| Patricia Clarkson Movie: Wendigo
Movie Wendigo |  |  | | List Price: $14.98 | | Label: Live / Artisan
Salesrank: 31014
Released: December 17, 2002 | | Our Price: $24.98 | | Used Price: $1.08 | | MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD | |
Wendigo Reviews: Wendigo Schmendigo...  2009-11-25 - 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...
Looks interesting, but goes nowhere..  2009-07-27 - 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.
Not Horror, just Horrid  2009-06-11 - 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.
Winter spirit  2008-10-04 - 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.
Very underated  2007-11-13 - Does it compare to gifted British writer Algernon Blackwoods chilling story? Not really.........but I have to admit that I was shocked concerning how much I enjoyed this film particularly the second time around. Now.......there are many opinions on why people like or dislike this movie so I don't want to be disrespectful of the views of others, but I honestly felt that for the most part that director Larry Fessenden made a pretty unique & errie film.
However.....I would not really class it as conventional "horror" but rather a tale of supernatural legend/lore if that makes any sense? A dear friend who is a production designer/artist was a guest at a special
screening of Phantasm in NY a couple years ago & Fessenden attended as he was screening a new film as well. My friend remarked to him that he & I really enjoyed Wendigo & how difficult it is to find new & innovative stuff, but we were a little put off by some of the creature shots that he chose to use in the film while there were shots in the special features that looked much better ,but other than that the film was pretty tight. Needless to say this did not go over well with the somewhat jaded director & he refused to reply? This is why I try to be a little careful because this comment closed the door on getting other interesting aspects regarding the film. All in all, the atmospere was great, shot entirely on location in rural upstate NY in the dead of winter & even without the snow you feel the cold dark woods & trust me, the mood throughout the entire film is unsettling & creepy.It very effectively conveys gloom & despair, plus.... the acting is first rate & the Native American score is quite haunting so to me, this is a very well put together film that I would highly recomend to anybody thats into errie local legends & lore or just spooky stories in general.
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