One thing I really love about ex-rentals is the movie previews before the main feature, and that's how I came to know of this film. However it's only natural to have the best scenes in the trailer to wet your appetite
and by the way it bestows quite a cool video artwork.
Director / writer Nico Mastorakis (who made the very infamous video nasty "Island of Death") was churning out numerously quickly produced low-budget / straight to video enterprises in the mid to late eighties and "The Wind" aka "Edge of Terror" would have to be the pick of the lot for its interesting setting and exemplary lead performances from Meg Foster and Wings Hauser.
Mystery writer Sian Anderson travels to the Greek Isles for a couple of weeks to stay at an ancient villa in an isolated ghost town to storm up ideas for her next novel. The landlord warns her not to go out at night due to the killer winds that pass throughout the night, but another threat could be in the shape of the landlord's handyman Phil. Something about this man unnerves Sian, especially when one night she believes she saw him burying a corpse that just happens to be the landlord.
The pulpy story holds up rather well, leading us down the path maybe all of this is happening in the imaginative mind of its protagonist, as this when Steve Railsback's sceptical character comes into the equation. Perhaps predictable and systematic, but making headway of the standard material is the scenic local flavour that's arrestingly atmospheric, especially the eerie night sequences when the howling wind kicks in. Mastorakis ideally creates an edgy vibe with his lighting composition of shadows and lighting around the ancient villa on an ocean cliff-top with it being backed up by the shivery, high-strung music score and terse photography. You're really thrown right into it. What starts off slow-boil in genuinely building up the suspenseful situation, soon transforms in to a tautly simple-minded cat and mouse formula knowing too well of the clichés to suitably play them up. Towards the end it begins to meander, as some stupidity occurs and the final shot (while beautifully projected) is quite a laughable chance of fate.
Meg Foster makes for a strong, affable heroine who seems to have something constantly witty to say and a bug-eyed Hauser (in a fetching knitted white jumper) is simply made for these wack-job roles and he doesn't disappoint with his impulsively dangerous and rip-snorting villain. His exchanges with Foster early on is effectively engaging - "Death is a whole lot different on paper." Robert Morley and David McCallum also pop up.
