Windigo, more popularly known as wendigo, is one of the well known beings in the mythology of various Algonquin tribes including the Saulteaux, Cree, and Ojibwe. Even though it is true that each tribe has its version regarding the specifics of a majority of things, what is common is the fact that windigo is said to be a monstrous entity that craves human flesh and is associated with starvation, hunger, and cannibalism.
Following a dreadful vision in which she witnesses the windigo slaughtering one of her ancestors, an elderly woman describes to her great-granddaughter Claire the windigo. Claire in turn is accompanied by her children Bree and Ry from California to check on the elderly woman as she gets increasingly disturbed by her talk of monsters. To Bree and Ry’s concern the elder only looks more uncomfortable by the sheer mention of the windigo and thinking about it mortifies her which only escalates the situation further.
The rest of the story concerns an elderly lady who resides in a crumbling house decorated with a plethora of dreamcatchers and other artwork who possesses an intriguing concept of yearning to converse about death’s solitude and Keystones’ windigo only further gives life to the scenario.
She skipped out on mentioning the other kinds of monsters she lives with which are Ben (Adam Shalzi of High on the Hog and The Crusades), Kevin (Griffin Powell-Arcand of Don’t Say Its Name and Trickster), and Tuck (Justin Mane of Deadlock and Eternal Code). They’re a trio of psychopaths who put up a meth lab in the woods where the kids go on a hike. The sheriff did nothing more than call Bree ‘attacking Ben with an axe’ when she, in the attempt to save her brother from being murdered, had to resort to doing that.
All other characters in The Windigo parallelly fit in some archetype other than Claire who isn’t on the screen long enough to develop a fully fleshed-out personality. The sister is a headstrong warrior and the other is a cowardly brother, inbred sadistic hillbillies a bush cop who is useless if not outright corrupt, and a Native American who is well versed in magic including how to invoke the windigo. This explains why she along with Ry decided to summon the windigo to get the necklace back from the meth dealers or why do they fail to control their own creation.
For the majority of the film, the main creature is hidden from view and only Ry gets to attack its victims while the rest is shown as a humanoid monster shadow on a wall which Ry emulates from second to second in some of the cringy scenes scattered in the film. Additionally, the creature’s perspective is also shown as being viewed from a compounded eye. If we consider the monstrous itself, it is Troy James who plays it on the finished screen and complements his acting with a weird suit Newburn is responsible for in Level 16. The suit was also used in Kids vs Aliens. Along with the toy, there’s a toy full of guts which h; I think is the funniest one, just above the head of someone standing right below it. A corpse hanging onto a tree and below it lies some drop of guts. Such brutal massacres are entertaining and for fun, filmmakers along with their animations used several cowboy props rather than their tridents.
Nonetheless, the scenes are indeed worth watching but they are not compelling or nerve-wracking, to say the least. The remorse for the viewers brought in by wishing to see grim fantasies like those does get voided owing to knowing the characters inside out. The sad truth empowers The Windigo’s effectiveness. The pretentious graphics that have become common knowledge, save the intrigue as best as I can. At a time, it did try to accompany Ripley’s Assault on Alien Queen, only this time it was the opposite of the mech suit.
For more movies like The Windigo (2024) visit 123 movies