12 Days in December: On a Crooked Road

Wind Chill (2007)
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ (7 out of 10 stars)
Director: Gregory Jacobs
Producers: George Clooney, Steven Soderbergh, Ben Cosgrove
Starring: Emily Blunt, Ashton Holmes, Martin Donovan

“You ever get the feeling you’re not alone out here?” – The Guy

The Review

There are winter roads best left untraveled, and Wind Chill is a cautionary tale carved into the frost of one such desolate, ill-fated shortcut. From the opening moments, the film traps us in a simmering unease—an uncomfortable pairing of strangers bound together by necessity, poor judgment, and the isolating hush of a snow-laden night.

First of all, I found the set-up relationship between the two main characters extremely uncomfortable. If there is one thing worse than an annoyingly long car trip, it is taking one cooped up with a person whose company you do not enjoy. The film leans heavily into that tension, and with impressive effect. The set up was intriguing because I already felt intense claustrophobia, on at least a social level. Now, sprinkle in snow, cold, and a car that has questionable reliability at most. A subtle crescendo of behavior slowly, chillingly creeps in, hinting that this ride may have an aberrant passenger—or perhaps an aberration entirely. That being said, the stage is set for horror. As soon as the writer takes care of that pesky cell phone, things can start chilling together.

Emily Blunt delivers a performance tightly coiled with irritation, suspicion, and the kind of bravado people wear like armor when they feel cornered. Her descent from snappish impatience into trembling dread feels painfully authentic, as though every breath she exhales crystallizes some new terror. Ashton Holmes matches her beat for beat, his awkward charm gradually unraveling into something more tragic and spectral. What begins as an uncomfortable mismatch of personalities transforms into a shared desperation—two strangers clutching to each other like lifelines as the temperature falls and the boundary between the living and the dead thins into gossamer.

Though their personalities grated on my patience at first, they were completely necessary for the tension of the film. Their frictions are the pulse beneath the narrative, the human warmth that makes the encroaching cold feel all the more merciless.

The best advice I can give for this movie is to remain as ignorant of the plot and events as possible before disembarking on the journey down that lonely shortcut, Route 606. The film tightens down on dread, hopelessness, and claustrophobia with a steady, inexorable grip. And when the winter silence finally breaks, it echoes with the terrifying reminder that some roads remember every soul that travels them… even long after they’ve passed.

Wind Chill is a ghost story wrapped in the stillness of snowfall—quiet, creeping, and chilling to the bone. Perfect for December nights when the world feels too dark, too cold, and too empty… and when perhaps, you might not want to be alone.