Emily Blunt's Forgotten Supernatural Horror Movie Is A Netflix Hidden Gem

Before playing Mary Poppins, starring in Oscar-winning Christopher Nolan films, and marrying John Krasinski, Emily Blunt appeared in an overlooked horror flick — one that came out a year after her breakthrough turn in "The Devil Wears Prada." Sadly, the movie in question, "Wind Chill" didn't have anywhere near the impact of director David Frankel's beloved comedy drama right before that. But that's not to say it isn't worth a revisit, especially since it's streaming right now on Netflix.

Back in 2007, Blunt was riding a nice little post-"Devil Wears Prada" wave. It would be a while before she risked her life for one of Denis Villeneuve's best movies in 2015's "Sicario" or starred alongside Tom Cruise in his best sci-fi movie, "Edge of Tomorrow." But her star was very much on the rise, and 2007 was busy for the young actor, who appeared in four films that year: "The Jane Austen Book Club," "Dan in Real Life," "Charlie Wilson's War," and "Wind Chill."

The last of these movies saw Blunt portray a college student who shares a ride home for the holidays with a classmate. After being involved in a near-miss, however, the pair become stranded and encounter the ghosts of those who perished on thae snowy, deserted roadway. Is "Wind Chill" one of the best horror movies ever made? I think you already know the answer to that. Is it worth a watch anyway? Absolutely.

After "The Devil Wears Prada" (which will soon receive a sequel with "The Devil Wears Prada 2"), Emily Blunt received widespread acclaim for her lead performance as the titular monarch in 2009's "The Young Victoria." But her output between her 2006 breakthrough and that celebrated period drama is sort of a lost era in the British actor's story. What's more, several of her projects from that time are decent, including the perpetually-overlooked "Dan in Real Life," which briefly featured Blunt and starred Steve Carell as he, too, was becoming a major star in the wake of "The Office."

The similarly overlooked "Wind Chill" also belongs to this era. This supernatural horror film was directed by Steven Soderbergh's longtime producer Gregory Jacobs, who's also helmed 2004's "Criminal" and "Magic Mike XXL" and "Blackway," both of which came out in 2015. His second go round in the director's chair, "Wind Chill" starred Blunt and Ashton Holmes as unnamed college students.

The two classmates share a ride home from their Pennsylvania campus for the winter break, which starts off well enough as the pair get to know one another. Soon, however, it becomes clear that Holmes' "Guy" knows more about Blunt's "Girl" than he initially let on, culminating with them being run off the road by another car and buried in snow on a remote stretch of road. Things start to take an even more terrifying turn when the couple are then approached by a cop who initially seems like their salvation, only to yank Blunt's character out of her car, forcing her co-rider to attack him. The girl thus finds herself completely alone and forced to grapple with the increasingly supernatural events that unfold.

"Wind Chill" was Emily Blunt's first foray into horror, which makes it a great movie to watch if you loved her work in films like "A Quiet Place Part II." That's doubly true since Blunt is on her own for large stretches of the movie and handles the task of carrying the story impressively, much like she would later with the "Quiet Place" movies. This is partly what makes "Wind Chill" worth streaming on Netflix. It's an early example of the actor's talents, which would come to the forefront as her career progressed but were strikingly sharp even back in 2007.

Unfortunately, "Wind Chill" only received average reviews. The film bears a 44% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes, with several critics dismissing it outright. That said, "Wind Chill" had its fans. Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the movie, "for all its flaws, is an often spooky and imaginative ghost story that contains a genuine creepiness." The New York Times' Andy Webster similarly enjoyed the film, which he described as a "moody, spooky tale, rendered with laudable economy." The movie has also fared well enough with more contemporary viewers on Letterboxd, where there's no shortage of three and four-star ratings.

So, if you're a fan of Blunt's work — especially her performances in horror fare such as the aforementioned "A Quiet Place" films and the 2016 thriller "The Girl on the Train" — and have yet to watch "Wind Chill," then you could do a heck of a lot worse than this perhaps unfairly-dismissed early 2000s horror offering. Again, the movie is currently streaming on Netflix.