Michael Mongillo’s The Wind starts out masterfully, with a montage introduction depicting the end of the world that floods the screen with dread. A narrator speaks of an evil wind, the force that cannot be seen, which spreads across the globe to bring about total destruction. Your mind will race, pondering the myriad of grand possibilities the upcoming film could hold. Well, the fun stops here, because that’s the most effective sequence of the entire picture.

Clair (Carolyn Camburn) receives a card that depicts the head of the Virgin Mary on the body of a naked centerfold model. The words, “You are my everything,” are printed on the inside and angels swarm around the nude body. Outraged, Clair meets with her pals Mic (Zeke Rippy), John (Scott Parrish), and Billy (Philipp Karner), to tell them that their mutual friend Bob sent the card. Furious, the guys jump Bob during his nightly jog. While an eerie wind howls, Mic beats the hell out of Bob and ultimately hits him over the head with a log, leaving him for dead.

To the surprise of no one, Mic soon learns that Clair’s a liar. Knowing of Mic’s feelings for her, Clair made the card herself to prompt him into action against Bob. What follows is a chronicle of back stabbing and growing distrust, as each of the “friends” tries desperately to justify their actions. Really, what it all boils down to is your standard manipulating psycho-girl story. You know, the pretty girl that uses her womanly charms to brainwash the minds of men, convincing them to do her dirty work.

So we have to ask, was the card offensive? The answer is maybe, depending on how you look at things. Regardless, it’s really hard to buy the idea that it’s enough to warrant killing a man. So what were their real motivations? Was it the effects of the evil wind, or were they all just trying to get into Clair’s pants?

We’re never explicitly told why they did it, but any attempted justification would be completely irrelevant anyway. You see, we never get the chance to view any of these people in a good light. From the minute the movie opens, everyone is evil. While it’s true that Mic is mostly responsible for the attack on Bob, the rest of them chose not to do anything about it. Everyone in this film is equally guilty and unlikable, leaving us with no sympathetic victim to side with.

This fatal flaw effectively drains the film of all potential impact. No matter what anyone does, it’s not surprising or shocking. Evil people do evil things, and these folks are merely acting accordingly. The movie’s supposed to be an assault of edge-of-your-seat psychological horror, yet it has zero potential of generating suspense. Suspense thrives on tension, and tension is generated through conflict. There’s absolutely no emotional conflict in this film since we don’t have a reason to care about any of the people in it. If everyone, except perhaps Mic’s mother, is an irrefutable scumbag, why should I care if they beat each other to death in the woods?

Besides the story problems, the script has plenty of other issues. The dialogue is pretty silly at times, with grown college men threatening to tell their moms on each other. When we meet Bob’s brother, an outcast that’s been picked on his entire life, his whiney rants about being left out of the group will make you feel like you’re in grade school again. The juvenile dialogue may have been intentional, perhaps as a means to symbolize regression, but it really doesn’t work at all.

Shot on 16mm in Connecticut, the film features some vivid woodland scenery. Mongillo pulls off some interesting shots, including a few first-person flights through the forest that were obviously inspired by the Evil Dead films. In another shot, the camera constantly circles the group while they discuss their plan to hurt Bob. While the shot lasts a little too long, it effectively plays into the theme of a swirling wind.

In the end, this film just never lives up to the grandiose visions presented in its first few minutes. Instead we get a much smaller-scale story of deception, that’s devoid of the elements needed to make us care. As a result, The Wind is one mind-numbingly bland, confused movie.

The DVD is due to be released on May 18 by MTI Home Video. Anticipated extras include an audio commentary, behind the scenes footage, trailers, and optional Spanish subtitles. While the final version could be different, the screener displayed very good image quality and the sound was generally crisp and clear. Too bad the score is a constantly ear-grating techno mess, that’s rarely appropriate for the happenings onscreen.