"The Wind" follows an American novelist (played by Meg Foster) who travels to the Greek island of Monemvasia to work on a book in isolation. She rents the home of an eccentric elderly man, and, on the first night there, witnesses his murder at the hands of his mentally-unstable American handyman (Wings Hauser). As a windstorm rages, she attempts to survive the night.
This late-'80s slasher offering from Nico Mastorakis, known for his gloriously graphic films such as "Island of Death", is a rather tame feature that is more of a home invasion suspense film than it is an outright slasher. It's a fairly bloodless affair with a low body count and no mystery surrounding the killer, but I still found this to be an entertaining film for a number of reasons.
The primary highlight here is Meg Foster, who gives a wonderfully expressive performance as the world-weary writer who is faced with a psychopath similar to the characters she has written in her own crime novels. Secondly, the atmosphere is wonderful--fog and dust encircle the house, window shutters bang, and the wind howls. It's the stuff of classic horror movies, albeit in a rocky Mediterranean setting.
The film does have a few issues with editing that result in some clunkiness, and there are moments of tension that take a nosedive when Foster's character--well aware she is being pursued by a psycho killer who is trying to break in--lounges about the house, ruminating and making a fire in the hearth as though her life is not in danger. That being said, Foster herself somehow makes these moments watchable. Wings Hauser is over-the-top as the nutty antagonist, and Steve Railsback also appears as an American marine who tries to help Foster's character (seriously, what are the chances there are this many Americans congregating on this small Greek island during a storm?). Meanwhile, David McCallum has a small role as Foster's British boyfriend who corresponds with her by phone from Los Angeles as she attempts to fight for her life.
All in all, I found "The Wind", despite some inconsistencies and slower moments, to be an oddly entertaining film. Foster's performance, paired with the setting, make this a watchable affair. 7/10.
This late-'80s slasher offering from Nico Mastorakis, known for his gloriously graphic films such as "Island of Death", is a rather tame feature that is more of a home invasion suspense film than it is an outright slasher. It's a fairly bloodless affair with a low body count and no mystery surrounding the killer, but I still found this to be an entertaining film for a number of reasons.
The primary highlight here is Meg Foster, who gives a wonderfully expressive performance as the world-weary writer who is faced with a psychopath similar to the characters she has written in her own crime novels. Secondly, the atmosphere is wonderful--fog and dust encircle the house, window shutters bang, and the wind howls. It's the stuff of classic horror movies, albeit in a rocky Mediterranean setting.
The film does have a few issues with editing that result in some clunkiness, and there are moments of tension that take a nosedive when Foster's character--well aware she is being pursued by a psycho killer who is trying to break in--lounges about the house, ruminating and making a fire in the hearth as though her life is not in danger. That being said, Foster herself somehow makes these moments watchable. Wings Hauser is over-the-top as the nutty antagonist, and Steve Railsback also appears as an American marine who tries to help Foster's character (seriously, what are the chances there are this many Americans congregating on this small Greek island during a storm?). Meanwhile, David McCallum has a small role as Foster's British boyfriend who corresponds with her by phone from Los Angeles as she attempts to fight for her life.
All in all, I found "The Wind", despite some inconsistencies and slower moments, to be an oddly entertaining film. Foster's performance, paired with the setting, make this a watchable affair. 7/10.