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[tab title="Movie Review"]
"And you thought YOU were hot?!" Getting faced by pots of boiling water never looked so good! The Wind has arrived on blu-ray thanks to a NEW 4K transfer from the original 35mm print.
Monemvasia might be the name of the castle on the island where The Wind takes place, but it is also the name of the surrounding town. Located on an island, it is probably one of the most romantic places to be in Greece. The Medieval city has been well-preserved by time and contains many beautiful churches, but - should one dare to scratch the surface - there is something hidden with each wave that breaks upon its shoreline.
And it isn’t a pleasant game of cat-and-mouse that follows what is uncovered on this fateful night.
While the tension carries The Wind over the top for it to be included on any Hound of Horror’s list, it’s that opening shot of the Greek Island that blows my mind. Epic in its vastness, the sweeping shot of the island offers viewers a chance to see Monemvasia from great heights . . below we get to the nitty gritty nature of this howling mad slasher. {googleads}
The Wind, directed by Nico Mastorakis (Zero Boys, Bloodstone, Hired to Kill) and starring Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, Robert Morley, and David McCallum, is the haunted tale of novelist Sian Anderson (Foster) and her retreat from Los Angeles to Monemvasia. She seeks solitude, but what she finds is a location where the wind, blowing wildly in from the sea, reveals more than its fair share of mysteries as she witnesses her new handyman, Phil (Hauser) murder her portly landlord, Elias (Robert Morley).
Now, the maniac is after her. With hurricane force winds hounding every crack and crevice in her new house, she has nowhere to go. Can she survive the night? And at what cost!
Interestingly enough, this tale is framed by the story that Anderson is trying to finish on this dark and stormy night. She keeps on getting interrupted and the results, as we jump from one set-up to the next, are quite effective in building intense payoffs as her stalker keeps finding other ways to somehow get into her house. It’s only a matter of time before he breaks through every possible reinforced area to get his ultimate target: her. 
We get mysterious fresh burials, broken generators, and tons of midnight attacks as Sian finds herself on edge and under attack.
Combining Euro-Horror elements with the slasher genre, The Wind is aided by great atmospheres and a killer soundtrack from Hans Zimmer as electronic pulses pave the way for one killer’s path inside her house. Are you game for the stalking? The Wind is now available on blu-ray thanks to Arrow Video.
Time to get blown away.
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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]
Blu-ray Details:
Home Video Distributor: Arrow Films
Available on Blu-ray - April 28, 2020
Screen Formats: 1.37:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Greek
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; English: LPCM 2.0
Discs: Blu-ray Disc; single disc
Region Encoding: Locked to Region A
What would you do if going outside meant being killed by a raging hurricane, but staying indoors meant being hacked to pieces by a sickle wielding maniac? Arrow Video proudly presents The Wind, from prolific genre filmmaker Nico Mastorakis, the director behind such cult classics as Hired to Kill and Island of Death. A tense and thrilling blend of Euro-horror and late 80s slasher, The Wind is a stalk ‘n’ slash hidden gem, presented here for the first time on Blu-ray. Get ready to be blown away!
Video:
The new restoration by Arrow Films is from a 4K scan of the original negative, approved by writer-director Nico Mastorakis, and offers some great details on this island of haunts. Shadows are deep and steely-eyed and clothes have nice textures - especially that sweater worn by Hauser. Considering a trip to Greece in the near future? You are going to love the backgrounds here. Edges are strong and the colors are bold. Black levels hold their edges, too, which is pretty important due to most of this movie occurring at night. Saturation levels are consistently strong and the details in the backgrounds and in the clothing are strong.
Audio:
The Wind! How it blows! The original DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and LPCM Stereo 2.0 Audio are included on this release.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None
Special Features:
If the new 4K restoration isn’t enough for you to scoop this thriller up, maybe the brand-new interview with Nico Mastorakis will be. The complete soundtrack, composed by Hans Zimmer and Stanley Myers, is also offered. Since this is the first pressing of this title, there is an Illustrated collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by critic and author Kat Ellinger.
- Blowing The Wind - Brand new interview with Director Nico Mastorakis
- The Sound of The Wind - The complete soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer and Stanley Myers
- A collection of trailers for the films of Nico Mastorakis
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
Blu-ray Rating:
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[tab title="Film Details"]
MPAA Rating: Unrated
Runtime: 92 mins
Director: Nico Mastorakis
Writer: Nico Mastorakis
Cast: Meg Foster, Wings Hauser, David McCallum
Genre: Horror | Thriller
Tagline: A film by Nico Mastorakis.
Memorable Movie Quote:
Distributor: CBS (TV)
Official Site:
Release Date: November 25, 1987
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: April 28, 2020
Synopsis: When mystery novelist Sian Anderson (Meg Foster, They Live) arrives in the remote Greek town of Monemvasia, Elias Appleby (Robert Morley, The African Queen), the pompous British landlord of the house she’s renting warns her of two dangers: the wind, which gets dangerously strong at night, and Phil (Wings Hauser, Vice Squad), his sleazy and suspicious American handyman. As night falls and the wind starts howling, Sian witnesses the shocking sight of Phil burying Elias’s dead body in a shallow grave in his front garden! Trapped indoors from the raging, tree-branch-breaking wind, Sian must play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with the murderous Phil, who’ll stop at nothing to silence this inconvenient witness!
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