Windigo - The night of horror

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Movie
German title Windigo - The night of horror
Original title Ghostkeeper
Country of production Canada
original language English
Publishing year 1981
length approx. 89 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Jim Makichuk
script Douglas MacLeod
Jim Makichuk
production Harold J. Cole
Douglas MacLeod
music Paul Zaza
camera John Holbrook
cut Stan Cole
occupation

Windigo ( Ghostkeeper ) is a 1981 horror film directed by Canadian director Jim Makichuk .

action

Three young people - Marty, his girlfriend Jenny and Kelly - are snowmobiling in the Appalachians. To warm up, they visit a store along the way. The salesman invites her for coffee, but doesn't seem very talkative and always seems to be alert. He warns them not to underestimate the mountains, as they can be dangerous and easy to get lost in. He also warns them of a beast that is said to dwell in the forest. The three of them don't take his warnings seriously and after a short drive they come across a piece of forest that, according to a sign, is privately owned and cannot be entered. You drive down the path anyway and arrive at a quaint motel . Shortly before they reach it, Chrissy falls and they have to find out that she is not injured, but her snowmobile is no longer driving. Since they cannot go back to the holiday home, they go to the hotel. The entire facility is classy and unspoiled. According to the guest book, no guest has come there for five years, but the heating is still on.

They are the only visitors to spend the night there. In an open room, Jenny hears someone calling her name. Kelly and Marty celebrate with red wine and tell each other their secrets, the atmosphere is good. Jenny, on the other hand, is scared. When Marty goes down to the basement to get some new wine, he meets an old woman who has apparently (at least she says so) has been looking after the hotel since it went bankrupt. The lady seems nice and provides them with food and rooms. She keeps telling Jenny that she is strong inside and that this is good because she has to be soon. The confusion keeps getting bigger. It gets scary when Chrissy disappears from the bathroom and cannot be found. The others are at a loss, but the viewer knows that she was fainted and kidnapped by an unknown man - later it appears as if he slaughtered her. Jenny is afraid of going mad like her mother. Chrissy's snowmobile suddenly disappears and the other one was destroyed. The two are stuck in the motel.

In the cellar, Jenny discovers the Windigo (also Wendigo ), who is provided with human flesh by the old woman and son. Like Chrissy, the two are said to be victims too. Jenny is followed by "the son" with a chainsaw and runs onto the roof. Meanwhile, Marty tries to repair the snowmobile, but it is impossible. Jenny accidentally throws her pursuer from the roof and he lands on the pointed metal fence below - he dies immediately. Marty goes insane and accuses Jenny of murder. She tells him that she found a gun in the motel that they can use, but he goes into the woods without her and freezes there. Jenny gets the rifle and meets the old woman. She pretends to be her mother, but Jenny doesn't want to believe her and shoots her.

After the murder, Jenny follows Marty into the forest and finds him dead. She tells him that she will get him soon and goes back to the hotel in the basement. There she finds the terrified Windigo and tells him that she will now take care of him. She goes into the old woman's (her mother's) favorite room and sits down in her armchair. The mother's voice tells her not to worry that she will help her - everything will be fine. At this point the film ends and the credits are imported. What Jenny will really do now remains unclear, but it seems that she wants to follow in her mother's footsteps and will take care of the Windigo from now on.

Reviews

  • Cinema described the film as a "cheap horror that would blow away quickly" .
  • kino.de write that the film “sometimes shamelessly copied from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining ” . “Friends of picturesque snow landscapes” would “definitely get their money's worth” .

background

  • The film was shot from December 1st to December 23rd, 1980 in Lake Louise , in Banff National Park , Canada. The budget was about 750,000 CAD .
  • The Wendigo or Windigo, Windago, Windiga, Witiko, Wihtikow (Wendigo is more common) really exists according to Indian mythology. He is a being who takes possession of people and thus makes them eat human flesh.
  • The night shots in the hotel are so dark that the film does not play properly on some older, low-contrast TVs and the viewer either brighter the picture (which doesn't look better) or has to guess what is going on in the film.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Criticism on Cinema.de
  2. ^ Criticism from kino.de