If there’s one thing that can be said about Elijah Wood, it’s that he’s made himself a cottage industry through his ability to play off-kilter characters who are just a half-step (or more) to the left of normal. His body of work includes roles where he divorces his parents in North, is possessed by a magical ring in The Lord of the Rings films, speaks (maybe) to a talking dog in Wilfred, and stops an alien invasion led by Famke Janssen and Jon Stewart in The Faculty. (I did some stretching into the past there, didn’t I?)

Wood has tapped into his inner odd-man-out again in the trailer for writer-director Nacho Vigalondo’s Open Windows, which hits VOD, digital download, and theaters this fall. Wood plays Nick Chambers, who is obsessed with Sasha Grey’s Jill Goddard, a celebrity with whom he has won a dinner date. Goddard doesn’t hold up her end of the deal, but Chambers is given a consolation prize by a mysterious benefactor who allows Chambers to watch Goddard’s every move via webcam. What Chambers doesn’t realize is that his voyeurism will put both him and Goddard at risk, a danger from which Chambers will have to try to save both Goddard and himself.

A snippet from the trailer bills the film as “a 21st century Rear Window,” which I think does some bit of disservice to Shia LaBeouf’s Disturbia, but I’ll let that one slide. All kidding aside, if the trailer is any indication — which, as we all know, can be a hit-and-miss assumption—Elijah-as-awkward-creep has found a worthy vehicle in Open Windows.

The trailer itself is erratic, reflecting both the speed at which we have information at our fingertips in the digital age and the frenetic pace our attention drifts from one thing to the next to the next since the advent of the Internet. The kinetic energy of the trailer further serves as a nod to Chambers’ obsession and the shaky scaffold on which his obsession with Goddard rests.

Open Windows will be available through VOD and digital download on October 2, and will hit theaters on November 7.

About The Author

Managing Editor

Jed W. Keith is managing editor for FreakSugar and has been a writer with the site since its start in 2014. He’s a pop culture writer, social media coordinator, PR writer, and technical and educational writer for a variety of companies and organizations. Currently, Jed writes for FreakSugar, coordinates social media for Rocketship Entertainment and GT Races, and writes press copy and pop culture articles for a variety of companies and outlets. His work can also be seen in press releases for the Master Musicians Festival, a Kentucky event that drawn acts such as Willie Nelson, the Counting Crows, Steve Earle, and Wynona Judd. His work was featured in the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con convention book for his interview with comic creator Mike Mignola about the 25th anniversary of the first appearance of Hellboy. Jed also does his best to educate the next generation of pop culture enthusiasts, teaching social studies classes--including History Through Film--to high school students.