THE WIND (2018)

Studio:      IFC Midnight
Director:    Emma Tammi
Writer:      Teresa Sutherland
Producer:  Christopher Alender, David Grove Churchill Viste
Stars:     Caitlin Gerard, Julia Goldani Telles, Ashley Zukerman, Miles Anderson, Dylan McTee

Review Score:

---

Summary:

Strange experiences compel two women in isolated cabins to wonder if a paranormal presence haunts the surrounding prairie.

---

Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Lizzy Macklin and her husband Isaac movie to an isolated cabin where they settle as frontier farmers. On their wagon ride west, a reverend gives Lizzy a pamphlet titled “Demons of the Prairie,” which references several evil entities.

While pregnant, Lizzy hears knocking at the door only to find no one outside. Seemingly supernatural activity causes Lizzy to continue thinking she is haunted by a paranormal presence. Isaac dismissively burns Lizzy’s demon pamphlet, citing it as the cause of putting frightening ideas in her head.

Lizzy gives birth to a stillborn baby posthumously named Samuel. With her faith in God broken, Lizzy buries her bible alongside Samuel’s body.

Lizzy and Isaac meet new neighbors Emma and Gideon Harper, who move into another cabin roughly a mile away. Lizzy and Isaac help the Harpers work their farm, although Lizzy starts suspecting that Isaac and Emma may be having an affair.

Gideon summons Lizzy and Isaac when Emma begins ranting irrationally. Emma reveals she is pregnant as she cryptically tells Lizzy that something is coming for her and her baby, and that the surrounding land plays tricks on the mind.

Emma later tells Lizzy that she hears whispering noises at night that Gideon claims come from the wind. Lizzy hushes Emma when she continues talking about death and strange experiences.

While discussing potential names for her baby, Emma references the demons from the reverend’s pamphlet and also alludes to an affair with Isaac. Lizzy ends up killing Emma and her unborn child with a shotgun, although Lizzy’s memory blames Emma’s murder on suicide instead.

After burying Emma and her baby, Gideon makes plans to move back to Illinois. Isaac leaves Lizzy alone in the cabin as he too leaves to retrieve supplies for the upcoming winter.

Wolves threateningly stalk outside the cabin. Lizzy fires her shotgun at the animals through the door, but ends up killing a farm goat instead. Later, the goat seemingly returns to life, compelling Lizzy to shoot it again.

Lizzy sees a light go on in Emma and Gideon’s empty cabin in the distance. Lizzy goes to the cabin and screams in frustration over the invisible demon. Paranormal activity suddenly causes chaos. Lizzy passes out after seeing Emma’s ghost.

Lizzy returns home the next day with Emma’s private journal. The journal confirms Lizzy’s suspicion that Emma’s baby belonged to Isaac.

The reverend stops at Lizzy’s cabin for dinner while passing through the prairie. Lizzy tells the reverend to sleep in the empty cabin and to not open the door for anyone.

During the night, the reverend returns to Lizzy in a state of panic. After referencing something supernatural stalking outside, the reverend becomes possessed. Lizzy flees to Emma and Gideon’s cabin.

The next morning, Lizzy passes the reverend’s dead body on her walk back home. Lizzy finds the bible buried with Samuel covered in dirt inside her cabin. Convinced there is no salvation from her situation, Lizzy prepares to shoot herself, but stops when she sees Isaac return.

Isaac says he passed the reverend, who mentioned Lizzy’s hospitality, on his ride home. Lizzy does not understand how that would be possible.

Hired hands move Emma and Gideon’s belongings out of their cabin, but Isaac retains a trunk of books that he gifts to Lizzy. Lizzy finds Emma’s copy of the “Demons of the Prairie” pamphlet.

Lizzy tells Isaac that Emma was haunted by something and she isn’t sure Emma took her own life. Insisting that nothing good can come from Lizzy’s nonsense, Isaac storms out of the cabin. Lizzy opens the door to go after Isaac, but encounters Emma’s ghost instead.

A paranormal presence attacks Lizzy. When she recovers, Lizzy sees that Isaac tied her to their bed. Lizzy also sees Isaac reading Emma’s journal. Recognizing that his wife learned the truth about Emma’s child, Isaac asks Lizzy if she killed Emma.

Lizzy uses broken glass to cut herself free from the ropes. Lizzy sees Isaac in a state of possession like the reverend. Lizzy slashes Isaac’s throat when he comes toward her.

Isaac falls over dead, but as a normal human. Still struggling with her memories and visions, Lizzy staggers outside and collapses from a bloody stomach wound.

---

Review:

IFC Midnight distributes “The Wind,” although one might mistake it for an A24 release. Building their name with boutique productions like “The Witch” (review here), “The Blackcoat’s Daughter” (review here), and “It Comes at Night” (review here), A24 puts a distinct flavor of fright film on the tongue. Linking “The Wind” to their brand should imply an accurate impression of an arthouse period piece mixed with smoldering suspense certain to divide viewers into separate groups of enthralled appreciators or disinterested yawners.

Settling the Great Plains presented many challenges to families who farmed the western frontier in the 1880s. Plowing dry dirt to raise crops doomed to wither in winter. Fending off wild wolves drawn to the warmth of a homestead fire. Surviving in solitude with nearly nothing by way of diversions or other people to stave away cabin fever.

For Lizzy Macklin, keeping prairie madness out of the isolated home shared with her husband Isaac proves to be more difficult than protecting against tangible dangers. Left alone for days at a time when Isaac rides away for supplies, Lizzy’s sanity becomes stirred by a preacher’s pamphlet about demons, as well as ominous sounds seemingly whispering or knocking at her door.

The local population increases from two to four when Emma and Gideon Harper move into a cabin one mile away. While the two men toil to make the Harper land harvestable, Lizzy and Emma bond over different matters. Specifically, discussions of death and odd nighttime noises.

As Emma’s demeanor grows increasingly concerning, Lizzy realizes her new neighbor sees the same supernatural strangeness she previously experienced. Isaac and Gideon dismiss their wives as delusional. Lizzy initially assumes Emma may be disturbed too. Then her own haunting visions return, causing Lizzy to reconsider whether the plains might by plagued by a paranormal presence.

“The Wind” can be described by a series of single words leaned on repeatedly when reviewing films of its ilk. Were I writing properly, I’d incorporate these as adjectives in full sentences. Simply stating them one after another paints a portrait of the movie’s makeup in a more to-the-point manner. These are those terms earned by “The Wind” that inspire intrigue for some and rolled eyes for others: patient, atmospheric, quiet, moody, bleak, and everyone’s overused favorite, slow-burn. Mainstream minds might add “elevated,” which also conjures a specific style, albeit at the expense of offending genre purists who find the word loathsome when it precedes “horror.”

Writer Teresa Sutherland based her script for “The Wind” on Dorothy Scarborough’s same-named 1925 novel. Scarborough’s book was previously adapted into the 1928 silent film “The Wind” starring Lillian Gish, although supernatural streaks were replaced with romanticized western drama for broader appeal.

Sutherland and director Emma Tammi return “The Wind” to its spiritual roots as a tragic tale of a woman driven mad enough to commit murder. Their application of the source material plugs allegorical commentary about sexist gender dynamics, from men disbelieving women to sacrificing self-preservation for spousal duties, into the atypical framework of a psychological thriller with a 19th-century setting.

Impressively, Tammi and Sutherland never treat their audience condescendingly, instead taking intelligent engagement with their movie as a rule, not an exception. Though its fiction is not particularly complicated or convoluted, “The Wind” unfolds on two timelines through asynchronous flashbacks. Exposition often arrives without dialogue, supplanted by confidence that committed viewers can follow throughlines and plotlines without having hands held by conventional cinematic structure.

Certain reviews benefit from disclosures about the critic’s basic background so readers can calibrate individual expectations. Steeped deep in content that narrows it to niche interests, “The Wind” qualifies for such a caveat.

I’m a man at the onset of middle age who has no direct experience with parenting. That doesn’t make me an ideal conduit for picking up “The Wind’s” feminist themes examining postpartum depression. Although exact meanings may be open to ambiguity, the movie’s metaphors are mostly clear. However, I’m unable to relate to those messages personally, limiting my ability to engage on an empathically emotional level. For mindsets like mine, “The Wind” has a harder time hitting than for those who can tune to its tone.

Like the movie, except it does so in creative fashion, this review cops out by coming to a choose-your-own interpretation conclusion. Instead of digging introspectively to assess the film’s value as artistic entertainment, I’d rather suggest a final guideline for evaluating how the movie might mesh with one’s own tastes.

Concrete insight I can commit to would say that “The Wind” provides a palate cleanser as an unusual take on an alone in the wilderness or supernatural home invasion story. As to how satisfying its subtext is as a secondary or even primary piece of its peculiar allure, that comes down to how well your attention can match “The Wind’s” unhurried pace, and whether or not its suggestiveness stirs your psyche.

Review Score: 50

---