Shudder Saturday: The Wind (2018)

A horror Western that keeps two female characters at the front and centre of everything, The Wind is an interesting movie that mixes well-crafted scares with a character study that shows viewers a strong, pained, female character being taunted and terrified by a supernatural force.

Caitlin Gerard is Lizzy Macklin, a woman who lives in an isolated part of the American frontier with her husband, Isaac (Ashley Zukerman). They end up gaining some neighbours, Emma (Julia Goldani Telles) and Gideon (Dylan McTee), and things seem quite pleasant, if occasionally tense. Lizzy ends up trying to be helpful when everyone finds out that Emma is pregnant, but the characters are living during times that are far less forgiving to any problems in pregnancy. Which leads to Lizzy being left alone for some time, and having to confront something that doesn't want her to have any peace.

Although not ever quite as good as it could be, The Wind has a lot going for it, not least of which is the fact that this was written and directed by two women, both of them making their feature debuts, in the world of fiction film anyway. Director Emma Tammi has previously co-directed and directed a couple of documentaries, while Teresa Sutherland here makes the leap from shorts to a full feature, even if her writing here seems to expand upon The Winter, a short film that she both wrote and directed back in 2012. I've not seen that, but there's certainly a similarity in the plot summaries available online. Regardless of their respective past achievements, both director and writer seem very much in simpatico here, with Sutherland providing a thoughtful chiller that doesn't skimp on moments of full-on horror genre entertainment while Tammi overlays everything with visuals that show the kind of sparse beauty of the American West of this time, also getting the timing and visuals of the scares perfectly balanced to please horror fans without disrupting the earthy tone of the movie, a tale that never lets you forget the only thing keeping the main character from the dark danger outside is a wooden house and a small fire.

Gerard is very good in her role, understandably on edge for many scenes without ever taking her performance to the level of hysteria. Telles is also very good, and gives the air of someone who may want to have, or keep, a secret (although maybe she's just happy to be in a MUCH better film than Slender Man). Zukerman and McTee both do fine as the menfolk, neither one as supportive as he could be to either of the women, and Miles Anderson is a highlight as The Reverend.

So many Westerns are directed by men and about men. It is, like so many other genres (and, arguably, the whole world of film), an area so dominated by males that it's easy to forget just how many more interesting tales we could have, simply by switching the focus to the many women who also have to go on some difficult journeys. That's the biggest plus point for The Wind, in my view, but I wouldn't be heaping praise on it if it didn't get the horror genre elements right. It does though, and holds up as a title to recommend ahead of many others I have seen so far this year.

8/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Insidious: The Last Key (2018)

Look, even if you're a huge fan of Insidious (as I am), it's hard to argue against the idea that it wasn't a horror movie that felt designed to kick off a long-running series. The second film was good, although already felt at times as if it was repeating a few of the tricks that the original had done so well, and the third film, while enjoyable enough, was too far removed from the previous events to really win over fans.

So now we're at the fourth (and final?) instalment, and where does it sit in comparison to the other entries? Well, it's not bad. It's still a step removed from the first films, yet it feels closer to them than that third chapter.

Lin Shaye returns as Elise Rainier, the psychic who can battle ghosts and demonic forces most people cannot see. She's once again joined by Specs (played by writer Leigh Whannell) and Tucker (Angus Sampson), but she would much rather enjoy a quiet life than put herself through any more strain and horribly perilous "adventures". That looks unlikely, however, when she gets a call from someone (Ted, played by Kirk Acevedo) who believes that his house is haunted. It happens to be the house that Elise lived in when she was a young girl, and she knows how bad it is there. So she sets off to help Ted, perhaps looking for some closure at the same time.

The Insidious series certainly benefits from having Leigh Whannell writing each instalment. He's okay in front of the camera, but it's the writing that is clearly his forte. Like the best of these slick, modern, mainstream horrors, Insidious: The Last Key lays out plenty of details in the earlier scenes to pick them up again later, when the scares are being delivered. Learning more about Elise, how she was as a youngster when discovering her "gift", works very well, thanks to it being a character that viewers have now journeyed with for some time, and also thanks to the third act developments.

Adam Robitel is the director this time, and he does a perfectly acceptable job. This relies more on jump scares than the first couple of movies (I know they were accused by many of having no atmosphere, I disagree) but they're done very well, with one or two moments of impressively creepy imagery that may well stay in your mind long after the end credits have rolled.

As for the cast, forget about everyone else onscreen and enjoy Lin Shaye, a woman who has been in many horror movies over the years and has now been the unexpected lynchpin of this successful series. She never gives less than 100% in her portrayal of Elise, even in scenes that try to let Whannell and Sampson lighten things up a bit with some awkward comedy. Bruce Davison is also as good as ever, but is onscreen for about one or two minutes, and you get decent enough performances from Acevedo, Caitlin Gerard, Spencer Locke, Josh Stewart, and Tessa Ferrer, among others.

If you've seen the other films then you should give this one a watch. It's completely unnecessary, and could have been improved by removing a couple of the characters, but it's still solid entertainment.

6/10

You can buy this here.
Americans can buy it here.