Delayed Reaction: The Wind

Premise: A woman living in the remote prairie with her husband and new neighbors fears a demon spirit that she believes lives in the area.

 

Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to save all the horror movies I want to see for October, the month we've collectively decided to watch all the horror movies. So, I spend a long time coming up with a diverse and interesting list of horror movies to watch. Then, throughout the year, as I get bored, I'll pick these movies off until I have nothing left by October. To be fair, often it's because I'm worried the movie won't still be around for streaming by October. Really though, it's because I'm impatient. And, often these are horror movies I wanted to see the year before that weren't easily available then.

 

Anyway, The Wind is one of those movies I've been looking forward to for a while. It's the kind of horror movie I tend to like a lot. It's atmospheric. Until towards the end, it's more about creepiness than jump scares. The setting is pretty unique. There's a decent amount of The Witch in it with the characters in a sort of chosen exile. I'm a fan of all these things.

I wish there was a way to get honest accounts of people in that era. People didn't get less well-adjusted in the last hundred years, so I'm sure there are more stories of people going stir crazy like this. I guess it was just easier to cover their tracks. But, like, are you telling me there was only one Donner Party? How many stolen babies were there in those days or children with different fathers?

 

I'm not sure where I land on the ending to this movie. It answers things a little too definitively. I wish there was more room to believe in the demon of the prairie rather than it all being Lizzy going nuts. I like when horror leaves a little room for the unexplained.

 

This is a weird cast in that I don't recognize any of the stars. They all have a good number of credits. Caitlin Gerard has had small roles in a few things I've seen. She was in an American Crime season I didn't watch. Julia Goldani Telles was a Bunhead. I never watched that show, but that cast is old enough to start showing up in grown-up roles now. Everyone in the cast is pretty good. Generally when they are this good, there's at least one Katharine Waterston in it. That was just a little surprising.

 

Verdict: Weakly Recommend