Windcroft
Directed by Evan Meszaros
After the death of his father, advertising executive John (Joe Ryan) and his wife, D
iane(VanessaDaniels), arrive at his childhood farm in Pennsylvania to go through the estate and do some fixing up of his past (anddecidedly unhappy) homestead. On the surface things seem normal, but it becomes obvious that there is much more going on. John is extremely secretive of his past. While they are there, they meet John’s childhood friendMindy(Monica Knight). Mindy becomes fast friends with Diane and together the two women explore the country side together. Diane begins to wonder at the exact nature of John and Mindy’s past relationship and confronts John about it.
We begin to get bits and pieces of the true story of John’s life and the result is a powerful, lovely, moving, and frequently terrifying film in which a sensitive director exploits the darker products of the mind. The horror begins little by little, and we are given to understand that John is laboring under the weight of some oppressive family secret, and those are always the most terrifying secrets of all.
Evan Meszaros’ marvel is nothing short of a minor classic. Beautifully filmed, it is richly textured. Even the characters in it, like the Windcroft Farm itself, are voluptuous and oppressive. Meszaros, whose genius achieves its ideal expression in transforming this “story” into film, has retained a disturbing and claustrophobic suggestion that is more than reminiscent to Edgar Allen Poe’s masterpiece, The Fall of the House of Usher. Aside from the plot, the film is a splendid, overwhelming technical achievement. The cinematography is a haunting yet a subtle visual delight, and the musical score is amazing. The care and creativity invested in to the construction of this film is obviously full of love, admiration, and trust. I can only presume to say, that the entire artistic ensemble of Windcroft, poured their blood, sweat, tears, and love into the actualization this film.
Beyond the generally taut plot development, there are some especially arresting moments, as well as, sufficient horrific ones. The acting is superb. The two female characters are particularly memorable, especially the character of Mindy. Whose ability to draw you in is quite possibly one of the most intriguing and layered female characters in a horror film to date.
It is difficult to stop here with my review of this breathtaking film, but I do not want to “give too much away” or…as they say in cyberworld…include too many “spoilers” for the reader. I will end here with saying that this is a complete must see film.
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