MovieChat Forums > Wendigo (2001) Discussion > Odd window voyeurism scene and awkward s...

Odd window voyeurism scene and awkward sex scene

posted 12 years ago by jeffyoung1
7 replies | jump to latest

SPOILERS *** SPOILERS *** SPOILERS

I found WENDIGO to be a strange, incomprehensible horror movie. I couldn't figure it out.

I also couldn't comprehend an early scene where outdoors redneck, Otis, (you know the stereotype) peers into the cabin window where actress Patricia Clarkson and actor, Jake Weber, are engaged in a most uncomfortable-looking, lovemaking scene. The married couple decide to forgo their larger, more comforable bed for a lovemaking session, opting to do it on a narrow couch in front of the fireplace, where Weber has to brace his body with one knee on the floor. All the while, malevolent Otis is glaring at the couple through the window, as if displeased with what he's seeing.

I was very surprised to see that actress Patricia Clarkson was willing to do nudity and more, engage in an explicit sex scene. No, I have no objection to the sex scene or the nudity, I was just highly surprised because I thought Clarkson absolutely did not do those kind of explicit scenes. I guess one can be mistaken about anyone.

[–] Democracy_is_Intransitive 11 years ago

I actually found this scene terrifying. I lived in a wilderness setting for a while and was never comfortable with it. Particularly at night as the lights within your house are typically on however everything outside is blanketed in darkness concealing anything watching you, their eyes aided by the light that cripples your eyes to seeing anything beyond the glass. I simply always felt an uneasiness that something could be in that void of blackness watching me and this movie played on that fear with that scene.

In addition it depicts Otis throttling up to commit the murder as he sees a young wealthy couple enjoying his home.

[–] jeffyoung1 11 years ago

I feel the same way you do whenever I'm in a house with lots of large, glass windows and sliding doors. You feel very, very vulnerable. You can't see very far through the glass because of the lights behind you yet someone or something outside in the darkness can observe you quite clearly. Yet I like a house with lots of large windows because the exact opposite feels like being in a prison or a pillbox. I've always wondered if thick, unbreakable or break-resistant glass is available for house windows. It makes me paranoid enough to want to place decorative metal pattern grill bars over the windows.

[–] Democracy_is_Intransitive 11 years ago

No i totally agree. I love large open windows and during the day they make the room feel much more open like you say. But as it gets darker that feeling is lost and replaced by an innate anxiety. That's why i love living in a major city, no matter what time it is lights from the street and other buildings spill into my room revealing everything outside. I've adapted to the brightness but also have blinds.

But anyway i've always had a thing about windows in horror movies. I get uneasy when i see them. The Descent was another good horror movie that employed windows. The Gate was another movie that i saw when i was really young traumatized me with a window scene.

I'm not much of a horror fan so i don't know if windows are formally recognized as a element for the promotion of terror in an audience for horror directors in some formula for the reasons we both experience, the uncertainty of what's beyond them, but i wouldn't be surprised if they were.

[–] jeffyoung1 11 years ago

You also must have seen the 2008 hit horror flick, THE STRANGERS, in which two, masked young women and one masked man show up at a couple's home in the countryside and terrorize them.

Yeah, you said it right. I 'need' a spacious, airy living space with lots of large windows, the larger the better, to let the light in, allow you to see outside, and just make your living space feel more comfy and livable. But when the sun sets, you need to pull the curtains and drapes. However you now feel vulnerable because all those large glass windows, plate glass windows, and sliding glass doors offer NO real protection for any kook who decides to crash through. Yet no home builder has ever offered thick, shatter-resistant glass windows. In the inner city neighborhoods of my region, many houses sport thin metal bars over the windows. You know immediately where you are when the houses start showing window bars and barbed wire starts appearing on top of walls and fences around stores and businesses. I thought, if someone could design something like a 'flower' pattern metal grill that could fit over the glass house windows, then it would obviate the, 'prison' look, yet still offer a large degree of intruder deterrance.

Just keep one or two inexpensive kiddie softball or baseball bats handy, along with a few easy to grab flashlights around. I don't really recommend adult baseball bats. Those can be too heavy to wield easily. Use the youth softball or baseball wooden bats which are much smaller and lighter and can be held with one adult hand while the other hand holds a flashlight. Why? Because when an intruder crashes your home while you are home, it is always a 'home invasion' taking place in the wee hours of the early morning, say, 1 am to 3 am. You're at your most vulnerable.

[–] essex9999 8 years ago

So, four years later, but ...

Couldn't you just put curtains up at the windows and close them at night? People can't see in if you cover the window. I'm always surprised to see houses - city, suburb or country - with every window uncurtained and ablaze with light at night. It makes me think the residents must be some sort of exhibitionists. OK, maybe way, way out in the country, or on an upper floor of a building with no adjacent buildings, but otherwise it seems odd to live life in full view of others whom you can't see - like being on a permanent reality TV show.

Or - my real question - are you bothered by the idea of the lurking darkness even when it's concealed behind curtains and you can't see it, nor can anyone see in? I don't mean to pry, but I'm curious because I'm also bothered a bit by that. I mean, who knows who's out there in the dark? Mind you, if I didn't watch so many horror movies, it would probably bother me less. ☺

[–] Wuchak (8110) 6 years ago

I found WENDIGO to be a strange, incomprehensible horror movie. I couldn't figure it out.

Check out my explanation here:

https://moviechat.org/tt0275067/Wendigo/58c769076b51e905f686771e/My-explanation-SPOILER

[–] legnadibrom (5711) 3 months ago

brother, Clarkson shows no nudity in this movie