During the course of the blistery ride, it becomes evident how selfish and rude she is, talking on her cell phone to friends about how bored she is and how crappy his car is, etc., even going so far as to snap a picture of him with her cell to show to her friends. He, of course, begins to get really aggravated with her. As it turns out, he has been in love with her from afar for quite some time, even buying a bag full of gourmet groceries for them to share on the trip, all of her favorites, of course. As it turns out, in her haste to get her own belongings packed into his stuffed trunk, she left the bag of groceries on the ground back at school. Soon, he makes a turn off the highway and onto a "scenic" route and that's when things go downhill. The girl begins to get afraid of him and sees him as more of a stalker, demanding that he get back on the highway. Before he can, however, they are run off the road by a truck and wreck the old car. As the temperature drops, he decides to walk the few miles back to a gas station they visited earlier on the highway, but he soon returns, unable to make it in the dropping temps. They argue about the "stalking" situation, but eventually realize that they must work together if they are going to survive the ordeal.
It seems this particular road has seen its fair share of accidents, one every holiday season since 1955, to be exact. Since the road is rather desolate, passersby are few and far between. As the couple soon realizes, those that do pass by ignore their pleas, not even appearing to know they are there. Things get weirder from there as they venture out into the surrounding area in search of help and ghostly things start happening. If they can just survive the night... but that will be no small feat as the ghosts of those who have died on the road before them start to terrorize them.
Although this movie had very few actors and they didn't even have names (just listed as "girl" and "guy" in the credits), it is actually a very chilling ghost story - no pun intended, one produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh. The acting is well done and watching Emily Blunt transform from spoiled and bitchy to broken and frightened, then come back as strong, determined to survive is really interesting to watch. Ashton Holmes does an excellent job, seeming both creepy and sweet in different situations. If you watch the making-of feature, you'll learn that not only was the film shot in icy Canada, but also on a set they built, plus a frozen warehouse-type set. When you see the actors, teeth chattering with blue skin, they really are that cold and its very effective in the telling of their plight.
The operative word in Wind Chill is chill - this move will send one straight down to your toes. While the story is not completely believable, what ghost story is? Curl up with Wind Chill, a jumbo cup of hot cocoa and someone to snuggle with - and to jump with, at the right moments. I highly recommend this movie. You might even want to watch it a second time to catch the things you may have missed the first go round.
