Windigo is a 2011 horror film by Vince Emerson Media, released on November 11, 2011. Using found footage, the movie tells the story of a group of film students who go camping in an old hick town near Mohawk lands, and end up getting stalked by the monster who resides there.
Legally available to watch on YouTube here.
It's also available on DVD with bonus features.
This film provides examples of
- Adaptational Villainy: This version of the Slender Man, unlike his other enigmatic and mysterious incarnations, is portrayed as a pure evil entity who likes to commit acts of malice simply for fun. He's one of the few versions of him who displays a clear personality at all, in contrast to his usual portrayal as an enigmatic, unknowable force of nature.
- Ax-Crazy: The Slender Man is shown in this case to be a deranged sadist who kills and manipulates people just to amuse himself. We see more of this when he uses Brandon as his vessel.
- Being Watched: In the scene with Selina, Reese, and Brandon on the canoe,the Slender Man watches the boat from the shore.
- Bittersweet Ending: On one hand, the Slender Man manages to possess Brandon, but two characters still manage to escape with their lives. Hell, in the fight with the Slender Man himself, they still win.
- The Blank: The Slender Man has a blank white oval for a face, as is standard for him.
- Combat Tentacles: You don't expect them, then suddenly the Slender Man is using them to fling a truck across the yard.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
- The cast take the fight to the Slender Man and his puppets, killing many in the process. Kwekon pulls a Heroic Sacrifice by ramming a exploding car into him.
- When the Slender Man possesses Brandon, he doesn't do much better; Reese beats him twice, and Reese and his girlfriend escape him in the end.
- "Everybody Dies" Ending: Except a boy and a girl who get away to safety, the entire crew dies. Brandon gets used by the Slender Man as his new vessel and the officer at the end confirms that there's no survivors left in Bonville.
- Evil Gloating: "Thanks for coming by. You really brightened my week." Said by the Slender Man while he possess Brandon.
- For the Evulz: At first, the Slender Man seems like the typical brainless and homicidal monster just like the usual horror movie routine. However at end after tricking the characters into killing one of their own and possessing Brandon's body, it's revealed that all he did until then was simply for pure fun. He even talks, showing a more human-like personality, and thanks the boys for "having brightened the week."
- Giggling Villain: Unusually enough, the Slender Man chuckles maniacally as soon as he takes over Brandon's body.
- Grand Theft Me: In the closing scene, the last survivor is taken over by the Slender Man and becomes him.
- Halfway Plot Switch: The first half of the movie is a comedy about some teenagers trying, and failing, to make a documentary about deforestation, with bits of horror thrown in. After that, the plot turns into a straight-up horror film with barely any dialogue about cameraman Brandon running through the forest trying to outmaneuver the Slender Man.
- Hope Spot: Twice. First Kwekon crush his car into the Slender Man which explodes and kills himself in the process and apparently the monster as well. But the Slender Man actually menages to survive by possessing Brandon. Then, still in Brandon's body, the Slender Man gets beaten by the survivors and ultimately captured by Government Men who put him into custody and we're lead to believe that he won't hurt anybody else. But then during an interrogation he turns back into his original form, killing an officer, and escape. He will probably continue his killing spree someplace else.
- Heroic Sacrifice: During the final fight, Kwekon hops into a sedan and plows into him at full speed. The Slender Man is next seen burning away in a giant fireball. That doesn't kill him however as he survives possessing Brandon.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Some of the Slender Man's victims are turned into his unwillingly flesh-eating zombie slaves.
- It Can Think: Initially, the Slender Man gets his traditional portrayal as an unknowable foe who disappears people for no discernible reason, but at the end of the film, when The Slender Man possesses Brandon, his Evil Gloating reveals his cunning in manipulating the protagonists and turning them against each other by playing on their fear and paranoia.
- Kill It with Fire: The Slender Man gets apparently killed when one of the guys rams a car into him which it subsequently explodes. He actually survived by possessing the cameraman.
- Karma Houdini: The Slender Man, despite losing multiple fights earlier while in Brandon's body, escapes custody by killing the officer who was interrogating him.
- Numerological Motif: The movie was released on 11/11/2011, the same repeating number that was used in Tribe Twelve.
- Redemption Equals Death: After accidentally killing Dean (the Slender Man had pulled either a Mind Rape or a Teleportation trick), Kwekon drives a sedan into the Slender Man at full speed. The resulting fireball seems to finally kill the Eldritch Abomination.
- Sadist: Apparently, the Slender Man loves to play with his victims instead of simply killing them immediately like turning them against each other or tricking them into killing one of'em and later he even gloats that they've "brightened the week" by coming by.
- Silent Antagonist: The Slender Man unsurprisingly never utters a word. He has no mouth after all. This is until he gets possession of Brandon's body to comunicate. From here on in he's more talkative.
- Stylistic Suck: The characters originally set out to create a documentary on deforestation. From what we see of their work, it's...not very good.
- Took a Level in Badass: At first, the cast is your standard teenagers up against the monster with nothing but a camera; then they get guns and take the fight to the Slender Man and his minions. That still doesn't stop the tall and blank monster.
- Villainous Breakdown: The Slender Man during the climax becomes more and more aggressive as the boys start fightining him back showing he's not emotionless like he first appears. After surviving a killing attempt and possessing Brandon, the cameraman, he goes fully into Ax-Crazy mode by attempting to very sadistically burn one of the crew alive. Nevertheless he gets defeated and ultimately captured by agents. Visibly pissed off by this, during an interrogation he laughs and screams maniacally before returning to his original blank form and kill the interrogator.
- Voice of the Legion: When Brandon is possessed by the Slender Man, he talks in a mixture between his normal voice and an inhuman and demonic one.
