Tasha And Dean's Horrible Night

Bruce Von Stiers

Tasha and Dean should have had a nice night out. It was Tasha's birthday. But on the way home a terrible accident occurred. They hit a jogger with their car.

That's what happened off camera in the beginning of a new horror thriller film. The title of the film is Cold Blows The Wind. The rest of the film works its way through a strange and horrific night of evil spirits and dangerous people.

The film opens with a woman with blood on her lips and face chanting something. Then it cuts to a couple getting home. They pop the trunk and a guy is in there. They ask if he can walk. He's pretty beaten up. They end up carrying him into their house. Then once inside the house, the couple tries to figure out what to do. But in trying to fix things, they've made it worse.

Dean ends up killing the jogger and buries the body. But just as they are thinking things will be okay, a stranger appears at their door. A woman who calls herself Briar is running away from a man. She won't say why, but just that he kept her locked up in a barn.

What follows is a strange, dark and twisted tale. It involves friendship, not being in love, evil spirits and murder.

Briar seems to know that Dean buried the jogger. But she tells him to check on the body as things don't seem to stay dead in the woods. Dean checking on things ends up with a second murder and Tasha and Briar having an interesting interaction.

There seems to be a budding friendship, even possibly an attraction between the two women. This attraction plays into things a little later in the film.

An added wrinkle in the film comes in the form of Uncle Stevie. He comes to the house looking for Briar. Is he the guy who had locked Briar up in a barn? He issues a warning to them that proves to be ominous later in the film.

The film leads you down a certain path. Who, or what, is Briar really? And what does she really want? Would killing Briar make Tasha and Dean safer? Because she knows their secret. Or will this just be another obstacle for them to overcome?

Victoria Vertuga is Tasha. She previously co-wrote, directed and starred in the horror film, Lexi, and the comedy series Disgraced. And she co-produced this film. Danell Leyva is Dean. Leyva is a gymnast and three time Olympic medalist. He has appeared in reality shows such as American Ninja Warrior and films such as Lexi and Spark.

Jamie Bernadette is Briar. She has around a hundred screen credits, including starring in Texas Twister and End Times. I've reviewed a couple of the films she's been in, Ash and Bone and Dead By Dawn. Bernadette has a way with her facial expressions that turn from sweet innocence to menacing in an instant. Those expressions find their way into the film a couple of times.

Torrey B. Lawrence is Uncle Stevie. He co-starred in the thriller Twisted Vines and appeared in the action western film, The Harder They Fall. Brandon Tyler Jones plays the jogger. He starred in the film Monty Come Back and appeared in Confidence Game.

Daniel Florenzano and Summer Moore are in the final scene of the film. Florenzano wrote, directed and starred in the thriller Bloody Anniversary. And he helped out behind the scenes in this film as a grip. Moore's previous roles include playing a zombie nurse in various short thriller films.

Eric Williford directed the film. He also wrote the screenplay and co-produced the film with Victoria Vertuga. Some of his previous work included Lexi, Disgraced and Bikini Mayhem. The cinematographer was Marc Martinez. He was the cinematographer for the crime thriller 50k and the comedy Latin Spring Break.

Alberto Anaya composed the music for the film. He has composed music for numerous films and was sound designer for several more films and a couple of video games.

Jordyn Maresh and Zoe McClure did a good job with the makeup and special effects. Felisha Michelle Cacho was the stunt coordinator. Besides stunts, she has acted in films such as Lexi and Treason.

One thing to caution on, if younger people watch the film. There is some nudity in the film. There is a bathroom scene where Bernadette disrobes and another one with her later in the film. And there is a shower scene where Vertuga is naked. And there is some profanity used in the film.

Some of the dialog in the film might seem a bit cheesy for horror aficionados, but I think it works. I had mentioned the special effects earlier. The blood gushing from a leg being sawed in half was really good as was the sound effects for it. The only thing I discounted for that scene was that the cut was too perfect. A hacksaw was used for that scene. Even though that type of saw makes a pretty smooth cut, I would have expected a few flesh tears along the cutting edge. But maybe that's just me.

Cold Blows The Wind is a decent horror film. It has a couple whose marriage may have seen better days, an incident that makes things worse for them and an evil presence with a bloodlust hunger. A proper set of plot devices to make this appealing to horror film fans.

The film is available on VOD at Amazon, Vudu and Spectrum.

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers