MovieChat Forums > Wind Chill (2007) Discussion > spoilers - things to tie up

spoilers - things to tie up


Ok - i get the whole story idea, but somethings are still puzzling -

1. if they were ghosts not hullucinations, why did she always magically end up back in the car?

2. could he see them too? (before death) only why were the ghosts only visiting her?

3. what did he see up in that cabin? what were the bodies of? ( I thought the bad cop put them in the river?

4. If they were the monks/priest people, why did police ect not move the bodies, the whole village knew their story (as the plough guy said) so why did they leave the bodies?

5. what was the significance of the toilet scene and ashtons look to the plough guy in the petrol station before they left?

6. why did she not put the groceries on back seat if the boot was packed out? and how did he know what her last meal would be?

7. whats the meaning of his speech at the end - I would have told you everything eventually? Did he know the garage was just round the corner?

8. He defo died, due to the fact the coroner is required at the end scene when she gets treatment. - theres no way he could have been a ghost the whole film?

9. the plough guy said he was at the scene where the accident was reported, all she managed to say was that route 66 or whatever, how did he know about it?

10. why did he turn off interior light to save batteries, but not the main beam??

Ps - something else i forgot - i never thought they were going back in time - the clock was broken in the crash and so was his watch, time feels like ages when you are stuck like that - the reason the car clock kept saying the same time is cos it was broken, why do poeple think they went back in time? (the real time was regularly updated by subtitles on screen too)

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ok, nobody have any answers?

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First of, I think it's fine if a movie leaves some parts unexplained. Movies that explain everything end up being quite boring and not worth watching again. Mystery is what keeps horror movies alive. Also, people do not act necessarily logically in the real world either, and nightmares are bound to have loopholes.

1. I would say she is dreaming most of what is happening. It still has physical consequences (on her and on the boy), just like in a movie like "A Nightmare on Helm Street", but she naturally always wake up in the car.

2. Yes, the boy could see the ghosts too. He does get hurt when he defends her against the cop, and he understands the situation. He is never implying she's dreaming or crazy (which would be the case if she was the only one seeing the ghosts). If the ghosts seem to visit her only, it may simply because of the cinematographic point of view chosen by the director. The girl is the focus, she's very real, whereas the boys slowly drifts into the ghost world. He seems to realize this when he mentions he wouldn't mind living this last day over and over in spite of everything (because he'd be with her).

3. The bodies of the priests.

4. They probably didn't leave the bodies there. The body the boy saw there was either an hallucination or part of a dream. Or maybe the nightmare events that took place there are strong enough to leave traces in the physical world. They do seem to get hit by a real car in the first place. The meaningful sheet of newspaper he finds in the abandoned house seems quite real too.

5. I don't know. Maybe just to give an eery feeling that things are not right in these mountains. The situation is similar to what is happening during the night maybe: they're locked up and nobody can hear them.

6. She just forgot to put the groceries back in the car. She's not particularly interested in anything but herself then. He's obviously liked the girl for enough time to know what she enjoys eating, whether it was through questioning friends of her, or listening to conversations where it was mentioned (either by her or her friends).

7. No, he didn't know where the garage was. I think he repeats what he said when he was alive: he would have told her that he was not from Delaware and that he had arranged that they would spend a car ride together. I think the repetition is meant to indicate that he is a ghost. It's also a way for him to say he loves her, at least I think it's the way she understands it, because of the emotion in her voice when she answers "I know". It's only as a ghost that he finds out where the garage is and leads her out of this nightmare.

8. I think the boy really dies there that night.

9. I don't understand your question here.

10. Maybe he turns off the interior light in the real world, and the beams are on when they are dreaming. Or maybe it's just an inconsistency.

About the time thing, I don't think they get back in time. It's rather "eternal recurrence", as hinted by their conversation at the beginning of their ride (talking about religion and Nietzsche). Basically, the girl and the boy end up in a place where people died horribly. The events that took place at various times there---or snippets or reminiscences of these events---tend to repeat themselves over and over again there, both at a physical and spiritual level. They get caught in this recurrent nightmare. The boy dies and becomes part of it. The girl survives and mourns her loss.

I think it's a beautiful movie, by the way :-)

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Cheers Guigs - I have been waiting ages for someone to put me out of my misery!

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You're welcome:-)

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1) the hallucinations were part of the experience of seeing the 'ghosts' and the stories of how they died.

2)The girl is the focal point of the movie, so we see things from her POV

3)Apparently the cabin is where a group of local priests lived/vacationed. The cop's spirit revenged himself by killing them in their sleep. Thats why the priests are shown always heading towards the cabin. Apparently, people who are killed by the cop/cop wraith like to hang out on that road.



4)I think the bodies *are* gone, but in the vision, we see the bodies.


5)Foreshadowing, showing that creepy things are about to happen. The Guy was asking the tow truck driver for directions, but then had to play it off when the girl came out of the bathroom.

6)She is shown in the beginning of the film to be a bit b!tchy and self absorbed, so she basically didnt care about or no the significance of the food. He knew what she liked because he basically was semi stalking her.

7)At the end he is a ghost, and as u see in the film, the ghosts repeat some of the things they said the day they died that had significance/meaning. The cop repeats one of the things he said to his victim(s). The Guy's ghost repeats what he said when he confessed to the girl that he liked her and admitted his ruse.

8)No he was NOT a ghost the entire time. For one thing, all the ghosts who died on that road seem to be bound to that immediate area . all the creepy events take place on or around that road- I mean, this is the first rule of ghosts- they are tied to a specific place/area. Second, we see he was in her class and able to have a normal conversation with her up til the point when we see him as a ghost. Compare this with the other ghosts in the film-, they cant really talk/interact- they can only repeat things that have already happened. The ghost cop never really interacts with the Girl, he is repeating what he said to one of his victim(s) before.

9)911 could easily trace where the call came from and send someone. The dispatcher heard enough to know someone was in trouble(I think the girl mentioned an accident), and if u notice, the girl left the phone plugged in. I know for a fact that if u call 911, hang up, and leave the phone off the hook, they will either try and call u back or send someone. As the nearest garage/tow in the area, 911 more than likely called him, and as the girl said before, his garage was 24 hrs.

10) They did turn off the lights, but he turned them on so the girl could see in the dark when she went to climb the telephone pole.

11)They didnt go back in time, but time is used for symbolism quite heavily in the film. Firstly, dreams/hallucinations were flashbacks showing how the various ghosts died or how the cop killed people. The time symbolism was used with the clock being broken to demonstrate what they talked about earlier- Eternal Recurrence. The guy even mention the hourglass of time endlessly being turned over and over. Time becomes meaningless when you are essentially stuck in the same moment over and over. The broken clock was foreshadowing what was to come with the ghosts.

Also, when you are in a situation like theirs...time really does feel like it has just stopped. I mean, my area had no power during one of the blizzards from this past winter and I was stuck in a dark house with no power and no heat. You cant read, cook, or do anything because its too cold to move and your only thought it is "god, please let it be light again soon" because you are cold as hell and feel alone and isolated. Believe me, in that situation time really feels like its at a complete standstill, so I can really see why the director added that little touch of nuance with the broken clock.




"There isnt a jury in the world that would convict a baby....well, maybe Texas "- [bones]

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My interpretation of the movie is that everything is "real" up until she climbs into the backseat of the car. (At that point, Guy had already tried to walk to the petrol station but returned because his injuries from the accident were too severe. He tells her, "there is one way for two people to conserve body heat" and she says something like, "dream on.") She falls asleep and I believe that the first time she ACTUALLY wakes up is the following morning, when Guy is in the front seat dead from hypothermia or his injuries.

The rest she imagined/dreamed. The ghosts weren't real. She kept waking up and being back at the car probably because of the conversation that she had with Guy about life repeating itself. The patrol man story might have been true and actually happened in the 50s, but probably not.

Guy's ghost at the end was the only ghost that she encountered, but I'm torn as to whether or not she was actually seeing him or if she hallucinated him as well.

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5. her not being able to open doors is a theme in the movie. she does not have control over her situations. the door to the car sticks, the bathroom door sticks, she is out of control; when he takes the detour etc. that's my two cents.

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Do everything in Love. I Corinthians 16:14 NIV




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I noticed all the sticky doors too

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