Wendigo (film)

Infobox Film
name = Wendigo


caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Larry Fessenden
producer = Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
writer = Larry Fessenden
starring = Patricia Clarkson,
Jake Weber,
Erik Per Sullivan
music = Michelle DiBucci
cinematography = Terry Stacey
editing = Larry Fessenden
distributor = Magnolia Pictures
released = 2001
runtime = 91 min
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.thewendigo.com/
amg_id = 1:237171
imdb_id = 0275067

"Wendigo" is a 2001 horror film by Larry Fessenden starring Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber.

Plot

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, 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! He fucking 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.

Cast

*Patricia Clarkson as Kim
*Jake Weber as George
*Erik Per Sullivan as Miles
*John Speredakos as Otis
*Christopher Wynkoop as Sheriff Tom Hale
*Lloyd Oxendine as Elder
*Brian Delate as Everett
*Daniel Sherman as Billy
*Jennifer Wiltsie as Martha
*Maxx Stratton as Brandon
*Richard Stratton as Earl
*Dash Stratton as Little Otis
*Dwayne Navara as Mechanic
*Shelly Bolding as Store Owner
*Susan Pellegrino as Nurse
*James Godwin as Wendigo

Reception

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. [rotten-tomatoes|id=wendigo|title=Wendigo]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0275067|title=Wendigo