Estrada Maldita

For Christmas break, a bitchy college girl (Emily Blunt) is in desperate need of a ride home to Delaware. When a classmate (Ashton Holmes) overhears this, he puts up an ad on the school's billboard since he has a crush on her. She winds up taking the ride, but it soon becomes obvious that he's a tad bit obsessed with her. Naturally, this leads to a tense atmosphere for the long drive home, so he takes a shortcut. While heading down this lonely road, they're involved in an accident which leaves them stranded in the snow. With no one around to help and the cold reaching below zero temperatures, their situation isn't exactly enviable. It becomes even less so when they realize that this isolated stretch of road is haunted by unsettling apparitions, one of which is quite dangerous.

I've been extremely fond of Emily Blunt ever since I first saw her in 2004's "My Summer of Love". Aside from being a stellar talent, she's a stunning girl and infinitely charming. The film is worth seeing just for her, but her co-star, Ashton Holmes, is much better here than he was in "A History of Violence". I found him so annoying in that film, but here, he was actually likable. What a shock!

The film is definitely creepy at times. Thankfully, no weak jump scares either. It's all built up subtly through mood, atmosphere and shadows. There's one especially effective scene about halfway through. You'll know it when you see it, but I'll just say it reminded me of a similarly unnerving scene from Wes Craven's underrated "The Serpent and the Rainbow".

I was thrilled to see Clint Mansell's name in the opening credits, as I knew right away that the film would have a particularly strong score. It did wonders for the film's tone, and especially shone through during the ending. Speaking of which, the ending is somewhat on the weak side. It seemed too simple, and the connection between these two characters wasn't strong enough to support it. Actually, they're pretty much at odds with each other for the majority of the picture, so there's hardly a connection at all. It speaks volumes about the power of Mansell's score, as it manages to give the ending a feeling of emotional weight where there otherwise would be none.

In spite of the film's closing moments, this deserved a wider release. The scenes on the deserted road are effective and moody, while Blunt has talent to burn. It isn't perfect, but it's a good little film with more to offer than some of the filth that hits 3000+ screens nationwide. Think of it as a sort of ghost story by way of urban legend, which is supported by the characters just being referred to as "Boy" and "Girl" in the closing credits.

Wind Chill (2007) 4 of 5 Dir: Gregory Jacobs Stars: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan

A girl (Blunt) is in need of transportation home for the holidays. She hooks up with a guy to share expenses for the trip home to Delaware. But a scenic detour gets them in proverbial hot water when out of the snowy darkness a vehicle runs them off the road. Now stranded in the cold with the wind chill quickly approaching 30 below zero they thought find out that the cold is the least of their worries as strange figures appear around them and a ghostly patrolman appears to harass them. This snowy stretch of road may well be a highway of a different kind.

'Wind Chill' is a refreshing change from all the entire Saw'-like entertainment lurking about as of late. It takes its time getting where it wants to be while establishing characterization and eventually building up a pretty decent atmosphere from about the mid-point. I liked the sort of red herring that the filmmakers threw in regard to the relationship between the boy and the girl. The twist is an interesting one, not fully realized but still done very well. The acting is done very well and since Blunt and Holmes nearly have the screen to themselves they play off each other excellently.

I recommend 'Wind Chill' for those who may like a change of pace. Nicely acted with a solid script and interesting premise.

While this is not the best horror film ever to have been made, it stands out as one that actually has taken the time to develop the characters and still manage to hold your attention. Aside from a back-story that is thrown in at the last minute which never really explains why this is happening to the characters, the film stars and director have helped create some very effective scar sequences which don't always need to be played upon with exhausting music and gore.

The story begins with a girl (Emily Blunt, "The Devil Wears Prada") who needs a ride home for the holidays from college because she has just broken up with her boyfriend. Upon checking the student "ride board" she sees that there is someone offering a ride home in her direction and decides to take it. The boy (Ashton Holmes, "A History of Violence") is our driver, who may have ulterior motives of his own.

Needless to say things begin to fall apart when the boy decides to get off the main highway at the behest of the girl, swerves the car to avoid another one that is oncoming, and crashes in the middle of nowhere. In the snow. In the freezing cold. Obviously with no cell phones in service. Soon the two realize that they have much more to worry about than just freezing to death in the night.

Up until this point things have been fairly clichéd and predictable as with most horror films, but this is exactly what catches you off guard for the second half of the film, the dynamics of which I will not spoil for you. The director Jacobs ("Criminal") is fully aware that the best of horror films are those that have given you time to get to know and feel for the characters before something bad happens to them, even if it is only in the last half. Hitchcock knew this quite well and although "Wind Chill" may be a far cry from "Psycho" or "Frenzy", its effectiveness in making you believe in these characters and feel for them is a truly terrifying experience.

It's a shame more horror fans either aren't or can't see this movie, because it may very well signify a shift in the contemporary horror film (as of Spring 2007, when it was released).

The first "Saw" movie is usually seen as heralding a new direction and a new popularity in horror when it was first released and, despite the fact that the movie is principally a really twisty whodunit, it spawned dozens upon dozens of movies based on its essential formula: people (usually teenagers, often teen actors on their summer hiatus from their WB TV shows) in peril threatened with ghastly violence shown explicitly. The studios put any number of old movies into the remake machine in order to retrofit them with the new formula--and an R rating--to the point where these movies had the repetitive predictability of a Catholic mass.

Besides being bored with this genre, the massacres at Virginia Tech, I think, forced people to look to a new incarnation of horror--although, to be honest, I think current events have only a momentary impact on the movies. And that's where "Wind Chill" comes in.

"Wind Chill" is a movie which will disappoint you if you're hoping to see "Hostel"--a type of movie some people have compared to porn in its lack of substance apart from its depictions of explicit physical acts (in this case, violence). It's a thoughtful movie which takes the traditional elements of the most primitive horror movies and re-imagines them for our time. Think of the old James Whale haunted house movie, "The Old Dark House," and compare it to "Wind Chill" and you'll see how our oldest fears are presented anew--as if to say those old fears are never eliminated. This is the archetypal basis of the entire genre.

The movie isn't perfect--it's too talky, the exposition is piled on in the last third, the scares are rarely effective, and the resolution isn't quite plausible. But I thought it was fun and weird and full of unexpected depth.

I'm not certain in which direction "Wind Chill" is pointing the horror movie--maybe in the direction of the late 60s/early 70s "just slightly off" horror like "Rosemary's Baby" or the old "Night Gallery" TV series--rather than in the direction of grind house horror. But it's a worthwhile experiment.

Being the horror aficionado that I am, I enjoy all kinds and can analyze each movie based on its predecessors and what it brings to the genre. Wind Chill is a movie that was on the border of being a very original horror story told in a new way, but it slightly misfires and ends up settling for mediocrity. At first, I had it figured for an elemental thriller about survival but it goes deeper. It evokes the tortured past as the story unravels. This combination is exactly what a new age horror movie needs to do to establish itself. It did come up short in a few areas. Mainly, in a movie that tries to juggle themes, you end up with two sets of slightly unsatisfying emotions. You don't get the full elemental thriller or story twists of the tortured past. The acting is done well enough, and Emily Blunt impresses in the role. Ashton Holmes plays the role of the unsure, overwhelmed male character well, but I felt the story didn't capitalize. With very few other characters, it was hard to survive with just those two personas. Though this may sounds overly critical, I felt that this movie could have been a top film and I do believe it was still very well done in its own right. Overall, everyone should at least watch this movie, however, if you don't enjoy the two main characters from the get go, find another way to spend your time.