Netflix Is Now Streaming This “Terrifying” Christmas Gem
The holidays are for spending time with loved ones. For building snowmen while singing that catchy tune from Frozen. For arguing over politics with your least favorite relative. They’re also the perfect time for an eerie ghost story. And if you’re in the mood for something so chilling it’ll make you thankful for a cup of cocoa by the fire, then you’ll want to watch Wind Chill.
Gregory Jacobs’ mid-aughts creeper spawns from a period of cold nihilism. The sort of ghost story that stiffens the bones with a sense of hopelessness. One where no one can be trusted, and the odds of survival drop as quickly as the temperature. Oh, and it also happens to feature an early starring role from the Oscar-nominated Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer). Interested? Good, because you can now stream Wind Chill on Netflix.
What’s Wind Chill About?
A young woman dubbed Girl (Emily Blunt) is desperate for a ride home from college during the holidays. Her chariot arrives as a POS car owned by a weird fellow student known only as Guy (Ashton Holmes). While taking a supposed shortcut, the two crash into a snowbank. Stranded and with the sun setting, they risk freezing to death. Tensions arise. Secrets are revealed. And the pair soon realizes that ghostly threats lurk in the woods around them.
What Others Are Saying
Dread’s own Chad Collins describes the film as a “forgotten, and terrifying, Christmas gem”. And when it comes to mid-budget ghost stories, Mr. Collins calls the film, “one of the best from the mid-aughts”.
Chilling Supernatural Horror About Male Obsession
Long before the ghosts come into the picture, Jacobs ratchets up the tension like cracks in a frozen lake. Guy is clearly hiding something, much to the discomfort of Girl. What he does not conceal, however, are his intentions. Guy couldn’t be more obvious about his obsessiveness over Girl. Every glance from him slides over her body, more shiver-inducing than the air outside. By not giving the characters names, they become inserts for a story as old as time. Woman deals with guy who can’t take a hint and gets angry with her when she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings. Once the vehicle crashes, Girl finds herself in a nightmare scenario, trapped in a contained space with a potential stalker. The ghosts are merely the eerie icing on the tension cake.
As for said ghosts, Wind Chill moves beyond Guy and Girl to evolve into an unsettling urban legend of sorts. What begins as a simple tale of survival becomes something much more, carried by a performance from Blunt that puts her star power on full display. Despite themes of the terror of male possessiveness, Wind Chill does stumble in its messaging, melting the overall icy impact a tad. Regardless, Jacobs delivers a strong outing that satisfies that craving for the supernatural around this time of year.
Head home for the holidays with Wind Chill and stream it on Netflix. And for more recs like this, make sure to follow me on Bluesky @werematt.
Categorized: Streaming News
