This movie came out last year while I was in jail, and I was obsessed as soon as I saw the teaser trailer on TV. It looked great, and the movie was produced by Guillermo del Toro, who is one of my favorites, so I was sure it would be good (and probably depressing, since his movies tend to be depressing and dark). So I was definitely excited to check this one out today, but a little worried that it would be too depressing for me. The myth of theWendigo has made for some good movies in the past, and a great episode of the show Supernatural, so let's see what the movie does with this story.
In this movie, a small town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff, discover that one of her young students in harboring a dangerous secret that could prove dangerous if they don't do something about it. The student's name is Lucas, and he is harboring signs of physical and emotional abuse, as well as an attic at home that is off-limits for some strange reason. Will Julia, the teacher (played by Keri Russell), and her brother Paul, be able to unravel the mystery before it turns deadly?
This movie is very dark, and I don't mean that metaphorically, it's very hard to see in some scenes what is going on because of the darkness in the scenes. This puts us in the same predicament as the characters, who have to stumble around in the darkness trying to figure out what is going on. Keri Russell plays the teacher in this movie and I haven't seen her in anything in awhile, so it was nice to see her in this movie. She plays a teacher who really cares about her students, and she has a special bond with Lucas, the boy who is harboring all these dark secrets. Jeremy T. Thomas does a great job playing Lucas. Jesse Plemons also does a great job as Paul, Julia's brother, though I wanted to snack him for refusing to believe that something supernatural is going on even after many unexplainable events happen. Why do characters in these movies always refuse to believe in ghosts and spirits and demons?
the legend of the Wendigo is a familiar one for me because I've heard it before several times over the years. It talks of a man who was lost in the woods who had to resort to cannibalism in order to survive, and it turned him crazy, and over the course of time he became possessed by a vengeful spirit that turned him into a horrible antlered creature that roams the woods now looking for a host to infect. You would think Julia's character would be the one who didn't believe in the myth of the Wendigo, since the opening scenes show her teaching her class about myths and fables, but she comes around quicker than her brother does. She's more willing to fight the evil no matter what happens, which is much more helpful in a movie like this where obviously supernatural things are happening. I felt bad for the characters in this movie, weighted down by abuse and dark family secrets already before anything otherworldly even happens. No wonder they all look so haunted. Like I expected, this movie is dark and depressing and heavy, but it's definitely worth checking out.
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