Filmed Locally - Wendigo - The Mountain Eagle

By Bradley Towle

CATSKILL MOUNTAINS — The mythological Wendigo, derived from Algonquin folklore, has often been depicted as a deer-like humanoid with antlers. It is always ravenous, never full, and is frequently associated with cannibalism, famine, and greed in various versions of the folk legend. Metaphorically, the Wendigo's traits of avarice are understood within some Native American tribes as destructive characteristics that can disrupt balance if not addressed. The Wendigo made the leap from indigenous folklore into a more diffuse form in the American consciousness in the early 20th century as it began appearing in literature, film, art, and eventually video games, and even as a Marvel character. In 2001, actor/writer/director Larry Fessenden threw his hat into the Wendigo ring with his independent film Wendigo. Shot in Phoenicia and areas in Ulster County, the film centers around a family experiencing dark forces while staying at an Upstate New York cabin.

Jake Weber plays George, an overworked photographer desperate to escape Manhattan for some relaxation, who takes his family on a winter getaway to the Catskills. Patricia Clarkson plays Kim, his wife, and Erik Per Sullivan plays their 10-year-old son Miles. I hesitate to identify any currently working actors as having a "heyday," but Clarkson and Per Sullivan were certainly experiencing high-profile moments at the time of the film. Per Sullivan was on the wildly popular show Malcolm in the Middle from 2000 to 2006 as Dewey, the youngest sibling in the dysfunctional television family. Clarkson, for her part, had hit a stride, and by the early aughts, she seemed to have been in every other independent movie to hit the big screen in films like The Pledge, Welcome to Collinwood, and The Station Agent.

As George drives his family to the cabin, he hits a deer, upsetting a local hunter named Otis who had been tracking the animal. The incident leaves the family shaken, and their cabin makes them feel more ill at ease than relaxed. A shopkeeper tells Miles about the legend of the Wendigo and provides him with a figurine of the mythical being. Events then unfold that blur the line between reality and mythology, as we see events through the eyes of Miles, who has now become anxiously consumed by the lore of the Wendigo, which he believes he saw in the woods during an inciting incident in which his father collapsed, and becomes convinced is the reason for dark forces around the cabin.

The film had an underwhelming, albeit limited, box office release, earning a meager $1,107 on its opening weekend. Despite the poor box office showing, Fessenden's horror film did garner some positive reactions from critics. David Kehr of the New York Times praised the director for blurring "the line between psychology and the supernatural, suggesting that each is strongly implicated in the other." Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars and took particular issue with the ending. "Wendigo is a good movie with an ending that doesn't work," wrote the late critic. "While it was not working, I felt a keen disappointment, because the rest of the movie works so well."

Is there a more challenging genre than horror when it comes to nailing an ending? While not a household name, Fessenden has been credited as an inspiration for a generation of independent horror filmmakers, particularly the influx of indie horror offerings in the 2010s and the folk horror explosion of the 2020s. Wendigo was his second feature film. Note: There are several films titled Wendigo and The Wendigo. The 2001 (sometimes listed as 2002) version is the one discussed here and shot in and around Phoenicia.