The Wind

I love Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, slasher films, and Greek locations, but the script for The Wind never rises to the occasion and everything feels bland, predictable, and uninspired. It's as if everyone involved just wanted a vacation to Greece so they throw this script together over a weekend to give them an excuse to go.

Mystery writer Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) goes on vacation to Greece to get a little writing done in a secluded village. She immediately gets on the bad side of a handyman Phil (Wings Hauser) when she sees him burying a human body. From then on, Sian is on the run from the crazed mad man who wants to get rid of the witness.

While The Wind has a great concept, it's not very involving or exciting in spite of some nice visuals and game performances by Foster and Hauser who seem to be giving it their all. The script feels rushed and a little on the bland side. There's a completely useless subplot involving an American couple who are on their honeymoon that kills too much time and a story thread involving Sian's boyfriend (David McCallum) ends up being a waste of time as well.

There's an almost interesting idea that tells you that Sian might be making all of this up due to her overactive writer's imagination, but they don't hold on that long enough to make it very compelling.

For viewers expecting gore, you'll be very unimpressed as The Wind keeps things in a very PG territory which gives the film a slight made for TV quality until Foster unleashes a few F-bombs and you're reminded that it's an R rated film. At best, The Wind is something to have on in the background.

In Los Angeles, the successful writer of crime novels Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) decides to travel to a Greek village in the off-season to write a new book. She leaves her boyfriend John (David McCallum) and travels to the desert island, where she meets her landlord Elias Appleby (Robert Morley). He takes Sian to his house in the top of the hill and warns her about the wind. Later, his American employee Phill (Wings Hauser) brings groceries to Sian. During the night, Sian sees something strange at Phill's house and she decides to snoop around. She finds Elias dead and buried, and returns home. Soon she finds that Phill is a deranged killer and now he is looking after her.

"The Wind" is a tense slasher with a good storyline. Meg Foster's eyes are very well explored in this B-movie that could be a little shorter. Wings Hauser's character Phill seems to be indestructible and immortal. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Sopro do Demônio" ("The Demon Blow")

Suspenseful, atmospheric thriller finds Meg Foster as a novelist who is stalked by Wings Hauser in a small, deserted foreign village during he middle of a really bad wind storm. Takes it time getting started, but worth the wait. The last third is especially exciting. Meg Foster is solid as usual, though Hauser goes over the top. Rated R; Violence and Profanity.

Screenwriter Simon Barrett of two very popular slasher flicks [You're Next and The Guest] suggested this title in his series of obscure movies on social media. But this one wasn't quite my speed. Although it had everything going for it: a famous author of pulp fictions, a European clime in the nighttime, a killer with a scythe a la Italian gialli. But about halfway through it ran out of ideas. Nothing there to complement one of Hans Zimmer's earlier electronic music laden scores, the eerie setting or the performances of the leads.