Wendigo thoughts*SPOILERS*

[TC]

Okay, after viewing this piece of garbage, I went on imdb.com to see what the general consensus was.  I was amazed to see people call this a "thinking man's horror movie".   I have to wonder if they saw the same movie as I did.  First of all, the only thing scary about this movie is what a crappy vacation the family went on.  I mean, I felt really sorry for the main kid.  His only entertainment was his father quizzing him on spelling with flash cards.  Jeez, they could have at least bought him a Playstation 2 or something to keep him occupied.   The entire movie basically focuses on the boring vacation.  Oh, they throw in a sex scene - complete with a peeping tom - just to make sure you don't fall asleep.   And for a monster that supposedly is "always hungry" the Wendigo sure takes his sweet time before he kills anybody.  LAME.

The very last scene of the movie had me and my brother rolling on the floor.  It's right when the nurse lets the mother know that her husband is dead.  THE NURSE HANDS THE WIFE HER HUSBAND'S BOOTS.  WTF???   Then the wife just sets the boots on the floor.  Why the hell would the hospital give the wife her husband's dead boots?   It's like..."Hey, your husband's dead but I thought you would like to have these."  Very unintentionally funny stuff.

[Mr_Vindictive]

One man's trash is another man's treasure I guess.

I found Wendigo to be a beautiful thoughtful horror film.  Smart, creepy and a great horror film all around.

[Great Sage]

Boy, you said it TC... What a piece of crap, Wendigo turned out to be.  First of all, this movie looked like it was made in the 80's or even 70's.  The film quality was bad.

About the only interesting thing was the sex scene.  Hey, the mom had a nice set.  But, let's get back to the boring story — a vacation that includes: snow, no television, no games and a small town.

The Wendigo creature was pretty lame.  A pretty bad horror flick with not much to think about, except why the dad was killed...  We’re to believe that this hunter that’s been living here for ages decides to go on a killing spree one day.  It would have made more sense if he wanted sex or money from the family.

[Chadzilla]

I thought it was pretty good as well.  It's real popular with the art house crowd, I can tell you that.  I thought Fessendem's approach was interesting, trying to return the supernatural tale to its roots as metaphor for dealing with the harsh ugliness of life.  As a father, the bobsled seen hit me pretty hard, and it had my wife in tears.  She hated the end for different reasons.

[Gerry]

I'm with Skaboi and Chadzilla.  I loved WENDIGO.  I also really liked Fessenden's HABIT...a non-traditional vampire movie that TC and Great Sage would probably hate even more than this one.

[Chadzilla]

not a 'spree'.  Remember the wife discovering the WARNING: SHOOTING RANGE sign?  That's called irony.

It is my understanding the movie was shot on digital video and then film looked.

Frankly a vacation away from TV, video games, and crowded city life sounds refreshing.  Then again, I read books for fun and am going grey at the temples and thin on top, so wtf do I know about having fun?  Wait, did that once when I was kid and had a blast then as well. :)

[TC]

I don't think it was an accident.  If I remember correctly, the wife finds out from the sheriff that the evil hunter is a relative of the people who own the house that they are staying at.....something like he used to live there and was kicked out.

Wendigo reminded me more of an episode of '30-something' rather than a horror movie.   The couple fight about their marital issues and mom's p**sed about dad's relationship with the son.   And then for thrills we get to watch them go into a dollar store.  Sure, the Native American builds up the Wendigo into sounding like a bad mo fo, but I was sure disappointed with the truth.

And I'm sorry but that sheriff was an idiot.  You don't play some stupid game with a murder suspect and you sure as hell don't go without backup.   He should have gone with his deputy, put the guy in cuffs, and took him down to the station.  Of course, you can nitpick stuff like that in any movie....

And please, someone please try and explain the boot thing to me.  I have never seen or heard of nurses giving the boots or shoes of recent murder victims to their loved ones.

[Funk, E.]

It true, this movie blows goats.

[Gerry]

I like the ambiguity of it.  I could have been an accident, but it also may not have been.  You can interpret it either way.

There's a similar ambiguity with the Wendigo.  Is it real or only a figment of the imagination.  Both truths are equally possible in the context of the movie.

Not sure about the boots thing.  However, I think it's common medical practice for a hospital to return the belongings of the deceased to the family members.

[Funk, E.]

Okay, I didn't like either of Fessenden's movies. I'll give them credit for doing a better job that I could have, but that still doesn't mean they did a good job. It's pretentious New York art house crap. Pure and simple. His metephor about addiction in "Habit" was made infinately more elloquently in Abel Ferrar's "The Addiction" and Wendigo was 60 minutes of filler with a poorly constructed horror movie spliced in between. Pure crap.

But I'll conceed that this is just my oppinion and that it is not meant to insult any of your guy's positions or taste. I'm not attacking you, but I just cannot agree with this misplaced sense of "artful thought" yall have attached to this film maker's spew.

[Chadzilla]

Funk, E. wrote:

>  
> But I'll conceed that this is just my oppinion and that it is
> not meant to insult any of your guy's positions or taste. I'm
> not attacking you, but I just cannot agree with this misplaced
> sense of "artful thought" yall have attached to this film
> maker's spew.

[snotty geek]"Oh, that's okay if you don't get it...only a few enlightened souls truly understand what quality movies are these days. [pats head]Now go off watch your tape of House of 1,000 Corpses little one.  Leave the intelligent stuff to those grown-ups who know better."[/snotty geek]
hehehehe, don't you just 'love' this pecking order nonsense?

It's cool - tastes run hot and cold.  Some people eat snails, I prefer Hot Fudge Sundaes myself.  What the hell that means, I don't know.  But what works for some won't work for others.  I'm cool with it.  Snails?  What kind of comparison is that?

[TC]

Gerry wrote:

.>
> Not sure about the boots thing.  However, I think it's common
> medical practice for a hospital to return the belongings of the
> deceased to the family members.

Yes, but I don't think this happens immediately.  If I were to die, I wouldn't expect the nurse at the hospital to inform my family of my death, and then hand them my tennis shoes.

[Mr_Vindictive]

I'm not going to blast anyone's opinion on here, since we all have a right to have our own.


-Yes this film was artsy.
I don't care if it is big with the art house crowd, I loved it.

-Yes the film is intelligent.
If you want visceral horror, go watch something else.  Wendigo is not a straight out and out horror film.

-"Wendigo reminded me more of an episode of '30-something' rather than a horror movie. The couple fight about their marital issues and mom's p**sed about dad's relationship with the son. And then for thrills we get to watch them go into a dollar store. Sure, the Native American builds up the Wendigo into sounding like a bad mo fo, but I was sure disappointed with the truth."

The Wendigo didn't actually exist.  The boy was quite smart, and seemed to have an extremely overactive imagination.  The Wendigo was his way of coping with his life.  As for the "30-something" feel of the film, I welcomed it.  It gave the film a deeper presence and added to the realisim.  Sure, Dawn Of The Dead and Evil Dead are fantasy, we all know that.  But, Wendigo added in those extra touches of reality that made the film much more powerful.  And, as Onionhead has pointed out today on the board, reality is more powerful than any film.


Message To Any Who Consider Renting Wendigo:

KEEP AN OPEN MIND!
If you pop this film into your DVD player (Who uses VHS anyway? :o) ) expecting to be disappointed, then you will be DISAPPOINTED.  Just keep your mind free while watching it.  No preconcieved notions with this one.  Just go with it and enjoy it.


That's my two cents!

[akiratubo]

Dammit, now I'll have to watch this thing.

[Gerry]

...I'm surprised nobody complained that it stars Dewey from "Malcolm in the Middle"!

He actually does a very good job in this one IMO.

I also want to agree with Chad that this isn't a horror movie for everyone.  I just happened to like this sort of thing.  It reminds me a lot of the 40s Val Lewton horrors, which are some of the best horror movies ever made IMO.