O Sopro do Demônio

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.

This a strange flick. Filmed in Greece but I'm pretty sure it's Italian horror. Meg Foster (31) with her entrancing eyes stars as a young writer who goes on a retreat in Greece to work on her new thriller novel. Upon arriving she meets the weird misogynistic owner of the property and than the creepy housekeeper who ends up attacking her. She's quite the resilient final girl thwarting him again and again with clever tactics. The a actual wind plays a big part as an ominous force surrounding the house and ripping through the island. The movie is well shot and the central performance is engaging and impressive. The only real problem is the odd pacing jumping from fast to slow. At times it takes you out of the action breaking up its flow. All in all it's just entertaining enough to merit a light reccomend.

3/5

Greek director Nico Masterakis brings us this little charmer. I've just watched it on video - here in the UK it's called Edge of Terror. They're are some great performances here, most notably Meg Foster with her amazing eyes (and great acting) and also Wings Hauser who plays the unhinged element to a tee. Also look out for Robert Morley, clearly enjoying himself, and David McAllum who probably took this job for a holiday in Greece as he's hardly in it even though he gets top billing. The camerawork and lighting are interesting and even though the plot is contrived and predictable there is something different about this one. Not much gore, but plenty of style - Giallo fans should like it. Not bad at all. Before I forget, the movie is shot in beautiful greek surroundings which are stunning in themselves.

One thing I really love about ex-rentals is the movie previews before the main feature, and that's how I came to know of this film. However it's only natural to have the best scenes in the trailer to wet your appetite… and by the way it bestows quite a cool video artwork.

Director / writer Nico Mastorakis (who made the very infamous video nasty "Island of Death") was churning out numerously quickly produced low-budget / straight to video enterprises in the mid to late eighties and "The Wind" aka "Edge of Terror" would have to be the pick of the lot for its interesting setting and exemplary lead performances from Meg Foster and Wings Hauser.

Mystery writer Sian Anderson travels to the Greek Isles for a couple of weeks to stay at an ancient villa in an isolated ghost town to storm up ideas for her next novel. The landlord warns her not to go out at night due to the killer winds that pass throughout the night, but another threat could be in the shape of the landlord's handyman Phil. Something about this man unnerves Sian, especially when one night she believes she saw him burying a corpse that just happens to be the landlord.

The pulpy story holds up rather well, leading us down the path maybe all of this is happening in the imaginative mind of its protagonist, as this when Steve Railsback's sceptical character comes into the equation. Perhaps predictable and systematic, but making headway of the standard material is the scenic local flavour that's arrestingly atmospheric, especially the eerie night sequences when the howling wind kicks in. Mastorakis ideally creates an edgy vibe with his lighting composition of shadows and lighting around the ancient villa on an ocean cliff-top with it being backed up by the shivery, high-strung music score and terse photography. You're really thrown right into it. What starts off slow-boil in genuinely building up the suspenseful situation, soon transforms in to a tautly simple-minded cat and mouse formula knowing too well of the clichés to suitably play them up. Towards the end it begins to meander, as some stupidity occurs and the final shot (while beautifully projected) is quite a laughable chance of fate.

Meg Foster makes for a strong, affable heroine who seems to have something constantly witty to say and a bug-eyed Hauser (in a fetching knitted white jumper) is simply made for these wack-job roles and he doesn't disappoint with his impulsively dangerous and rip-snorting villain. His exchanges with Foster early on is effectively engaging - "Death is a whole lot different on paper." Robert Morley and David McCallum also pop up.