Wind Chill Digital Copy DVD with Martin Donovan, Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes (R) +Movie Reviews

"Chill Factor," "Every Breath You Take"/ Or Another 'Nightma

Rocky Raccoon | Boise, ID | 09/09/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"(3 1/2 *'s) George Clooney and Stephen Soderbergh have teamed up once again to produce `Wind Chill,' a horror movie that's more and less than one expects from a horror film. First of all, it's equally a survivor story and a stalker/romance as well as ghost story with a colorful history. Don't get me wrong, there are some scary moments in the movie, but the film admirably relies more on suspense and ambiguity in its presentation. All of it comes together in a way that's as invigorating as a cold, arctic blast from Canada.

The movie starts with some familiar on-the-road setup, complete with the car that breaks down and everything goes wrong. From there the developments are often different, however. Mysterious without names, the "Gal" (Emily Blunt) foregoes the plane ride from college exams before holiday break and decides to take the Greyhound bus. That is until she gets a text message during an exam inviting her to hook up with a ride from the posted message board. She finds someone who's headed to Delaware, so on a lark she calls to make the connection.

The "Guy" (Ashton Holmes) seems wholly accommodating, except they both are in many ways a mismatch. She finds him asleep at the wheel, waiting in the parking lot. She doesn't have much room to put her stuff, but has less room to complain when she shows up late in the first place. He shows a keen interest in her, even imposing on her cell phone calls and demanding her to engage in conversation as "her part of the deal".

Things aren't as they seem, and, ambiguity is a cornerstone to the movie's development. It turns out that he knows a great deal more about her than she would expect, and his interest becomes more than practical, especially when he refuses to let her pay her share of the gas money. When they come upon a remote gas station, gaunt, shadowy figures surround her. She gets an unnerving sense that the journey is stacked against her, but not all the evidence adds up. Is she a little paranoid and overly suspicious? Is he chivalrous in an old-fashioned, but patronizing way, or is he a stalker? When they leave the gas station, he abruptly turns out on remote Highway 606 much to her chagrin. Soon they get into an argument, one that escalates as an oncoming car, forces them off the road in an accident that has alarming consequences looming before them.

Stranded they are left to encounter a barren area that contains a haunted past, one that fills their dream life until reality and supernatural start to blur. More pressing is the need for the basics of survival as the radio announces the night will bring a 30 below wind chill, and they notice the gas tank is slowly leaking along with their prospects. In the meantime, not only is the area haunted with a violent past, but the "Guy" has been keeping secrets from the "Gal" that slowly unfurl like a weather vein.

`Wind Chill' is as much of a drama and a mystery as it is a horror film. Having seen the all-too-familiar developments of campfire horror films like 'Vacancy,' 'Wind Chill' is ahead of the front with a thoughtful, yet chilling development."

The Chills of Suspense

Cornelius G. Kelly | Albuquerque | 09/27/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Girl.
The Guy.
The crummy car.
The forgotten groceries.
The locked bathroom.
The secret he knows.
The wrong road.
The storm gets worse.
December 23rd.
~~Freezing~~.
Route 606.
Crosses in the trees
look at the car.
Oncoming headlights.
Both knocked out.
The radio plays.
The cell phones don't.
Oh, not that song again!
Something happens with that tune
Something bad.
The evil sherrif.
The nightmares continues
to the same spot.
Does anyone escape?
Time warps.
The revolving hour glass."

A really good movie

Emily R. Jarrell | Newport News, VA United States | 12/11/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was a really good movie considering I had never heard of it, I saw George Clooney was an exec producer on it and decided to watch it. The actors were really good in it, and it is basically them, stuck in their car, in the middle of a long deserted highway, waiting for help as they are trapped inside by the evil being(s) waiting for them outside. Just one thing, could somebody please give Ashton Holmes a role where he is able to have some happiness, that would be great."

Very effective. Very eerie. (Review may contain spoiler).

Music Lover. | England. | 06/21/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I love snow movies, especially when they are like this one, abandoned in snowy landscape middle of nowhere all night and menaced by phantoms! Can't remember if wind was howling too, but I think it was. It's great watching something like this, alone, and with all lights out so you're sat in total darkness apart from the dvd on screen. My only complaint (hence only four stars instead of five) was that some of the 'ghosts' or whatever they were, were a bit OTT, especially the one with the eel or whatever it was meant to be, when things like that start happening, I lose a bit of interest because it just seems so silly, and unnecessary, as, so often in movies what is hinted at, or only half seen, is far more effective than straight-up, in-your-face silliness, and at one point in the midst of some of the dreams, hallucinations, happening from the past, or time warp memory or whatever, I found myself growing a little bored, whereas throughout the rest of the movie, I was riveted, especially the bit where Emily Blunt's character goes out alone into the raging blizzard to climb a telegraph pole in the middle of the night with the threat of phantoms appearing at any moment. That, combined with the wild elements of the weather and the dark coniferous trees was a superb touch and my favourite moment in the whole movie. A very effective scene indeed.
The two characters worked well together and were believable and, as they grew closer, their plight, coupled with their growing closeness, was very touching and ulitmately very sad, given the outcome.
A joy to watch and I wish they made more movies like this one."

Excellent horror film

J from NY | New York | 06/02/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Clooney/Soderbergh's "Wind Chill" has been misjudged very harshly by most viewers--perhaps the problem lies with that first 15 minutes (character development, plot building) and the noticeable absence of people being set on fire, stabbed, led into porn/grindhouse brothels, etc. These are the kinds of old tricks most "horror fans" expect these days.

What we have instead, fortunately, is a genuinely frightening exercise in a re-emerging horror technique that rarely fails to deliver: two young people (Emily Blunt as a very unappealing, rude, cold girl who undergoes a transformation a la Nietzsche through extreme physical duress) and Ashton Holmes (a bookish guy who, at the beginning, we imagine may be a little like Ted Bundy--the film plays with our perceptions very aptly) find themselves accidentally stuck on an obscure stretch of road near the college they attend. The director suggests that the babyfaced but extremely creepy Holmes may have done this on purpose, but it seems that it really was an accident, or a disturbing hand of occult fate which shoved them into a confrontation with a power too tortured to be alone for very long.

The wintry, cold feel and the imaginative detours which turn out not to be imagination at all but the supernatural answer to "deja vu" make the whole sequence of events deeply disturbing. The ghost of a murderous sherrif from the past continues his quest via the psyche of these two young people who are freezing to death. The scenes in the car with the two are really show how two people can connect, even under real suspicious circumstances, when the comforts of civilization are stripped away. Emily Blunt makes it all totally believable. Rather like an enhanced episode of "Night Gallery", this may represent a turning point in horror, and I hope it does."

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	Wind Chill + Digital Copy Actors: Martin Donovan, Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes Director: Greg Jacobs Genres: Indie & Art House, Horror, Science Fiction & Fantasy R 2008 1hr 31min WIND CHILL (w/ DC) (DVD MOVIE)
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