There Are Worse Things Than Dying
Two college students share a ride home for the holidays. When they break down on a deserted stretch of road, they're preyed upon by the ghosts of people who have died there.
Genre(s): Drama, Horror, Thriller
Runtime: 91 minutes
Rating: 5.9/10 (6,105 votes)
Release Date: 27 April 2007
Country: UK, USA, Canada
Languages: English
Company: Blueprint Pictures
Sound: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS
MPAA: Rated R for some violence and disturbing images.
Director(s): Gregory Jacobs
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Producer(s):
Graham Broadbent - producer
George Clooney - executive producer
Ben Cosgrove - executive producer
Peter Czernin - producer
Peter Lhotka - co-producer
Peter Phillips - associate producer
Steven Soderbergh - executive producer
Writer(s):
Joe Gangemi - (written by) (as Joseph Gangemi) &
Steven Katz - (written by)
Cast:
Emily Blunt - Girl
Ashton Holmes - Guy
Martin Donovan - Highway Patrolman
Ned Bellamy - Snowplow Driver
Ian A. Wallace - Priest (as Ian Wallace)
Donny James Lucas - Stranger (as Donny Lucas)
Chelan Simmons - Blonde Girl
Darren Moore - Clerk
Linden Banks - Proctor
Caz Odin Darko - Teenage Boy #1 (as Caz Darko)
Music: Clint Mansell
Graham Broadbent - producer
George Clooney - executive producer
Ben Cosgrove - executive producer
Peter Czernin - producer
Peter Lhotka - co-producer
Peter Phillips - associate producer
Steven Soderbergh - executive producer
Writer(s):
Joe Gangemi - (written by) (as Joseph Gangemi) &
Steven Katz - (written by)
Cast:
Emily Blunt - Girl
Ashton Holmes - Guy
Martin Donovan - Highway Patrolman
Ned Bellamy - Snowplow Driver
Ian A. Wallace - Priest (as Ian Wallace)
Donny James Lucas - Stranger (as Donny Lucas)
Chelan Simmons - Blonde Girl
Darren Moore - Clerk
Linden Banks - Proctor
Caz Odin Darko - Teenage Boy #1 (as Caz Darko)
Music: Clint Mansell
Posted on: January 2, 2008
June 30th, 2008
Expecting the usual half-hearted horror flick that is regurgitated on anear-weekly basis by Hollywood, I was quite pleased to discover thatWind Chill is actually quite good, even though certain elements areunder-developed. The writers are to be praised for devoting so muchtime to developing its main characters but, conversely to most horrorfare, this character development is focused on at the cost of thecreepier elements of the tale.
Ashton Holmes plays a vaguely nerdish college student who manages tomanipulate the girl he fancies (Emily Blunt) into sharing a lift homein his wreck of a car for the Christmas break. The girl has a pricklypersonality to say the least, and is soon suspecting that her fellowtraveller is actually a stalker. Perhaps the film's one true concessionto genre stereotype is that the guy stubbornly ignores local advice tostick to the highway, choosing instead to take a snow-covered B-road,and inevitably ending up facing the wrong way in a snow bank much tohis pretty companion's annoyance.
Given that much of the screen time is given to Holmes and Blunt, it'sfortunate that they play off each other pretty well. The premise of thestory – Nietzche's theory of eternal recurrence – is introduced earlyon in the film in a couple of throwaway lines, before the viewer isleft to relate what is happening on the screen to the resonance of thetheory. This is something that isn't going to be done with lots ofbloody gore and stalk-and-slash techniques, which is why you'll hearanguished cries of 'it's too slow!' from the multiplex crowd. And ifthe gradual thawing of the couple's relationship is predictable, it isalso believable and, ultimately, refuses to pander to the industry'sdemand for neat happy endings. This one is recommended.
July 1st, 2008
Wind Chill (2007) is a nice refreshing breath of fresh air (no punintended) and a different shift than the direction most horror filmshave been going ever since the release of Saw (2004) and the ultimatein "torture porn," Hostel (2005). While Wind Chill has its flaws(several of them extremely noticeable), it is still effective inreinforcing the human mind with its deepest, darkest (even thesimplest) of fears of being alone and afraid and cut off from thesociety around us, even if the refuge of civilization is not too faroff, certain circumstances leaving us trapped in the middle of anoblivion from which there seems to be little or no escape.
In this case, a girl (Emily Blunt, The Devil Wears Prada [2006])accepts a ride from a guy (Ashton Holmes, A History of Violence [2005])who will take her to her parents' home for the holidays. On the way,the guy decides to take a shortcut away from the highway and throughthe woods that leaves them stranded on a stretch of highway, the carbreaking down. It is freezing, and the bag of groceries has been leftaccidentally by the girl back at the college where the trip begins.They are hungry. Attempts to push the car out are unsuccessful. So theysit and wait. It is only after the girl sees a man walking away fromthem in the middle of the woods that she realizes that there is more tothis quiet, isolated area than meets the eye. The guy goes out for help(the nearest gas station is twenty miles away) but soon returns. Theyrealize that they are trapped—this entire stretch of highway is hauntedby the ghosts of people who have died in the accidents along the road.In the meantime, the guy and the girl bond while continuing to try (andfail, ultimately ending up waiting) for help.
I think that the film has very good atmosphere, atmosphere reminiscentof films with similar settings such as The Forest [1982] and even thetrashy Evil Breed: The Legend of Samhain (2003). The cinematographydoes much in instilling the viewer with a feeling of dread. Emily Bluntturns in a fine performance as the girl: bitter, angry, confused andspiteful, with a heart of gold underneath and only the willingness tosurvive that keeps her moving on. Ashton Holmes is good as well: theguy is hopeful, optimistic and a bit naïve—the perfect counterpart tothe girl's overall behavior.
I have several complaints: there is a fine, creepy sequence where thegirl is trapped in the gas station bathroom. What was the point of thisscene? It feels as if it was just put there for a cheap scare insteadof helping to round out the plot. The film also starts to get a bitjumpy after the first hour. It all gets somewhat confusing. Though mostof the film is pretty much talk, with a few little bursts of scarymoments here and there, the film operates much better with the talkyportions during the first hour while the guy and girl are trapped inthe woods because it all helps to set the mood—all of it is perfect,all adding to the atmosphere. Sadly, once the film starts to pick upduring the final half-hour, it all starts to fall apart. Perhaps itwould have been better to keep the film centered on just the twoprotagonists rather than throw in some outside forces to help them; allof this only serves to bring down the film. Once the final half-hourbegins, it feels as if all of the mood and the psychological depth thathas been built up over the past hour is thrown out the window, which isan awful waste for a film that started off so promisingly.
July 11th, 2008
This is another case where a small film has a great idea but it's notexecuted well enough. They interest me. In the end, Wind Chill fails,but it is probably my favorite failure of all time.
Three persons made me see this. First of them was Stephen Katz, anotherof the writers who was behind the script of the awesome 'Shadow of theVampire'. Some of that is here, in the blurring realities. Seems to bea smart guy. Second was Clooney as a producer. Okay, he has producedsome awful stuff like 'Rumor Has It…', but I was interested that hewould take a chance with something like this. And the third was ofcourse the beautiful (and seemingly very talented!) Emily Blunt. Butthat's just a crush.
The point behind this was to integrate Nietzsche's (and before him, theancient Egyptians', for example) idea of eternal return to a ghoststory. It is great because they match so well: ghosts are all aboutinfinitely repeating former mistakes, a myth created so we'd live abetter life; and the horror of the eternal return is that no matterwhat you do, you just can't "know better", worlds will always followeach other, never overlap, never give any hints on how to change yourways (that's already scary enough to make a horror story!). Except inthis case, because now the ghost world and the human world meet. So allthat talk about philosophy is important, setting up everything we areabout to experience.
The girl is important too, but most of this manifests in the guy. Welearn that he has lived his life as a ghost, 'ghosted' the girl for solong, ultimately encountering real ghosts (and finally…). It isbecause of his choices that they end up in the dark, cold road. It'sNietzsche's hell. Everything repeats there, no one knows how to savethemselves. The characters are haunted as much by the way they havelived than by the real ghosts. Religion doesn't help, because it isdead, forsaken.
For me, the emotional center point was when the guy told her how hewould do things differently if he had the chance – but it's just a slapin face, cold reminder that nothing can get you out of the cycle…except maybe.
I loved this side of the movie. But somewhere, someone figured that itwould be boring, not intriguing enough for horror fans. Then they didthe worst thing: throw in the cheap screams, copy and paste them fromthe stuff that worked years ago. So we get all the clichés and evenmore. We get hands coming through car windows – we get murderflashbacks – we get close shaves, our heroine crawling away and the badguy trying to grab her ankle – we get a suddenwake-up-in-another-place/time cut, really stupid if it's out of place(at least Nic Cage wasn't there to yell "GODDMNIT") – we even get ahorribly Freddy Kruegerish nemesis (he was burned alive, for Christ'ssake!) with lame dialog. It's just sad, after all the build-up, to seeit go down in flames. And most of the time you aren't scared at all.
And the scene in the bathroom was probably just a red herring, butthat, too, is amazingly out of place. There was no need. Five minutesthat could have been used to show something else. Maybe they thoughtthat there had to be something menacing at that point or people wouldgive up. No risks taken. No real power.
Otherwise, everything works. The actors are good: while Ashton Holmeshas a more complex character to portray, it is Blunt who shines all theway through. She is not your typical scream queen.
And cinematography is great, even though it's mostly dark. The snow,the ice, the frost, the overall coldness… It looks great and feelsjust… chilling. I wonder what someone else, aiming higher, could havedone with the script.
July 11th, 2008
WC doesn't try to be more than is necessary. Its proof that a goodscript, good direction, timing, etc., will pay off every time. Kudos tothe plot devise that puts the two college kids in the car and on thetrip. The development of the relationship between the two is also donevery well; i.e., you truly believe that the two overcome theiranimosity and bond as they do. There's a scene where one of thecharacters is crouched in the snow and a person/ghost/thing simplywalks by in the foreground. Its as simple as that and more scary than adozen 100 foot monsters! Filmed in Canada but set in Carbon County,Pennsylvania – just next to me in the Poconos.
July 18th, 2008
You have to be thoughtful with this. This film reigns supreme if for noother reason, its not for imbeciles.
The plot is intriguing and the woman, played by Blunt is so typical ofthe bitchy personalities female engineers often have. I think they havea chip because men dominate the field. But, that isn't at all what thefilm is about.
I will say the eternal recurrence theme is there. The guy clearly diesyet again on the road, and we suppose he has died in that way a numberof times before or is it just after 1953?
Where Blunt comes into this eternal circle isn't clear. Maybe I missedit. For consistency she would need have been a person, having anaccident with the same guy at some other time, yet again.
So, I guess there were some illogical pieces here, just inconsistencieswith the screen play.
See the DVD, it is quite worth the watch.
July 31st, 2008
Not a whole lot more needs to be said for this movie…
It really was a fun little ghost movie. It was original for the mostpart, but it was also somewhat forgettable. There is greatcharacterization, the characters are vulnerable placing you in the carwith them, which in return added a good atmospheric quality to thisfilm. There is even a part that could make you jump a little. TheClimax wasn't as good as it could have been making the end "just OK".In fact, the rising actions for this movie were somewhat spurraticshort and random, and not one real giant build up. (Basically, all itdid was show the viewer what had happened) and then they escape fromthe ghosts. BTW They did a great job making the ghosts look prettycreepy!
Overall, its worth watching but there are better choices, unless youare really in the mood for a ghost flick. Its better than What LiesBeneath as well as some others.
August 11th, 2008
This was one of the least recognized horror films of the year, whichdisgusts me. Wind Chill is a more than descent horror movie, which israre these days. It's about two college students who are going home forthe Christmas holiday. But as they're driving along a deserted backroad known as "Scenic 606", they crash into a snow bank and becomestranded in the bitter cold, far away from civilization. At first theythink that the cold weather is all they have to deal with… they'rewrong! Strange things begin to happen as they discover that vengefulghosts are out to get them. Now it's not the most original story, andit was rather predictable, but Wind Chill in my mind is one of theyears best horror movies – hands down! And it was a pretty bad year inthe horror industry, but even by general standards this was at least anaverage horror flick. The problem these days is that everybody spendsthey're time bashing all the awful horror movies that are coming inhuge waves. Because of this, nobody takes the time to acknowledge someof the good ones that make their way on to the scene. I think "WindChill" is a prime sufferer of this. Really good movie though. It ismost definitely worth your time.
August 17th, 2008
This wasn't what you might expect from a horror film, though it isgood. In the movie, two unnamed college students are driving home in ablizzard when they decide to take a shortcut and wind up beingstranded. Strange things then start happening. The film makes good useof its settings and atmosphere-you will be genuinely in suspense. Itmakes the same use of the song "Rockin' around the Christmas Tree" asThe Sixth Sense did with the color red. Leonard Maltin gave this moviea good review with ** 1/2, and I would tend to agree with him. This wasan above-average horror film with a good use of "less is more" meaningless in the cast departments and settings, with maximum effects. Youwill like it. I guarantee.
** 1/2 out of **** (the same that Maltin gave it)
October 4th, 2008
This is a really good isolation horror movie and the penetrating coldonly adds to intensify the eerie atmosphere of the film.
Yes it's scary but not in a slasher flick kind of way, which seems tobe the standard for horror movies these days. What makes this moviestand out amongst the rest is how brilliantly it draws you into thecharacters. By the end of the movie you have a deep understanding ofwho they are.
Maybe the moral of this eerie little tale is that we all live our livesto other peoples rules and are too afraid to reach out for what wereally want and that should scare us more than what could be lurking inthe dark.
October 7th, 2008
Sometimes it's all in the setting… We've all been traveling down awinterly, snow-swept country road and wondering what would happen ifthe car died? Right? Well if you haven't, you just might enjoy thismoody little slice of suspense. I found "Wind Chill" to be just that,and enjoyed it far more then I was expecting to. The setting really didit for me, as it weaves a dreadful feeling of isolation around analready uncomfortable story. There is just something about a winterlandscape that paints a vivid picture in horror films, and alwaysprovokes uncertainty. The acting is fantastically delivered by EmilyBlunt and Ashton Holmes. The duo bring a mismatched set ofcircumstances to the predicament at hand, and leave the viewer unnervedat the thought of what will happen next. I also enjoy watching MartinDonovan, whom should be used more often and in bigger roles. More thenonce, I was on the edge of my seat and dreading what would happen next.The story as a whole, doesn't always seem complete, and it's quite easyto figure out what the big twist will be, but director Gregory Jacobsseems to know how to tell a good story, regardless of the script'sflaws. Not a bloodbath, nor a boring torture flick, it simply uses theshadows to sell the scare, which works from time to time.