Larry Fessenden, director of the acclaimed independent horror films Habit and No Telling, crafts another unique tale of terror and suspense with this supernatural drama. George (Jake Weber) is a high-strung professional photographer who is starting to unravel from the stress of his work with a Manhattan advertising agency. Needing some time away from the city, Jake, his wife Kim (Patricia Clarkson), and their son Miles (Erik Per Sullivan) head to upstate New York to take in the winter sights, though the drive up is hardly relaxing for any of them. George accidentally hits and severely injures a deer that ran onto the icy road; after George stops to inspect the damage, he's confronted by an angry local named Otis (John Speredakos) who flies into a rage, telling George that he and his fellow hunters had been tracking the deer for some time. An argument breaks out, which leaves George feeling deeply shaken. When George and Kim arrive at their cabin, they discover that it's next door to Otis' property, and they soon find that a dark and intimidating presence seems to have taken over the cottage. Since, when they stopped at a store en route to the cabin, a shopkeeper told Miles about the legend of the Wendigo, a beast from Indian folklore who is half-man, half-deer, and can change itself at will, the child begins to wonder if the creature might have something to do with his family's sudden misfortune. Wendigo was enthusiastically received in its premiere screening at the 2001 Slamdance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Larry Fessenden's low-budget supernatural thriller Wendigo is effectively creepy, despite its inherent cheesiness. In addition, while the film owes a sizeable debt to earlier microbudget horror landmarks, particularly The Evil Dead and The Blair Witch Project, Fessenden gives his "lost in the woods" tale just enough emotional and psychological depth to imbue it with a uniquely melancholic tone. The opening, with a couple and their son in a car, traveling a lonely backwoods road in the snow, evokes Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and there's an emotionally distant quality to Jake Weber's strong performance as George, the dad, that leaves the viewer uncertain about where the film is headed. This is good. Though Fessenden is reworking some ancient horror film tropes here, one of Wendigo's strengths is its quirky unpredictability. Erik Per Sullivan, as the boy, Miles , plays a pivotal role, as much of the action can be seen as a representation of his imaginative efforts to deal with a threat to him and his family that lies just outside the scope of his comprehension. Sullivan is soft-spoken, but his intelligence shines through in his inquisitive eyes. He is a very strong presence. Fessenden was also responsible for Habit, one of three late '90s New York City hipster takes on the vampire film (the others were Abel Ferrara's The Addiction and Michael Almereyda's Nadja). He knows the genre, and uses his scant resources to build tension beautifully. The title creature isn't introduced until well over a third of the way into the film. By typical monster movie standards, this one is a low-rent disaster along the lines of The Creeping Terror, the infamous 1960s cheapie "carpet monster." But seen as a bizarre creature out of a child's nightmare, Wendigo is surprisingly unsettling. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
George (Jake Weber) is a highly-strung professional photographer who is starting to unravel from the stress of his work with a Manhattan advertising agency. Needing some time away from the city, George, his wife Kim (Patricia Clarkson), and their son Miles (played by Erik Per Sullivan) head to upstate New York to take in the winter sights, though the drive up is hardly relaxing for any of them. George accidentally hits and severely injures a deer that ran onto the icy road. After George stops to inspect the damage, he's confronted by an angry local named Otis who flies into a rage, telling George that he and his fellow hunters had been tracking the deer for some time. An argument breaks out, which leaves George feeling deeply shaken. When George and Kim arrive at their cabin, they discover that a dark and intimidating presence seems to have taken it over. The next day, when they stop at a store in a town near the cabin, a shopkeeper tells Miles about the legend of the Wendigo, a beast from Indian folklore who is half-man, half-deer, and can change itself at will. The shopkeeper then gives him a small figurine of a Wendigo. Shaken, Miles can't help but think the Wendigo has something to do with the dark forces at work in the woods near the cabin. Later that day, while sledding together, George suddenly falls to the ground, leaving Miles alone and lost in the woods. Frightened, Miles approaches his dad when he is chased by the wendigo and passes out. He is awakened later by a frightened Kim, who went looking for her family once they didn't come home. Kim and Miles begin a trek deep into the forest, until they end up at the house, where they find a bloody George crawling towards the car. "He shot me!" George cries at Kim and Miles. Franticly, Kim and Miles put George in the car and drive to the nearest hospital. It is revealed that George and Miles were sledding near a shooting range and Otis shot George in the liver with a high powered rifle. George undergoes emergency surgery and Miles walks in, hallucinates that his father is being assaulted by the wendigo, and then faints and awakens only to find that George has died. Otis is confronted by the sheriff, but he kills the sheriff and drives away into the night, being stalked by the wendigo until he crashes into a tree and runs away into the forest, eventually ending up on a road where he is hit by the sheriff deputy's car. The movie ends with Otis being carted into the ER being trailed by the Indian shopkeeper while Miles watches it all, caressing the wendigo figurine.
Rotten Tomatoes reports that 58% of critics gave the film positive reviews. The film opened in limited release and was not a major box office attraction.[1]
