Review of Wind Chill (2007) by Natasha G — 02 Dec 2010

Supernatural horror films have suffered in the last few years due to the incessant copying of J-Horror, Japanese films featuring creepy girls with long hair, which makes 2007's Wind Chill a refreshing film due to its somewhat original plot and lack of creepy girls.

Emily Blunt plays a girl who is travelling home for Christmas and decides to put up a sign looking for someone to share a car with. In steps our guy, played by Ashton Holmes, who claims in lives in the same town offers to drive her home. It quickly becomes apparent that he has ulterior motives, and after he takes a typical horror film short cut through the woods, our girl starts to become nervous. They end up getting run off the road and stuck in the car with temperatures reaching as low as minus 30F. Desperately trying to stay warm, ghostly figures start to appear and haunt the two which seems to have something to do with an accident which happened on the road years before.

Produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderberg, Wind Chill is an excellently made film that's both well written and acted. The first half of the film is focused on Holmes crazed obsession with the girl and he is suitably strange as a stalker. You're never quite sure if he is dangerous or not until the film gets into the second half and the supernatural elements kick in. From this point on there is a great creepy atmosphere as the mystery unfolds and the two are haunted by various ghosts. There are some effective jump scenes and the story is never too predictable. The effects are good and one ghost in particular is quite menacing.

Yes Emily Blunts character is a little annoying at times and some of the decisions made are extremely questionable but Wind Chill is a solid supernatural horror film that has a strong plot and plenty of ghostly happenings. It's definitely a recommended watch on a cold dark night.