by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $9.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Gaia Wise, Laurel Marsden, Marc Menchaca
Intro:
… tries to balance thrills with self-aware silliness but ends up tipping over into the latter too many times to convince that such things are intentional.
Who had ‘Emma Thompson in a Liam Neeson movie’ on their 2025 bingo card? It is genuinely befuddling that someone thought this would work out well.
With its snow-encrusted Minnesotan setting, flashes of wincing ultraviolence, and a central plot about a lone woman (Thompson’s Barb) braving the elements and the depths of human callousness to do the right thing, comparisons to Fargo are all too easy. And they are even easier once you hear Thompson’s accent.
Even with the shaky-cam from DP Christopher Ross, the tense soundtrack from Volker Bertelmann, and director Brian Kirk’s efforts coalescing for a dread-soaked atmosphere throughout, it is remarkably tricky to take what is going on with seriousness.
Of course, that is only partly down to Thompson’s delivery, as the script from Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb (both making their screenwriting debut after respective careers in film music and acting) is threadbare and chockfull of bizarre moments.
The narrative is economical, with Barb trying to rescue young Leah (Laurel Marsden) from Purple Lady (Judy Greer) and Camo Jacket (Marc Menchaca). However, when it isn’t engaging in greatly miscalculated cheese in depicting Barb’s backstory (which doesn’t add to the film thematically aside from jarring Hallmark-y visuals), it ends up spending more time tapping into basic survival narrative tropes than anything to do with drama or even action.
When Barb gives her Big Speech to Leah about the importance of pushing forward in life, Leah (presumably speaking for the audience) only responds with “that’s it?”. Are we sure that this isn’t supposed to be a comedy?
Which is a shame because, while there’s definite competency in creating tension with its set pieces and pacing, the not-even-properly-named Purple Lady ends up being way more interesting as a focal character. While Barb keeps see-sawing between the sly cunning that the script keeps informing her with, and the actual amateur-hour mistakes that she ends up making, Purple Lady feels like one rewrite away from appearing in a sequel to Don’t Breathe: a human preparing to commit a truly horrific deed… because she doesn’t see any other choice. Brandishing a rifle in one hand and popping in a fresh fentanyl with the other, both the sparse writing and Judy Greer’s 110% committed performance make her a captivating antagonist. It’s just that the film around her doesn’t do a whole lot to flesh her out beyond what presses against the frozen surface, not to mention putting all its focus on a lead that, aside from mild pop culture déjà vu, relies on Thompson’s performance to stand out in any appreciative way. And even then, she is also not working from the best foundations.
Dead Of Winter runs into the same problems as director Brian Kirk’s big-screen debut, 21 Bridges. There’s a degree of technical efficiency and polish, and interesting ideas floating around every so often, but because of its miscalculated attempts at drama and characterisation, and unfortunately predictable bigger developments, there’s just too much holding it back from being recommendable. It tries to balance thrills with self-aware silliness but ends up tipping over into the latter too many times to convince that such things are intentional.
