(2001)
Dir - Larry Fessenden
Overall: MEH
The directorial follow-up to the low-key, urban vampire film Habit from Larry Fessenden is a movie whose heart is in the right place, yet it is also one that does not reach any of its potential. Wendigo sets itself up like it will unfold like a typical werewolf movie, opening with the age old cliche of people driving through the remote countryside which can only mean that they will get in an car accident, which they of course do. Fessenden unfortunately spends the entire movie meandering without any perceivable purpose, focusing on a likeable family while teasing at backwoods bad guys, a lonely kid's overactive imagination, and Native American superstition with completely uninteresting plotting. The performances are unnatural at times without being altogether bad and there are a handful of accidentally dopey B-movie blunders like too much hacky tribal music on the soundtrack, awkwardly arty editing, a lame looking title monster, silly call backs, and one ridiculous scene where a mysterious local randomly drops all of the supernatural exposition in the middle of a gift shop. All of this mangles the tone when things finally get a bit more dire, which does not happen until well into the third act anyway.
(2007)
Dir - Gregory Jacobs
Overall: MEH
Though Gregory Jacobs' second directorial effort Wind Chill boasts a unique premise and a solid, mostly two person cast, a handful of minor blunders add up to undue it. Things begin innocently enough as the script teases a few kidnapper/rude, rural locals/trapped in the wilderness expectations, with lots of obvious set ups thrown in that eventually reveal their pay-offs. Emily Blunt makes a nice, quasi-bitch college student and Ashton Holmes aka Not-Jessie Eisenberg has an interesting ark of an awkard creep with a heart of gold. As is often the case with horror material, (particularly of the supernatural variety), things are much more successful before the mystery is explained and this unfortunately rings true here. The theme of eternal recurrence plays a major role yet not for any other reason than to move the plot along and provide for some topsy-turvy moments, moments that become less interesting as things go along. By the time CGI frostbitten effects start becoming more prominent even though they quite often forget to add digital breath to characters that are literally freezing to death, it becomes difficult to stay invested in a story that is running out of places to go besides recycling a few spooky motifs and trying not to make Blunt look anything but gorgeous no matter how in peril her character gets.
(2009)
Dir - Nicholaus Goossen
Overall: MEH
The first entry for the horror division Scary Madison of Adam Sandler's Happy Madison production company, The Shortcut is a mildly amusing thriller with its fair share of "high schoolers doing stupid things" stereotypes partly for chuckles and partly for suspenseful set piece purposes. As director Nicholaus Goosen's follow-up to Grandma's Boy, the tone and agenda here are quite obviously different even though there is still a substantial amount of humor sprinkled throughout. The backstory, (which the script frequently detours into), is certainly easy to follow, yet it is also not that fleshed-out. The way that it links up to the lackluster twist ending comes off as more eyeball rolling, "OK, sure whatever" stupid than anything else. Part of the issue may be that Dan Hannon and Scott Sandler's script was apparently re-written boatloads of times and co-producers Leomax only agreed to provide financing if the initial R-rated material was neutered down to PG-13. By 2009, the world certainly does not need any more PG-13 horror films with wise-cracking teenagers and while this particular entry into that well over-saturated market is less insulting than usual, it is still probably worth skipping.
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