Cover Art

Credits

Director: Larry Fessenden Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Jake Weber, John Speredakos, Erik Per Sullivan Screenplay: Larry Fessenden Music: Michelle DiBucci Tagline: Some myths are real Country: USA

I was expecting a fairly standard monster movie when I popped in the DVD, and at first my assessment seemed correct. On the way to a family outing, the father (played by Jake Weber, who now stars in Channel 10's Medium) drives into a buck. Some hunters have been tracking it, and one gets angry at the father. The mother (played by Patricia Clarkson, who went on to star in Six Feet Under) tries to defuse the situation. The family leave, and it seems she may have succeeded. But then the hunter continues harassing the family, creating a very Straw Dogs vibe. After his first display on their home front, the pace slows down, and the viewer is treated to an unsettling, heavily symbolic 'monster' movie.

This isn't a high pitched, frantic flick for the MTV generation, but rather a nice, highly artistic film for people willing to look for layers within a story. The wendigo doesn't even turn up for the first hour, unless you count the statuette the little boy ends up with, and I didn't even mind. The characters are all well fleshed out, and there's a reason for everything in this movie. That's a nice change from films brimming with filler, even if it meant I didn't get lots of monster stuff.

Wendigo has good visuals, generally in the form of sped up motion or flashing movements and cuts. The best of the visuals is the snow that ceases to fall in midair, but there's plenty of interesting stuff on screen. The wendigo takes various forms, first turning up as a tree like figure. The tree thing is okay, but then it turns up as a deer-man. I don't care how hard you try, a deer won't look scary, and it doesn't here. While the story does have a possible reason for the cheesiness of the wendigo's deer appearance, I still think it would've been best to stick to fleeting glimpses, which is ironic because I rented the film to see a silly monster, then ultimately thought the monster should've been cut down.

Wendigo was made by someone who harbours a deep love for the horror genre. In the early scenes alone are references to Jaws, Poltergeist, and Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. I often get accused of making up cinematic allusions, but the director confirmed all of these in the commentary, so for once I can prove it.