying when it doesn’t. Uplifted by its remote setting, gorgeous landscapes, arresting camerawork, stellar sound design & fab performances but marred down by its perplexing structure, inconsistent editing & fractured storytelling at the same time, The Wind is another entry in the long list of horror films that fell short of realizing their true potential.
★★½
The Wind Trailer
The Wind Links – IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes
