This film is bad, and I don't mean bad as in the Michael Jackson song. I just mean that Wendigo is a crap film. Things do not start off well, the first face I see when the film starts is Erik Per Sullivan's, or as you are more likely to know him, Dewey from 'Malcolm in the Middle'. So, now there is no way I can take this film seriously and add to that I have They Might be Giants 'Boss of Me' going constantly through my head. Unfortunate casting for sure, but I decided to give the film a chance. I mean, it's not the filmmakers fault I watch that show.......

It is however the filmmakers fault that the film is completely devoid of any scares, creepiness or tension of any kind. Which, and I’m sure you will agree with me, are some of the things that you might want to include in a horror film. Director Larry Fessden uses a whole bunch of whizzy effects to try and create some of these required elements, but he fails miserably. He throws handheld camera’s, fast motion, reverse motion, time lapse, a spinney matrix kind of moment and more at the viewer to try and induce some emotion, but they all fall flat.

He is perhaps failed most (ironically) by his own script which sees practically nothing happen in the first hour of the film. Which, when you take into account the films slender 91 minute running time means that there is not much time left for something to actually happen. What does happen in the first two thirds is, the afore mentioned crash, the family go shopping and then the father and son go sledging. I’m not kidding, that’s it. Oh, I nearly forgot there is a completely out of place soft core sex scene complete with cheesy cut aways to a roaring log fire. Did I switch to German satellite TV by mistake?

Another thing that bothered me about the film was the family themselves. They were too perfect. Sure, there is some suggestion that the couple may be having problems, but it is never fully explored. Instead we see the perfect family unit, the couple call each other mom and dad, the son is a bona fide angel and to top it off they drive a Volvo. No family can be that perfect, it’s just not possible.

The acting by the family is pretty good, Jake Weber and Patricia Clarkson have decent chemistry, but the perfect nature of the family takes something away from their otherwise fine performances. Dewey, sorry, Erik Per Sullivan is also good, once you get past his Malcolm role. He plays it straight and the character is as far removed from Dewey as you could probably get. I also liked the guy playing the hick, Otis. John Speredakos was suitably creepy and put across a bit of a Deliverance vibe.

After the slow first hour things begin to pick up slightly and we finally get to see the Wendigo of the title. But once we get to the reveal it is again a disappointment. The creature looks like a guy with a deer skin on his head. And since the film is called Wendigo you would expect the film to be about, a Wendigo. But, it turns out the film is more about a city family being terrorised by a redneck, with the creature almost tacked on as an after thought. Maybe the film should have been called Hick?