Product Details

• Actors: Patricia Clarkson, Jake Weber, Erik Per Sullivan, John Speredakos, Christopher Wynkoop
• Directors: Larry Fessenden
• Writers: Larry Fessenden
• Producers: Edward R. Pressman, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Live / Artisan
• VHS Release Date: December 17, 2002
• Run Time: 91 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006SFMQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #439,634 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

This unsettling and odd film, directed by Larry Fessenden, begins with a tight, sharp story about a New York City family who accidentally hit a deer late one night while driving upstate for a vacation. When a group of hunters arrive and are enraged by the death of their prey, the family's fear and paranoia is palpable, and a creepy "Deliverance"-like atmosphere takes hold. But when Fessenden begins to move his film into a more supernatural plane (the Wendigo is a forest spirit), the story collapses into mumbo-jumbo. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Shining meets Deliverance in the wake of Blair Witch., March 1, 2002

By 

A. C. Walter "awalter" (Lynnwood, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

A thirty-something couple embark on a trip to the country for a winter vacation with their young son, Miles. Nearly at their destination, they hit a large buck on the road, which brings them the unwanted attention of a creepy backwoods hunter. The incident also awakens the spirit of a Native American myth long overdue for movie-monster treatment, the Wendigo. As things get weirder and weirder, Miles' parents attempt to help him make sense of things, but in fact Miles is the only person privileged to the Wendigo's full mystery.

Director Larry Fessenden has fashioned an entertaining, if not fully polished, film. His characters and plot are adequate if rarely surprising, and he relies largely on innovative camera work to draw his audience in, a strategy that works more often than not. Fessenden uses time-lapse photography and well choreographed sequences of woodland still shots to bring the forest to life around his characters. He also demonstrates remarkable restraint in relying on simple suggestion and the expressive winter landscape to animate his Wendigo. If Fessenden's themes are a little too obvious to be convincing, and if he falls back on a few cliches along the way, the smart visuals at least make "Wendigo" a frequently engaging film.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wendi-d that 90 minutes-go?, January 5, 2003

By 

Hogarth Hughes (Rockwell, ME) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wendigo (DVD)

Big fan of atmosphere. The type of things that come to mind when looking for spooky, tangable tension in film could be; being chased by Jack Nicolson with axe in hand through a wintery maze or exploring the haunted interior of a large abandoned insane asylum via sweeping, drawn out camera pans accompanied by erie music. What 'Wendigo' gives the viewer is a truckload of atmosphere, but little else. The movie starts off in the right vein. The first 30 minutes are pretty good and I was thinking this could be a great horror flick. The rest was junk, and it keeps getting worse until the end of the movie when you don't know what just happened and why and what exactly was the point. Director Larry Fessenden Knows how to create a mood but doesn't know where to take it, leaving the plot flat and the characters boring. This is the type of film that might have benefitted from either some good CGI or leaving it up to the viewer's imagination as far as the title creature's appearence in the last ten minutes.... All and all a bit above most so-called horror films lurking out there, but just a bit.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very underated, November 12, 2007

By 

H.G. Lovecraft "Indie/College Radio Purist" (Leeds Point, NJ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Wendigo (DVD)

Does it compare to gifted British writer Algernon Blackwoods chilling story? Not really.........but I have to admit that I was shocked concerning how much I enjoyed this film particularly the second time around. Now.......there are many opinions on why people like or dislike this movie so I don't want to be disrespectful of the views of others, but I honestly felt that for the most part that director Larry Fessenden made a pretty unique & errie film.

However.....I would not really class it as conventional "horror" but rather a tale of supernatural legend/lore if that makes any sense? A dear friend who is a production designer/artist was a guest at a special
screening of Phantasm in NY a couple years ago & Fessenden attended as he was screening a new film as well. My friend remarked to him that he & I really enjoyed Wendigo & how difficult it is to find new & innovative stuff, but we were a little put off by some of the creature shots that he chose to use in the film while there were shots in the special features that looked much better ,but other than that the film was pretty tight. Needless to say this did not go over well with the somewhat jaded director & he refused to reply? This is why I try to be a little careful because this comment closed the door on getting other interesting aspects regarding the film. All in all, the atmospere was great, shot entirely on location in rural upstate NY in the dead of winter & even without the snow you feel the cold dark woods & trust me, the mood throughout the entire film is unsettling & creepy.It very effectively conveys gloom & despair, plus.... the acting is first rate & the Native American score is quite haunting so to me, this is a very well put together film that I would highly recomend to anybody thats into errie local legends & lore or just spooky stories in general.