| 100 |
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
A smart and scary voyage into the uncanny realm where hard realities,mind-spinning myths, and hallucinatory visions blur.
|
| 90 |
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Grounded in Fessenden's handheld camera, stuttering montage rhythms, and time-lapse photography, the engagingly primitive animated special effects contribute to a mood that's sustained through the surprisingly somber conclusion.
|
| 90 |
Variety
Scott Foundas
A mostly superb bit of modern horror from the writer-director-editor previously responsible for the Frankenstein story "No Telling" and the urban vampire pic "Habit."
|
| 83 |
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
Until it goes off the rails in its final 10 or 15 minutes, Wendigo, Larry Fessenden's spooky new thriller, is a refreshingly smart and newfangled variation on several themes derived from far less sophisticated and knowing horror films.
|
| 80 |
LA Weekly
Hazel-Dawn Dumpert
The film's best and scariest moments come when Miles is confronted with scenes that he translates into proof of the Wendigo's power.
|
| 80 |
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Though Wendigo has weak spots, including an ending that is not as satisfying as it might be, the film remains memorable despite its flaws. This is a properly spooky film about the power of spirits to influence us whether we believe in them or not.
|
| 80 |
The New York Times
Dave Kehr
For those in search of something different, Wendigo is a genuinely bone-chilling tale.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Fessenden uses an unsettling mix of montage, time-lapse photography and animation to create an atmosphere of great, unknowable menace that closely approximates the haunted spirit of Algeron Blackwood's unforgettable tale "The Wendigo." These hills are indeed alive.
|
| 63 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The ending doesn't work, as I've said, but most of the movie works so well I'm almost recommending it, anyway -- maybe not to everybody, but certainly to people with a curiosity about how a movie can go very right, and then step wrong.
|
| 63 |
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
The intriguing elements never quite coalesce into a consequential whole; we leave this yuppie nightmare feeling both unsettled and unsatisfied.
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Carrie Rickey
A thriller fusing the primal elements of "Bambi" with those of "The Blair Witch Project."
|
| 60 |
Chicago Reader
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Stylistically lively and generally well acted. Thematically, however, it's somewhat incoherent.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Fessenden cooks up a likably offbeat horror movie. But somehow, it never jells, never really scares us.
|
| 50 |
Boston Globe
Janice Page
Ultimately, this film is only scary if you're afraid of artfully self-conscious, grainy cinematography.
|
| 50 |
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
If you think it all adds up to a bald-faced rip off of ''The Shining,'' you'd be right, with a crucial difference: Wendigo trades the puffed-up metaphysics of middle-class murder for the no-budget spectacle of...an incredibly fake-looking monster deer.
|
| 50 |
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
A skillfully acted and psychologically well-crafted but ultimately disappointing thriller.
|
| 40 |
Film Threat
Tim Sanger
Wants to be a monster movie for the art-house crowd, but it falls into the trap of pretention almost every time.
|
| 40 |
New Times (L.A.)
Andy Klein
The problem with Wendigo, for all its effective moments, isn't really one of resources. At its heart, the story seems confused, as though the director has given it one too many twists.
|
| 25 |
New York Post
Megan Lehmann
It all falls apart when the Wendigo unleashes its fury - no doubt upset at being neutered to look about as frightening as Bambi.
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