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Every day, most of us are surrounded by people and bombarded by ideas and sounds and images and opinions. But in the Western thriller The Wind, a woman struggles with a life of silence, isolation, and loneliness on the prairie, haunted by the demons that surround her.
The Wind is set in the American frontier in the late 19th century. Lizzy Macklin (Caitlin Gerard) and her husband, Isaac (Ashley Zukerman), have endured the hardships of the prairie on their own—but everything changes when a new couple moves into the only nearby house. The Macklins are happy to help Gideon and Emma Harper (Dylan McTee and Julia Goldani Telles) as they try to get settled in before winter comes. But when Emma becomes pregnant, she’s haunted by the same shadow that continues to haunt her neighbor.
From the quietly shocking opening scene, this supernatural thriller is dark and heavy and mysterious. It’s certainly a slow burn, but it’s always creepy, with a haunting tone that never lets up.
Lizzy lives a quiet, solitary life—a challenging life that many have not been able to endure. While her husband works the land, often making days-long trips to the nearest town for supplies, Lizzy remains home alone, the perfect prairie wife. This remote setting may be serene, but it’s also eerie—the wide-open prairie a constant reminder that there’s no one else for miles. The landscape is beautiful but harsh, and it’s not hard to see how—with or without a supernatural presence—it could cause anyone to go just a little bit mad. And the loneliness, the loss of a child, and the constant struggles make it even harder to bear.
Meanwhile, the storytelling style of The Wind is a puzzle, moving back and forth through time to follow Lizzy’s prairie life before, during, and after the Harpers. It’s a story filled with questions that aren’t all answered in the end. At times, it feels random and haphazard—and often downright confusing—and as you’re trying to figure out where each scene fits into the story, it’s disorienting enough to take away from the film’s quiet eeriness.
The Wind isn’t the kind of horror movie that will have you clutching your armrests in constant suspense. It’s a quieter film with a different kind of horrors—a deliberately-paced Western with a terrifying twist. It’s a haunting and sometimes maddening mystery that will keep you guessing long after it ends.
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