Wind Chill

(2007) ***

Jennifer, a self-involved college student in Northern Maine, desperately needs a ride home to Delaware for Christmas.  Fortunately fellow classmate David just happens to be going her way.  Their long journey is immediately soured by Jennifer’s rude behavior when it becomes obvious that she would rather gab on her cell phone than keep David company during the tedious drive.  After falling asleep (what a jerk!), Jennifer awakens to find that David has taken a remote, mostly unplowed, route off the highway in an effort to save time.  Jennifer’s protests are silenced when they are side-swiped by some inconsiderate driver and forced into a large snowdrift. 

After some effort to get the car out of the drift it soon becomes apparent that they are stuck in the car for the night.  As the temperature drops their bickering increases and Jennifer starts to realize that it was not such a coincidence that David was able to offer her a ride to the very place she was going.  As the night wears on, Jennifer spies a group of creepy monks walking silently through the forest.  Cries for help go unanswered and the monks quickly disappear. 

Searching for the monks David stumbles across the ruins of an old monastery and he takes newspapers from the ruins in an effort to plug up draft-holes in the car (had he actually read the newspapers he would know instantly what was going on).  Later a police officer shows up in an old cruiser and instead of helping them he tries to assault Jennifer before disappearing.  As their night of terror marches on the two begin to suspect that they are dealing with otherworldly forces.

Combining two of my favorite things (i.e. a predicament and ghosts) makes Wind Chill an effective chiller.  The secluded, frigid setting creates the perfect backdrop for a haunting.  It sucks to be freezing but it’s even suckier to be freezing while dealing with ghosts.  My rating reflects an overall lack of scares however, and although I enjoyed this film it never gave me goose bumps and, damnit, ghosts should always create goose bumps!

I should note that the main characters are never given names.  I became tired of writing things like, "Girl becomes scared and hides behind a tree..."