Review – Wendigo

For a dreary little independent horror flick, I guess this isn’t the worst I’ve ever seen. The plot’s a little hard on the animals (not to mention the humans), but I guess that’s to be expected from a movie about a ravenous forest spirit with a taste for Catskills rednecks. Although crane shots are about as expensive as the production ever gets, the cinematographer and editor manage to do some interesting things. Not all of it is as scary as it’s supposed to be, but the visuals remain reasonably compelling throughout. Sadly, the story doesn’t keep pace with them. Indeed, this swiftly becomes a classic case of 20 minutes’ worth of plot spun out into a 90-minute movie. I guess the length – and the completely gratuitous and less-than-interesting sex scene early in the production – are what you have to do to catch the eye of a distributor. Still, more judicious film making might have made a shorter but much more emotionally satisfying picture. Mildly amusing