I stumbled across Horror in the Wind by something that I'm not quite willing to call luck. 

They say it's "who you know" in the film business, and in this case I happened to know someone who had an ever so brief appearance in the film and just so happened to retain her DVD copy of the film, a New Mexico production about two biogeneticists who discover an airborne formula that reverses the whole world's sexual orientation. 

Given the increasing number of laws that seem intent on penetrating themselves inside a woman's body, it seems almost more frightening than funny to watch a film about a diehard right-wing Pat Robertson who suddenly finds himself in the White House and who co-opts the scientific work of lifelong friends Richard (Perren Hedderson) and Ed (Morse Bicknell). Their works involves inhibiting the sex drives of rats but, of course, there's an ulterior motive going on here as President Robertson has another plan. The President throws an enormous amount of money at the scientists in order to speed up the project, however, before they can finish there's a break-in and the drug is stolen. The evil plot involves the entire nation being sprayed with the drug, but the plan is to give an antidote to only married, straight couples. 

There's only one problem. There is no antidote. 

Actually, there's another problem. Instead of inhibiting sex drives, the drug actually reverses sexual orientation and all the straight people in the country have turned gay. 

To the credit of writer/director Max Mitchell, Horror in the Wind isn't filled with the stereotypes and caricatures one might expect in a film dealing with a world of straight people who are suddenly gay. Instead of portraying the newly gay individuals as lust puppies or queens, Mitchell actually paints a surprisingly positive picture of these characters including portraying them as awkwardly monogamous and generally responsible. 

The film is quite funny in spots, though it's also quite hit-and-miss and when it misses it REALLY misses. Both Bicknell and Hedderson are enjoyable in roles that, once again, could have easily become caricatures but didn't. The supporting players are quite a bit more inconsistent with some really missing the mark. 

As someone who has reviewed quite a bit in the way of indie films, I can easily say that there are much worse films than Horror in the Wind. The film was budgeted right around $50,000, and D.P. John K.D. Graham does a nice job of lensing the film with just the right touch to capture most of the film's lighter moments. The music by Mark Oates has a nice energy to it, while the film overall feels like the kind of low-budget indie you might find some night at 3am playing on Cinemax or Showtime. 

© Written by Richard Propes 
The Independent Critic