Starring: Caitlin Gerard, Julia Goldani Telles, Ashley Zukerman, Dylan McTee, Miles Anderson
Director: Emma Tammi
Released: 2018
Mood: If you’re feeling kinda invincible and want a Western that will shake you up and make you appreciate sturdy modern houses and the ability to call for help.
After a few middling (or terrible) horror Westerns in a row, I was ready for a WINNER, baby. And The Wind is overall a winner in my books.
I usually lean towards comedic horror movies, like Evil Dead 2 and Dead & Breakfast. I loathe jump scares, and the only monster that always freaks me TF out is zombies. These are things I know about my taste in horror.
But after watching The Wind I was reminded that the two types of horror that stick with me and forever haunt my dreams, the ones I should probably definitely avoid (except for review purposes) are psychological and religious supernatural horrors. I just didn’t realize this because I’ve spent 20 years trying to forget the original Exorcist.
The Wind is a beautifully shot frontier Western with a big-budget feel.The story was written by a woman, about women, and directed by a woman, so that’s an awesome bonus. And I found it scary on multiple levels.
If you can’t stand movies that aren’t chronological, that aspect might drive you crazy. But if you can stick around long enough for the action to start, you will not regret it as a horror fan OR a Western fan. Except, of course, if it gives you nightmares which it definitely did to me.
The Wind is, as I mentioned, not a chronological story. I had trouble following it for at least the first half hour and at other points after that, which I admit led to me Googling the plot so I could stop being distracted by my own confusion. But what I was seeing on the screen was also so captivating and suspenseful that I was never going to turn it off.
If you want to enjoy the torturously disjointed way the full premise rolls out, skip ahead to the next section. I won’t reveal spoilers here, but I’m going to sum it up and that WILL spoil some plot points that you might want to be left guessing at, as part of the paranoid atmosphere.
Lizzy (Caitlin Gerard) and Isaac (Ashley Zukerman) live in complete isolation somewhere in New Mexico. He’s away a lot. Then Emma (Julia Goldani Telles) and Gideon (Dylan McTee) move into a derelict cabin just across the plains.
They’re young and don’t know much about the life they’ve signed up for, which seems to be a point of tension between them. So the more experienced couple helps them prepare for the coming winter, restoring the cabin and plowing the fields.
Emma gets pregnant, and becomes obsessed with the idea that there’s a demon after her and her baby. Lizzy seems to think she’s crazy. But it’s slowly revealed that Lizzy previously had this same experience, and that whatever the evil is, it’s not done with the women in this pocket of the vast, wild West.
The Wind builds its dramatic tension with sparse dialogue, lingering glimpses of empty expanses of scenery, shapes moving out of sight, and the constant, haunting sound of wind across the plains. The single shots and camera angles are always telling you that something’s deeply wrong, but also mislead you to what that might be. The cinematography combined with the jumpy order of scenes keeps you in the same kind of mental state as its protagonist, never sure what’s real.
But the movie also has its share of startling visible spooks, pulse-raising music, and the kind of house-shaking, window-shattering psychological terror you can expect from quality supernatural horror.
It’s a dark descent into madness. At the same time, it’s a stark view of the subtle daily horror that pioneer women experienced due to harsh environments, ingrained suspicions, current trends in medicine, and societal expectations. The explosive action is as well-shot as the still moments, and all of it feels eerily, authentically real.
I can’t say enough good things about Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy.
She’s tough like my personal preference for the best women in Westerns, but Gerard delivers so many layers beneath Lizzy’s surface that makes her performance alone demand a re-watch. She spends much of the movie solo on screen, so the building of suspense and the viewer’s ability to stay engaged often rests solely with her – and she’s fantastic.
You want a confident, hard-working frontier woman? That Western box is ticked, no question there. But she also takes you on this intense physical and emotional roller coaster.
Is her declining mental state the result of the harsh, isolated living? Is it her inability to bear a child? Is it her husband’s firm belief that she’s just a hysterical woman? Is there actually a demon tormenting her, or is she showing us what it’s like to be gaslit to the point where you believe it?
The fact that you can’t know the truth is what keeps the story fraught with tension, even when you’re a bit lost because of the jumping back and forth through the timeline.
Miles Anderson is the other standout. I can’t give away anything at all about his role without ruining the movie, but everything about his performance is memorable. Julia Goldani Telles is also strong as the frustrated, flirtatious Emma, and Ashley Zukerman as the stoic, condescending Isaac. It’s a tiny cast of five, and nobody disappoints. Gerard is just the focal point, and the spotlight is truly hers.
The Wind is the first movie directed by Emma Tammi, and the first full feature written by Teresa Sutherland.
Although my brain would have preferred a movie that played out in an order I could easily grasp, I do get how the tactic of jumping around the timeline suspended the delivery of the horror. Sometimes I was able to find something, like Lizzy’s outfit, to help me find my footing in the overall scheme of things. Other times I was totally lost, but so was Lizzy, so it felt fair that I’d be dragged along for the ride.
It gives you Western, and demonic horror. It makes you question things. Despite the nightmares, this movie pleased me greatly. I recommend it to anyone who loves this particular kind of thrill.
