A story film (not to be mistaken for a horror one.)
Added 2/4/2010
Certain things can happen on perfectly-normal, ordinary days. You can be driving down the street, minding your own business, and hit a deer; you can go on a vacation and find yourself with a troublesome neighbor; and you can go sledding and find yourself in the most hellish situation of your life. It's a concept all-too-real, but all-too-frightening as well.
For George, his wife Kim, and their son Miles, life becomes all too real when they go up to the family cabin for a weekend outing.
WENDIGO, released in 2001 to moderately-uneven reviews, is a movie that focuses heavily on characterization and story. Thought not a bad thing, viewers shouldn't go into this movie expecting a whole lot in regards to the horor element. The film plays out more as an edge-of-your-seat thriller than an actual horror movie. As a reviewer, I see it as a dramatic thriller with some horror elements, not a horror film.
PROS:
- The actors. Each and every actor that played in this movie portrayed their characters extraordinarily well. Throughout the film, I had no complaints in regards to any of the characters. Their actions were realistic, their portrayals were accurate, and their motives were pure, if only due to human necessity. As a viewer, I like to connect with characters that seem like more than actors. WENDIGO is extremely character-driven, and because of that, it's important to have actors that feel like more than just people playing a character. You don't feel like you're seeing someone playing a character in this movie; you see someone LIVING this movie.
- The story. Though not as concentrated on the horror as the film makes itself out to be, the film presents itself as a well-thought-out family drama. The husband, avid photographer and troubled workaholic who doesn't know how to interact with his son; the wife, psychologist and worrysome mother; and the boy, curious, but not to the point where it might get him in trouble. These three characters save the film from being a total letdown. As its high point, the story does well with its portrayal of a family wanting to get away from life, but it also does well as a dramatic thriller in the latter half of the movie.
The biggest and only con (that doesn't contribute the need to be sectioned into a list) is the absence of the real wonder of the movie--the Wendigo. A creature of Native American legend that `eats as it gets hungry' and `is an angry spirit,' it's only briefly shown near the end, when the man who ultimately tears the family's life apart is murdered in an act of vengence. This brief encapsulation of this highly-interesting creature is the biggest letdown of the entire movie, thus is the reason why I, as a reviewer, can only give it three stars. Had I wanted to go into a complete family drama, I would have picked something from the drama department. I picked WENDIGO because I wanted to see a horror movie. I didn't get that, which really disappointed me as someone who wanted to see a movie that looked to be more than it really is.
As a film about a family ending up in a hellish situation, WENDIGO is the perfect film. As a horror film, it falls terribly short. The movie is only saved from being completely horrible due to its cast and incredible storytelling.
In the end, WENDIGO is worth a watch, if only for the story alone. Diehard horror fans should probably avoid this film, if only to spare themselves the disappointment of not seeing the creature they're most likely going in to see.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Wendigo Schmendigo...
Added 11/25/2009
If you're expecting a monster movie where dozens of victims are torn to pieces by a CGI creature, forget it. WENDIGO is a dark tale, mostly shown from a child's point of view, about imagination, mythology, and making sense out of harsh reality. A boy named Miles (Erik Per Sullivan) is thrust into increasingly nightmarish circumstances when a family vacation becomes a deadly ordeal. After infuriating a vengeful hunter named Otis (John Speredakos), the family becomes the object of this unbalanced man's rage. The boy's parents (Jake Weber and Patricia Clarkson) attempt to deal w/ the building insanity by using logic and psychology, while Miles is introduced to the spiritual world of the WENDIGO. The supernatural aspects of the story could be fact or fiction, the result of an intervening spirit or halucination. From young Miles' perspective, it is all too real. It is his view that drives the movie...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Looks interesting, but goes nowhere..
Added 7/27/2009
My cousins and I picked WENDIGO up from the local video rental store hoping for a good scare, but, unfortunately, we got just the opposite. Now, it isn't fair to criticize this movie for not being scary since it never set out to be (and it was our stupidity for hoping as such without any research), however, that doesn't mean this movie was any good. We tried to sit through it, we really did, but in the end it just was boring and didn't really make sense.
WENDIGO starts out well, though. A dysfunctional family, while vacationing in the Catskills, accidentally hits a deer on a snowy road. This deer, however, is being pursued by a group of redneck hunters who are not happy their catch is disabled by this family. The lead hunter then stalks the family to get revenge on his missed kill.
It sounds entertaining, like it could go somewhere, but it honestly goes nowhere very fast. And the Wendigo? Well that's just a figment of the kid's imagination; a sort of deer body-builder thing scurrying about the forest. What is it's purpose in the movie? I'm not sure. It seems like this is a family-in-crisis drama disguised as a horror flick with a bunch of eerie scenery shots thrown in. And a bad on at that.
I would not recommend this movie to anyone, especially those looking for a scare. Like another reviewer said, if you need to watch it, wait until it's on TV.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Not Horror, just Horrid
Added 6/11/2009
My wife and I rented this at the video store one night, the description on the box sounded great, the movie wasn't. It has nothing to do with the Algonquin legend of a cannibalistic were-creature. Funnier still is the depiction of the actual creature (see the special feature section). It was so bad, the movie has become a running joke between my wife and I: "Honey, they're making a sequel of your favorite movie...Wendigo." "That X-men 3 really sucked we should had rented Wendigo again!" "Jeeper Creepers II wasn't near as scary as Wendigo." You get my drift. This movie just didn't live up to what little hype it even attempted. As I was writing this I asked my wife what's the scariest movie we've seen lately, she began to laugh "You mean Wendigo?" Stay away unless you want to start your own series of one-liners.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Winter spirit
Added 10/4/2008
Mostly I enjoyed this film. I liked that much is from the little boy's veiwpoint. There is a certain suspense and foreboding throughout, both physical and imagined. There are many small details that fill out the story. There is a scene at night when the boy is scared to pass by steps leading down to a dark place, and he jumps past them to minimize his exposure to whatever evils may be lurking down there...details like this remind me of the fear a child feels. He is a believable little boy, never seems like we are watching "acting". The parents are believable also. There are many moody shots of the forrest...that get a bit redundant and don't really lead anywhere. The ending is abrupt...and unsatisfying. When a story draws you in, you have a investment of time and concern for it. When the ending doesn't fill the emotional space it has created in your mind...it leaves you feeling frustrated and like you have been ripped off. The film is well shot and put togeather, I would just like to see a little more time on the script, concerning the ending, and also exploring/expanding the indian/spirit angle.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
A story film (not to be mistaken for a horror one.)
Added 2/4/2010
Certain things can happen on perfectly-normal, ordinary days. You can be driving down the street, minding your own business, and hit a deer; you can go on a vacation and find yourself with a troublesome neighbor; and you can go sledding and find yourself in the most hellish situation of your life. It's a concept all-too-real, but all-too-frightening as well.
For George, his wife Kim, and their son Miles, life becomes all too real when they go up to the family cabin for a weekend outing.
WENDIGO, released in 2001 to moderately-uneven reviews, is a movie that focuses heavily on characterization and story. Thought not a bad thing, viewers shouldn't go into this movie expecting a whole lot in regards to the horor element. The film plays out more as an edge-of-your-seat thriller than an actual horror movie. As a reviewer, I see it as a dramatic thriller with some horror elements, not a horror film.
PROS:
- The actors. Each and every actor that played in this movie portrayed their characters extraordinarily well. Throughout the film, I had no complaints in regards to any of the characters. Their actions were realistic, their portrayals were accurate, and their motives were pure, if only due to human necessity. As a viewer, I like to connect with characters that seem like more than actors. WENDIGO is extremely character-driven, and because of that, it's important to have actors that feel like more than just people playing a character. You don't feel like you're seeing someone playing a character in this movie; you see someone LIVING this movie.
- The story. Though not as concentrated on the horror as the film makes itself out to be, the film presents itself as a well-thought-out family drama. The husband, avid photographer and troubled workaholic who doesn't know how to interact with his son; the wife, psychologist and worrysome mother; and the boy, curious, but not to the point where it might get him in trouble. These three characters save the film from being a total letdown. As its high point, the story does well with its portrayal of a family wanting to get away from life, but it also does well as a dramatic thriller in the latter half of the movie.
The biggest and only con (that doesn't contribute the need to be sectioned into a list) is the absence of the real wonder of the movie--the Wendigo. A creature of Native American legend that `eats as it gets hungry' and `is an angry spirit,' it's only briefly shown near the end, when the man who ultimately tears the family's life apart is murdered in an act of vengence. This brief encapsulation of this highly-interesting creature is the biggest letdown of the entire movie, thus is the reason why I, as a reviewer, can only give it three stars. Had I wanted to go into a complete family drama, I would have picked something from the drama department. I picked WENDIGO because I wanted to see a horror movie. I didn't get that, which really disappointed me as someone who wanted to see a movie that looked to be more than it really is.
As a film about a family ending up in a hellish situation, WENDIGO is the perfect film. As a horror film, it falls terribly short. The movie is only saved from being completely horrible due to its cast and incredible storytelling.
In the end, WENDIGO is worth a watch, if only for the story alone. Diehard horror fans should probably avoid this film, if only to spare themselves the disappointment of not seeing the creature they're most likely going in to see.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Wendigo Schmendigo...
Added 11/25/2009
If you're expecting a monster movie where dozens of victims are torn to pieces by a CGI creature, forget it. WENDIGO is a dark tale, mostly shown from a child's point of view, about imagination, mythology, and making sense out of harsh reality. A boy named Miles (Erik Per Sullivan) is thrust into increasingly nightmarish circumstances when a family vacation becomes a deadly ordeal. After infuriating a vengeful hunter named Otis (John Speredakos), the family becomes the object of this unbalanced man's rage. The boy's parents (Jake Weber and Patricia Clarkson) attempt to deal w/ the building insanity by using logic and psychology, while Miles is introduced to the spiritual world of the WENDIGO. The supernatural aspects of the story could be fact or fiction, the result of an intervening spirit or halucination. From young Miles' perspective, it is all too real. It is his view that drives the movie...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Looks interesting, but goes nowhere..
Added 7/27/2009
My cousins and I picked WENDIGO up from the local video rental store hoping for a good scare, but, unfortunately, we got just the opposite. Now, it isn't fair to criticize this movie for not being scary since it never set out to be (and it was our stupidity for hoping as such without any research), however, that doesn't mean this movie was any good. We tried to sit through it, we really did, but in the end it just was boring and didn't really make sense.
WENDIGO starts out well, though. A dysfunctional family, while vacationing in the Catskills, accidentally hits a deer on a snowy road. This deer, however, is being pursued by a group of redneck hunters who are not happy their catch is disabled by this family. The lead hunter then stalks the family to get revenge on his missed kill.
It sounds entertaining, like it could go somewhere, but it honestly goes nowhere very fast. And the Wendigo? Well that's just a figment of the kid's imagination; a sort of deer body-builder thing scurrying about the forest. What is it's purpose in the movie? I'm not sure. It seems like this is a family-in-crisis drama disguised as a horror flick with a bunch of eerie scenery shots thrown in. And a bad on at that.
I would not recommend this movie to anyone, especially those looking for a scare. Like another reviewer said, if you need to watch it, wait until it's on TV.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
