"The Wind" has some things going for it: an awesome, scenic location (Monemvasia, Greece), a strong cast (in fact, this may be the biggest casting coup that Nico Mastorakis ever achieved - even if scene-stealer Robert Morley really only has one sequence to himself, and David McCallum about three), and a score that's a homage to the gialli of the 1970s (an early work by Hans Zimmer!). But it is repetitive, and the story has no real surprises (certainly the fact that the villain has to be killed about three separate times before he finally dies is not one of them). This film might have worked better as a 30-minute short or an episode of a TV series; there isn't enough material here for a 90-minute feature. ** out of 4.

Starring Meg Foster, Wings Hauser and Steve Railsback, this probably already is enough reason for people to check out "The Wind". It was for me. Writer Sian Anderson (Foster) retreats to an isolated village on a small Greek island to work on her new novel. The island thrives on tourism and it's off-season, meaning all the inhabitants have left to earn a living elsewhere, leaving Sian pretty much in solitude. But there's still Phill (Wings Hauser), helping hand of the landlord and staying on the island to support Sian in her needs. However, Phill turns out to be an utterly demented psychopath, out to stalk & kill Sian. Or, is he, really? Because Sian is a writer with a vivid imagination. And then there's the fierce ocean wind..., which can be both an enemy as well as an ally. The whole film basically is a cat-&-mouse game between Hauser & Foster, first inside the houses and near the end the wonderfully eerie island setting is put to good use. Sadly, the whole notion of 'is it real or just playing inside Sian's head' isn't played out solidly enough. "The Wind" is a bit of a slow mover, but in the end not a bad effort. And Hauser yet again portrays a delicious psychopath. An extra point for director Nico Mastorakis maintaining a consistent tone & atmosphere throughout the whole film (the lighting, dust blowers and architecture worked wonders on some occasions).

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.

I picked this one up because the music was done by Hans Zimmer, a customer of Metasonix modular synths (made by someone dear to me). The jacket art says "the 2003 version".I give it one point for a strong female, one point for cheezy dialog and one last point for meg foster's light blue eyes, of which there are plenty of shots of.It was fun seeing David MacCullum casually swimming (the pool has a plexiglass viewing window!), while his lady love was being chased by a psycho in Greece. The sets were marginally impressive-that is, rich people's houses in L.A. and Mendanassos (sp?), where the castle was. I found myself wondering how they were able to keep up the cleaning with all the dust blowing around. The wind wasn't fierce enough to be believable to me. I kept thinking that the animal pelts on the furniture must be nasty...etc. and realized that the film must be pretty boring if i am wondering these things when the supposed plot was unfolding. I stumbled over things like why did she light a fire, blow out the match, then throw the match into the fire?! Dumb stuff like that. It was clunky at best. Oh well. Robert Morely got to have a bit of fun with his kooky geezer character and a nice vacation out of it.