The Wind (2018)

Caitlin Gerard is Lizzy Macklin, a young woman living with her husband on the barren pairie out West.

She’s lost a son in childbirth.

She’s seen a neighbor woman named Emma Harper do the same.

She’s seen that neighbor woman commit suicide by blowing half her head off with a shotgun.

And now she’s beginning to believe there’s something in the prairie that comes at night and is after her.

After all, on the way West, a preacher slipped her a phamplet.

It’s title: “Demons of the Pairie.”

Her husband Isaac?

He thinks it’s all in his wife’s mind.

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin, wondering about the trouble that will come with the wind in The Wind (2018)

Ashley Zukerman as Isaac Macklin, a frontiersman baffled by his wife’s affliction in The Wind (2018)

Review:

A standout performance from Caitlin Gerard in a better than average horror / mystery Western.

Just beware, the film does not follow a chronological progression. In fact, the film begins near the end and features, flashback after flashback after flashback.

But be patient, and most of the pieces fall into place as Gerard’s character struggles with the harshness and loneliness and hazards of life on the frontier.

And while the general concept is the same, this is not a remake of the 1928 silent Lillian Gish film of the same name.

Julia Goldani Telles as Emma Harper, the new arrival attracted to Lizzy’s husband in The Wind (2018)

Dylan McTee as Gideon Harper, a man seeking help from his more Western wise neighbors in The Wind (2018)

Directed by:
Emma Tammi

Cast:
Caitlin Gerard … Lizzy Macklin
Julia Goldani Telles … Emma Harper
Ashley Zukerman … Isaac Macklin
Miles Anderson … The Reverend
Dylan McTee … Gideon Harper
Martin C. Patterson … Eli

Runtime: 86 min.

Miles Anderson as The Reverend, offering Lizzy words of comfort in The Wind (2018)

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin discusses Emma’s mental health with husband Isaac (Ashley Zukerman) in The Wind (2018)

Memorable lines:

Isaac Macklin: “You’ve gotta keep your wits about you. Can you do that?”
Lizzy nods to the affirmative.

Emma Harper: “This land is funny, you know? It plays tricks on your mind.”

Emma Harper: “This place is wrong. We’re not supposed to be here. But now it wants me.”

Isaac Macklin, gifting Lizzy his shotgun: “The next time you think you see a demon, shoot it.”

Lizzy Macklin, burying her Bible with the son born dead: “He’ll use it more than I will.”

Lizzy Macklin to the preacher: “I don’t suspect God has much business out here.”

Lizzy Macklin to the preacher: “Reverend, don’t answer the door for anyone. Not after dark. Not even for me.

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin, by the tree where her infant son was buried in The Wind (2018)

Julia Goldani Telles as Emma Harper, taunting Lizzy with her choice of baby names in The Wind (2018)

Ashley Zukerman as Isaac Macklin, trying to help his wife through childbirth in The Wind (2018)

Caitlin Gerard as Lizzy Macklin, contemplating an end to her suffering in The Wind (2018)