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THE WENDIGO (2022)

Directed by Jake Robinson.
Written by James S. Brown, James S. ‘Jamie’ Brown, Jake Robinson.
Starring Matthias Margraves, Jake Robinson, Hunter Redfern, Tyler Gene, Taylor-Grace Davis, Laura Rodriguez, Paul Hurley, Christopher Kuriata, & Austin Pigsa as The Wendigo!

After a youtuber goes missing after going solo into the woods to seek out the elusive Wendigo, a group of Youtubers decide to investigate his disappearance on their own. Turns out they should have stayed home.

I just can’t get into the Wendigo in terms of cryptids. Bigfoot is my horse and I’ll back the big guy until my dying day. Still, after the release of the long-delayed ANTLERS, there was bound to be a Wendigo trend coming along. Hence, this BLAIR WITCH PROJECT meets ANTLERS mashup called THE WENDIGO. Jake Robinson tries his best to capture the madness and chaos of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, but never really gets there. As with BLAIR WITCH, there’s a lot of film spent looking at the backs of people as they walk through the woods swearing at one another. I get it that the Wendigo brings out the worst in people, but that doesn’t mean it is interesting to watch. The film does a decent job of peppering in little moments like lights in the woods, people popping up out of the blue and disappearing, and something peeking through the trees, but none of it is sold by the amateur cast. Having a Youtube channel does not an actor make. This is especially the case with the super annoying first segment featuring the Youtuber who goes missing who is intolerable to watch.

While the body count is high, I prefer the ominous BLAIR WITCH to THE WENDIGO as that film was very subtle with its scares and imposing doom. Here, everything, like the Youtuber, is in your face and over the top. Shaky cam covers up a lot, as does out of focus shots. Things just go completely off the reservation by the end where everyone is just running around and screaming. The film promises a sequel. Here’s hoping the cast is more tolerable, the story is a bit stronger, and the handling of suspense and tone is a bit defter. I won’t hold my breath for all of that to happen given what’s on display in THE WENDIGO.

Check out the trailer here!!