User reviews

This a strange flick. Filmed in Greece but I'm pretty sure it's Italian horror. Meg Foster (31) with her entrancing eyes stars as a young writer who goes on a retreat in Greece to work on her new thriller novel. Upon arriving she meets the weird misogynistic owner of the property and than the creepy housekeeper who ends up attacking her. She's quite the resilient final girl thwarting him again and again with clever tactics. The a actual wind plays a big part as an ominous force surrounding the house and ripping through the island. The movie is well shot and the central performance is engaging and impressive. The only real problem is the odd pacing jumping from fast to slow. At times it takes you out of the action breaking up its flow. All in all it's just entertaining enough to merit a light reccomend.

3/5

"The Wind" or it's much better title which I viewed it under "The Edge Of Terror" is an OK movie, although I was lured by the DVD'S interesting artwork, which made this movie look like a body count, but it's not although there are some deaths, 3 in fact but they aren't anything special very bloodless and quite limp.

The storyline is quite interesting where we get a novelist named Sian Anderson leaves her L.A. pad to travel to a remote Greek island to write her new book, unaware that her fellow neighbour and handyman is about to snap and begin a murder spree. Although this movie picks up a decent pace, it's just the so called wind wasn't as dramatic as it should have been, and despite the decent enough pace this movie still tends to drag in places like before the climax and although the chase scenes are pretty good it just wasn't tense enough for my taste and some of the moments that should have been shocking just wasn't horrific enough.

Well there is a lot to like about this movie firstly the cast are interesting namely Meg Foster who plays the lead character, a very underrated actress who should be more well known and she does a great job here and carries the movie on her shoulders effortlessly and Robert Morley was quite fun as the pompus landlord and Wings Hauser as the maniac did okay, but not quite menacing enough though but he did pretty good.

All in all "The Edge Of Terror" is pretty tame thriller with some decent moments but not enough to shine, and the pointless scenes that are just there to pad out the running time, like when the honeymoon couple show up stranded, they should have got murdered, now that would have been a great climax, so not a bad film by any means, just don't expect a full on slasher movie or you will be disappointed.

I love Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, slasher films, and Greek locations, but the script for The Wind never rises to the occasion and everything feels bland, predictable, and uninspired. It's as if everyone involved just wanted a vacation to Greece so they throw this script together over a weekend to give them an excuse to go.

Mystery writer Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) goes on vacation to Greece to get a little writing done in a secluded village. She immediately gets on the bad side of a handyman Phil (Wings Hauser) when she sees him burying a human body. From then on, Sian is on the run from the crazed mad man who wants to get rid of the witness.

While The Wind has a great concept, it's not very involving or exciting in spite of some nice visuals and game performances by Foster and Hauser who seem to be giving it their all. The script feels rushed and a little on the bland side. There's a completely useless subplot involving an American couple who are on their honeymoon that kills too much time and a story thread involving Sian's boyfriend (David McCallum) ends up being a waste of time as well.

There's an almost interesting idea that tells you that Sian might be making all of this up due to her overactive writer's imagination, but they don't hold on that long enough to make it very compelling.

For viewers expecting gore, you'll be very unimpressed as The Wind keeps things in a very PG territory which gives the film a slight made for TV quality until Foster unleashes a few F-bombs and you're reminded that it's an R rated film. At best, The Wind is something to have on in the background.

One thing I really love about ex-rentals is the movie previews before the main feature, and that's how I came to know of this film. However it's only natural to have the best scenes in the trailer to wet your appetite… and by the way it bestows quite a cool video artwork.

Director / writer Nico Mastorakis (who made the very infamous video nasty "Island of Death") was churning out numerously quickly produced low-budget / straight to video enterprises in the mid to late eighties and "The Wind" aka "Edge of Terror" would have to be the pick of the lot for its interesting setting and exemplary lead performances from Meg Foster and Wings Hauser.

Mystery writer Sian Anderson travels to the Greek Isles for a couple of weeks to stay at an ancient villa in an isolated ghost town to storm up ideas for her next novel. The landlord warns her not to go out at night due to the killer winds that pass throughout the night, but another threat could be in the shape of the landlord's handyman Phil. Something about this man unnerves Sian, especially when one night she believes she saw him burying a corpse that just happens to be the landlord.

The pulpy story holds up rather well, leading us down the path maybe all of this is happening in the imaginative mind of its protagonist, as this when Steve Railsback's sceptical character comes into the equation. Perhaps predictable and systematic, but making headway of the standard material is the scenic local flavour that's arrestingly atmospheric, especially the eerie night sequences when the howling wind kicks in. Mastorakis ideally creates an edgy vibe with his lighting composition of shadows and lighting around the ancient villa on an ocean cliff-top with it being backed up by the shivery, high-strung music score and terse photography. You're really thrown right into it. What starts off slow-boil in genuinely building up the suspenseful situation, soon transforms in to a tautly simple-minded cat and mouse formula knowing too well of the clichés to suitably play them up. Towards the end it begins to meander, as some stupidity occurs and the final shot (while beautifully projected) is quite a laughable chance of fate.

Meg Foster makes for a strong, affable heroine who seems to have something constantly witty to say and a bug-eyed Hauser (in a fetching knitted white jumper) is simply made for these wack-job roles and he doesn't disappoint with his impulsively dangerous and rip-snorting villain. His exchanges with Foster early on is effectively engaging - "Death is a whole lot different on paper." Robert Morley and David McCallum also pop up.

There's little to say about The Wind because there's just so little to the film itself. It's nothing more than a bland, barely competent slasher that doesn't do anything go above and beyond its bare skeleton of a script and plot, building up no momentum or tension and moving at a snail's pace from start to finish.

Sure, the actors are decent enough and some of the cinematography deserves credit... but these things are wasted on an entirely forgettable script, horrible pacing, extremely uncreative death scenes (which are few and far between), and an uneven soundtrack, all of which come together to form an unentertaining movie that could be a third of its length and still feel drawn out. Honestly, this may be the most stretched-out, plodding piece of cinema that I've ever seen, and it isn't helped by the abrupt ending that just leaves the viewer feeling entirely unsatisfied.

If I had to sum up The Wind in a word, that word would simply be 'boring', and that's the last thing a film like this should want to be. Ah well. They can't all be hits.

Suspenseful, atmospheric thriller finds Meg Foster as a novelist who is stalked by Wings Hauser in a small, deserted foreign village during he middle of a really bad wind storm. Takes it time getting started, but worth the wait. The last third is especially exciting. Meg Foster is solid as usual, though Hauser goes over the top. Rated R; Violence and Profanity.

In Los Angeles, the successful writer of crime novels Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) decides to travel to a Greek village in the off-season to write a new book. She leaves her boyfriend John (David McCallum) and travels to the desert island, where she meets her landlord Elias Appleby (Robert Morley). He takes Sian to his house in the top of the hill and warns her about the wind. Later, his American employee Phill (Wings Hauser) brings groceries to Sian. During the night, Sian sees something strange at Phill's house and she decides to snoop around. She finds Elias dead and buried, and returns home. Soon she finds that Phill is a deranged killer and now he is looking after her.

"The Wind" is a tense slasher with a good storyline. Meg Foster's eyes are very well explored in this B-movie that could be a little shorter. Wings Hauser's character Phill seems to be indestructible and immortal. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Sopro do Demônio" ("The Demon Blow")

Screenwriter Simon Barrett of two very popular slasher flicks [You're Next and The Guest] suggested this title in his series of obscure movies on social media. But this one wasn't quite my speed. Although it had everything going for it: a famous author of pulp fictions, a European clime in the nighttime, a killer with a scythe a la Italian gialli. But about halfway through it ran out of ideas. Nothing there to complement one of Hans Zimmer's earlier electronic music laden scores, the eerie setting or the performances of the leads.

I have fond memories of 'The Wind' watching it as a teenager. Having seen it now, though, I have mixed feelings - mainly due to the anti-climax ending.

'The Wind' is a murder thriller through the eyes of a mystery writer. Unfortunately the film itself doesn't offer much in the line of mystery, as the killer is revealed early in the film. Since the film doesn't really hide any details, it is fast-paced and also rather suspenseful. The film is mainly about Sian Anderson (Meg Foster) trying to outwit the killer in a desperate attempt to stay alive. No reason is ever given why the antagonist tries to kill her, though, and one can only assume him to be psychologically unstable.

'The Wind' is definitely not the best of scripts and doesn't have the best of dialogue, yet it is still quite enjoyable. Nothing is really ever explained in the film, and the abrupt ending ruins it a bit.

My wife was somehow convinced during this film that Meg Foster is a post-op transvestite. Not sure why though.

Meg's a cheesy novel writer headed off to Greek island to indulge in her muse and perhaps eat kebabs and such like, but when she gets there her eccentric landlord (played by 140 year old Robert Morley) warns her to beware of the wind and also informs her that the housekeeper is a loser. He's right on both counts, because the wind never lets up for the entire film, and his housekeeper is a loser, because he's played by cheeseball actor Wings Hauser!

I'm just joking, we all love Wings in our house. He was great in Mutant (a film I like but everyone else in the world hates) and Nightmare at Noon (also known as 'Mutant again under a different name'). Here, he's the evilly named Phil, and turns up at Meg's new house all a-grinning and crazed right from the get go.

Inspired, Meg starts writing a story in which she imagines Wings braining Robert Morley with a poker, but then, it turns out, she sees Wings burying a body in a field. So is it all just in her imagination? Is Wings really a crazy goofy killer? Or is the wind something sinister and not something caused by eating too many kebabs?

Director Niko Mastorakis takes time out from making Oliver Reed kiss men (Hired to Kill), forcing George Kennedy to shoot crazed citizens (Nightmare at Noon), and filming a guy giving a goat some up it's wrong un (Island of Death), to give a more sedate and moody film where Wings chases Meg Foster around in circles. It's all done Giallo style, and just like a giallo, there's plenty of raised questions and a head scratching ending. Edge of Terror isn't quite as crazy as Mastorakis' other films, but it's no slouch either.

Although the film is bloodless and boobless, the Greek island scenery really helps conjure up words like 'isolated', 'atmospheric' and 'Wings-tastic'. Wings is the draw here for me, playing a guy who can't go for a second without going through some sort of mood swing. As Nietchze says: If you look into Wings Hauser long enough, Wings Hauser looks into you.

I assume Greek people have a thing for wind… The popular Greek singer Demis Roussos dedicated a worldwide hit to the weather phenomenon entitled "My Friend the Wind" and the Greek writer/director Nico Mastorakis even revolved a full-length thriller on plain ordinary wind. Mastorakis is known by avid cult/horror fanatics because he made "Island of Death" in 1977, which is one of the most notorious and universally banned movies ever. Not because it's the bloodiest or most disturbing film, but mainly because it's full of perversion and depraved imaginations, like someone doing very anti-catholic things with a baby goat. In the mid-80's, Mastorakis emigrated to the United States and directed a handful of less controversial and semi-successful thrillers, like "Blind Date", "The Zero Boys" and the utterly bonkers "Nightmare at Noon". "The Wind" is a rapidly in-between made straight-to-video effort in which Mastorakis takes his protagonists back to his beloved home country Greece for a very conventional and unsurprising, but nevertheless entertaining cat-and-mouse thriller. Meg Foster, with eyes so crystal blue they glow in the dark, stars as the pseudo-eccentric mystery writer Sian Anderson who travels to a remote and extremely isolated Greek coastal town to work on a new novel in solitude. The town is practically abandoned due to the season and there's a constant heavy and ominous wind blowing from the sea. Sian witnesses how the mentally unstable handyman Phil murders her landlord Elias Appleby and buries his corpse in the garden. From then onwards, she finds herself stalked and threatened by the crazed psychopath but there's nowhere or no one to run to. As said, "The Wind" is a very prototypic and forgettable thriller, but it contains a few noteworthy suspense sequences and more than adequate performances from an terrific cast. Meg Foster is amiable as the damsel in distress and Wing Hauser gloriously goes over-the-top again as the sneering psychopath. The supportive cast is impressive as well with names such as David McCallum, Steve Railsbeck and even classic actor Robert Morley. Even though Hauser's character commits his murders with a sharp and over-sized sickle, fans of gory horror flicks might be disappointed as there's very little bloodshed. The pacing of the film is very uneven and the climax sequence is incredibly stupid, yet still I can't bring myself to rate "The Wind" negatively as I wasn't bored for a minute.

Director Nico Mastorakis (Island of Death) returns to the horror genre and the Greek Isles with the suspenseful and intense The Wind. A slight mixture of the slasher, cat & mouse and giallo genres, The Wind looks great, thanks mostly to the imposing Greek locale high on the edge of a cliff. Mastorakis wastes no time jumping right into the action with writer Anderson (Meg Foster) encountering fellow American Phil (Hauser) within minutes of her arrival. When Foster explains she is a mystery writer, Hauser creepily quips, "If you need to know anything about death, I'm right next door." As the nights events progress, the viewer is kept wondering if all that has been happening is just figments of a writer's overactive imagination.

As with most horror films, the success lies squarely on the shoulders of the villain and, thankfully, Mastorakis has Hauser to fill this role. Hauser gives a whacked out performance on the level of his killer pimp turn in the sleaze classic Vice Squad (1982). Whether it is huffing poppers or making threatening phone calls, Wings is in top form in this film. It is truly a shame that his talents aren't fully recognized by the mainstream. Foster provides a worthy adversary to Hauser's unhinged Phil, but there are a few moments that smack of falsity here (namely a few of her one liners). Railsback pops up about two-thirds of the way through as a sailor who helps the police investigate. It is almost a cameo-sized role, but he is good in it and helps spur the ideas that Foster may be making this up.

If the film does have any faults, it is an entirely useless subplot involving a honeymooning American couple. While the point (they almost provide safe haven for Foster) was not lost on this viewer, it seemed a bit contrived and seems like an attempt to pad the film. Regardless, The Wind is still an intense and stylish 90 minutes that is definitely worth a watch.