Wind Chill
2.5/4
Starring: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes
Rated R for Some Violence and Disturbing Images
"Wind Chill" is a decent, if not particularly ambitious, thriller that would be worth a peek if it didn't completely fall apart at the end. The characters are sympathetic, it moves fast enough, and most importantly, it has a decent amount of atmosphere. Unfortunately the ending doesn't work, and even then, it would be a half-hearted endorsement.
Two college students (Blunt and Holmes) are driving home for the holidays. Things get off to a rocky start because she is, by her own admission, difficult, and he isn't honest about who he is or his motives for giving her a ride home. Things get worse when they take a "shortcut" and crash in the freezing snow. Now they're stuck and there are some mysterious people lurking about...
It helps immeasurably that Emily Blunt and Aston Holmes aren't phoning it in. On paper, neither one is likable, but they give their characters enough depth for us to get rooting for them. But the actors play off each other well, and no matter how they feel about each other, it always works.
Producer turned director Gregory Jacobs isn't a hack, but the whole movie feels like it was put together in a slapdash manner. There's no care in how each shot is constructed or how long it is held. Compare that to something like "The Innkeepers" or "The Conjuring," where each shot was carefully chosen and paced for maximum terror. This is a rush job.
I kind of liked the movie for the most part, until I got to the end. The climax, and the events leading up to it, are badly written and handled. What happens doesn't make a lot of sense because the rules of what can or cannot happen are broken. In fact, they were never clearly established to begin with. Another rewrite on the script probably would have helped.
"Wind Chill" is what it is. A b-grade ghost story with a pre-famous Emily Blunt. It was never going to be very good, so no one could be epically disappointed. As it is, it's strictly Netflix fare.
Starring: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes
Rated R for Some Violence and Disturbing Images
"Wind Chill" is a decent, if not particularly ambitious, thriller that would be worth a peek if it didn't completely fall apart at the end. The characters are sympathetic, it moves fast enough, and most importantly, it has a decent amount of atmosphere. Unfortunately the ending doesn't work, and even then, it would be a half-hearted endorsement.
Two college students (Blunt and Holmes) are driving home for the holidays. Things get off to a rocky start because she is, by her own admission, difficult, and he isn't honest about who he is or his motives for giving her a ride home. Things get worse when they take a "shortcut" and crash in the freezing snow. Now they're stuck and there are some mysterious people lurking about...
It helps immeasurably that Emily Blunt and Aston Holmes aren't phoning it in. On paper, neither one is likable, but they give their characters enough depth for us to get rooting for them. But the actors play off each other well, and no matter how they feel about each other, it always works.
Producer turned director Gregory Jacobs isn't a hack, but the whole movie feels like it was put together in a slapdash manner. There's no care in how each shot is constructed or how long it is held. Compare that to something like "The Innkeepers" or "The Conjuring," where each shot was carefully chosen and paced for maximum terror. This is a rush job.
I kind of liked the movie for the most part, until I got to the end. The climax, and the events leading up to it, are badly written and handled. What happens doesn't make a lot of sense because the rules of what can or cannot happen are broken. In fact, they were never clearly established to begin with. Another rewrite on the script probably would have helped.
"Wind Chill" is what it is. A b-grade ghost story with a pre-famous Emily Blunt. It was never going to be very good, so no one could be epically disappointed. As it is, it's strictly Netflix fare.
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