The Windigo

The-Windigo
The Windigo

The Windigo, otherwise written as wendigo, is an important entity in the traditions of many tribes of speaking Algonquin such as Ojibwe, Saulteaux, and Cree. The specifics may vary depending however, all encompass the windigo as a nonhuman being with an insatiable craving for human flesh and the ingredients of hunger, famine, and cannibalism.

Of course, such a creature had been continuously included in the content of books or movies of whatever quality and reliability concerning the original folk tales. An example is The Windigo (Brent Jordan, Everyday But Christmas) directed by Gabe Torres (The Remarkable Life of John Weld, The Ottoman Empire).

In a haunting nightmare in which a windigo pulls from her vision and kills one of her ancestors, an elderly woman (Casey Camp-Horinek, Lakota Woman Siege at Wounded Knee, Reservation Dogs) remembers her great-granddaughter Claire (Tonantzin Carmelo, Unearthed, La Brea). Scared of the monsters the old woman talks about, she calls Sheriff Elkins (Brian Krause, Homestead, Dark Rising Warrior of Worlds) to make sure she is okay while she and her children Bree (Fivel Stewart, Pit Fighter, The Haunting of Sharon Tate) and Ry (Marco Fuller, Dead for a Dollar, The Veil) leave for California.

Sure, the old lady occupies a sleep-deprived house fully decorated with dream-catchers and alphanumeric symbols. Additionally, she has a secluded area in the woods where she creates dream catchers and says she wants to find a peaceful place to die. And of course, she knows everything about windigo.

She’s also got some serious explaining to do to her family about the other creatures who dwell within the woods, Ben (played by Adam Shalzi, starred in High on the Hog, The Crusades), Kevin (Griffin Powell-Arcand, Don’t Say Its Name, Trickster) and Tuck (portrayed by Justin Mane, starred in Deadlock, Eternal Code). They’re a trio of deranged drug dealers whose lab the kids accidentally encounter while walking in the woods. The sheriff says nothing, other than declaring Bree’s action to stop her brother from what looked like an inevitable murder as “assaulting Ben with an axe.”

Everyone in Windigo’s nightmares, except Claire, as she’s on the screen for no more than necessary hence she is devoid of any character quirks, are stereotypes. Such as a weakling brother and strong sister, sadomasochist, most likely inbred rednecks, some half-competent backwoods cop, and an ancient Indian with a fetish of music. Including the capacity to summon the windigo. So it is natural that when she and Ry feel like dealing with the meth heads, they decide to call it. Or when they realize that they cannot control what they have called.

For the most part, the creature remains under wraps until way too late in the movie. We usually witness Ry attacking its targets or a monstrous figure appearing as a shadow on the wall, or in multiple embarrassing scenes, he is jumping inside his room and acting out those scenes as they are supposed to be playing. At one point, we get through what looks like an eyeball, that looks like the right eye of some creature. When the creature comes into view, the depiction is made by contortionist Troy James (Slash Back). This was done in a weird costume by Steve Newburn (Level 16, Kids vs. Aliens). The filmmakers also provide us with a few good perspectives of the effects of the attack but my most adored one was the one in which the bloated gut full of intestines threw its insides on someone standing misguided below a tree.

However, given how visually stimulating those scenes are, they are never really that entertaining or frightening. The actors never seem to be interesting enough to give a hoot about, and everything about them doesn’t warrant enough concern from the viewer to engage them. The Windigo’s name of the movie fails to clear just one consistent plot even though it seemingly tries to imitate great scenes. At one time it tries to be a penny dropper by replicating Ripley’s confrontation with the head honcho of aliens only this time there is no mechanized suit instead there is a John Deer tractor.

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